Candy corn is a type of small, pyramid-shaped candy, typically divided into three sections of different colors, with a waxy texture and a flavor based on

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

, sugar,

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condimen ...

, and

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the p ...

. It is a staple candy of the

fall Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southe ...

season and Halloween in North America. Candy corn's traditional colors of yellow, orange, and white represent the colors of the fall harvest, or of corn on the cob, with the wide yellow end resembling a

corn kernel Corn kernels are the fruits of corn (called maize in many countries). Maize is a grain, and the kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable or a source of starch. The kernel comprise endosperm, germ, pericarp, and tip cap. One ear of corn contai ...

. Candy corn has a reputation for generating polarizing responses, with articles referring to it as "Halloween's most contentious sweet" which people either "love" or "hate."

History

"Chicken Feed" was the original name of the candy with production starting in the late 1880s. It was first invented in the 1880s by a Wunderle Candy Company employee, George Renninger. Wunderle Candy Company was the first to produce the candy in 1888. The Goelitz Confectionery Company (now called Jelly Belly) began manufacturing the product in 1898. While Jelly Belly still makes candy corn, the largest manufacturer of candy corn is

Brach's Confections Brach's () is a candy and sweets brand of Ferrara Candy Company. History In 1904, Emil J. Brach invested his $1,000 life savings in a storefront candy store. He named it "Brach's Palace of Sweets" and it was located at the corner of North Aven ...

owned by the

Ferrara Candy Company The Ferrara Candy Company is an American candy manufacturer, based in Chicago, Illinois, and owned by the Ferrero Group. The company was formed from a 2012 merger of the Illinois-based Ferrara Pan Candy Company and Minnesota-based Farley's & ...

. Brach's makes approximately 7 billion pieces of candy corn per year and possesses 85 percent of the total share of the candy corn industry during the Halloween season. Along with other agriculture-inspired treats at the time in the late 19th century, America's confectioners sought to market candy corn to a largely rural society. During the late 19th century, "butter cream" candies molded into many types of nature inspired shapes, including

chestnuts The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelated ...

turnips The turnip or white turnip (''Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''rapa'') is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, fleshy taproot. The word ''turnip'' is a compound of ''turn'' as in turned/rounded on a lathe and ' ...

, and

clover Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus ...

leaves were quite popular but what made candy corn stand out was its bright and iconic tri-color layering. Although it is currently most popular in the fall, candy corn was not always associated with the fall and Halloween season. For the first half of the 20th century, candy corn was a well-known "penny candy" or

bulk confectionery Bulk confectionery is supplied in a container with loose confectionery to be dispensed by weight or quantity, or containing a number of retail-size bags of confectionery, typically used in vending machines. Unbagged bulk confectionery is typicall ...

, and it was advertised as an affordable and popular treat that could be eaten year-round. Candy corn developed into a fall and Halloween staple around the 1950s when people began to hand out individually wrapped candy to trick-or-treaters. The harvest-themed colors and increased advertising in October also helped candy corn become a fall staple. The

National Confectioners Association The National Confectioners Association is an American trade organization that promotes chocolate, candy, gum and mints, and the companies that make these treats. NCA lobbies the American government in favor of the confectionery industry, evaluate ...

has deemed October 30, the day before Halloween, "National Candy Corn Day."

Sales

The

estimates that around 35 million pounds (over 15,000 metric tons) of candy corn are sold annually. , annual production in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

was 35 million pounds, or almost 9 billion pieces of candy. The majority of candy corn sales occur during the Halloween season.

Production

Originally the candy was made by hand. Manufacturers first combined sugar, corn syrup,

carnauba wax Carnauba (; pt, carnaúba ), also called Brazil wax and palm wax, is a wax of the leaves of the carnauba palm ''Copernicia prunifera'' (synonym: ''Copernicia cerifera''), a plant native to and grown only in the northeastern Brazilian states of ...

, and water and cooked them to form a slurry. Fondant was added for texture and

marshmallows Marshmallow (, ) is a type of confectionery that is typically made from sugar, water and gelatin whipped to a solid-but-soft consistency. It is used as a filling in baking or normally molded into shapes and coated with corn starch. The sugar ...

were added to provide a soft bite. The final mixture was then heated and poured into shaped molds. Three passes, one for each colored section, were required during the pouring process. The recipe is similar today. The production method, called " corn starch modeling," likewise remains the same, though tasks initially performed by hand were soon taken over by machines made for that purpose.

Variants

A popular variation called "harvest corn" adds cocoa powder; it features a chocolate brown wide end, orange center, and pointed white tip. It is often available around

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

.Broek, Sara. "The History of Candy Corn: A Halloween Candy Favorite," ''Better Homes and Gardens''
/ref> During the Halloween season, blackberry cobbler candy corn can be found in

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/ Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrado ...

, as well as candy corn shaped like pumpkins. Confectioners have introduced additional color variations suited to other holidays. The

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

variant (sometimes called "reindeer corn") typically has a red end and a green center; the

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thr ...

variant (sometimes called "cupid corn") typically has a red end and a pink center; In the United States during Independence Day celebrations, corn with a blue end, white center, and red tip (named "freedom corn") can be found at celebratory cook outs and patriotic celebrations; the

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

variant (sometimes called "bunny corn") is typically only a two-color candy, and comes with a variety of pastel bases (pink, green, yellow, and purple) with white tips all in one package. There have also been caramel apple and green apple, s'mores and pumpkin spice, carrot corn (green and orange, with a carrot cake flavor) and birthday cake candy corn flavors. In 2022, Brach's released a tailgate variant with fruit punch, vanilla ice cream, popcorn, hotdog, and hamburger flavored pieces. Turkeydinnercandycorn

Candy corn flavored snacks have become more widely available with candy corn flavored variants of snack foods and candy including

Oreos Oreo () (stylized as OREO) is a brand of sandwich cookie consisting of two biscuits or cookie pieces with a sweet creme filling. It was introduced by Nabisco on March 6, 1912, and through a series of corporate acquisitions, mergers and splits ...

M&M's M&M's (stylized as m&m's) are multi-colored button-shaped chocolates, each of which has the letter "m" printed in lower case in white on one side, consisting of a candy shell surrounding a filling which varies depending upon the variety of M&M ...

, and more.

References

External links