My Fall Addiction

I am a candy corn addict.

There, I said it. While I have admitted this affliction, I am neither beginning a 12-step program, nor asking for help or judgment.

Fortunately, this is a seasonal malady, and is not a problem on, say, July 4th or December 25. But when the trees turn on their colors, people start decorating their houses with ghosts and goblins, and Brach’s start stocking the shelves with those heavenly tri-colored treats, my addiction returns.

For offshore readers who may not be familiar with this Halloween candy, allow me to inform you.

Candy corn is a small, pyramid-shaped candy, divided into three sections of different colors: yellow, white, and orange. It has a waxy texture, and a flavor based on sugar, corn syrup, honey, and sesame oil.

And it is an old confection, tracing its origin to the late 1880’s.

“Chicken Feed" was the original candy name, when invented by George Renninger an employee of the Wunderle Candy Company of Philadelphia. The company was founded by a young German immigrant in 1871.

Until researching the origins of candy corn, I hadn’t realized the prominent place that Philadelphia holds in the history of candy making in America.

Peanut Chews, Double Bubble, The Whitman Sampler, and Good & Plenty all got their start in Philadelphia.

Good & Plenty was first produced by the Quaker City Chocolate & Confectionery Company in 1893. Although Necco Wafers (a New England product) is almost half a century older, Good & Plenty is the oldest continually produced American candy brand.

Without the benefit of automation, candy corn was originally made seasonally with the process beginning in late August each year. In the early 1900’s it took a large team of workers to produce this Halloween treat. Sugar, corn syrup, and other ingredients were cooked in large kettles. Fondant, marshmallow, and colors were added to the slurry and 45 pounds of warm candy was poured into buckets called runners.

Men called “stringers” walked backwards and poured the candy, one color at a time, into cornstarch trays that were imprinted with the kernel shape. Incidentally, the term stringer comes from a rather arcane definition of the verb “string”: to arrange or set forth in a row or successive series. In this case the men had to repeat the series three times to get the three color layers of each kernel. Once cooled, the candies were emptied from the trays and packed in wooden tubs for shipment.

When marketed under the original “Chicken Feed” name, the tubs were emblazoned with a colorful rooster logo and the slogan “Something worth crowing for.” Incidentally, have you ever wondered why the rooster crows, but the crow caws?

Today, the process is much the same although automation has replaced manpower throughout the process.

Here are some additional candy corn facts for you to amaze your family and friends:

• The final glaze on the modern candy is made from lac resin, a product whose origin is a secretion from an Asian insect called Kerria lacca.

• This is also the origin of wood shellac which might explain why your beagle chews on the leg of your coffee table.

• The Goelitz Confectionery Company, now called Jelly Belly, began manufacturing candy corn in 1898.

• Today the largest manufacturer of candy corn is Brach’s, now owned by the Ferrara Candy Company (which also owns Butterfinger, Crunch, Baby Ruth, and Laffy Taffy, among other brands).

• Brach’s makes approximately 7 billion pieces of candy corn each year which is about 85 percent of the industry during the Halloween season.

  
  

• That is enough for each person in China to have 5 pieces. (for planning purposes if you are having a party).

• The National Confectioners Association conducted a nationwide survey (because they clearly had nothing better to do) to determine what people think is the correct way to eat candy corn.

  
  

  • 28% said you should start with the narrow white end

  • 15% said you should eat the wider yellow end first

  • 57%, too busy to embrace the other options, eat the whole piece at once.

• While candy corn might not look like corn to you, stack it for a corn-on-the-cob look alike.

Another revelation to me in conducting this in-depth research is that many of you are having a gag reflex during this entire blog, if you have read it at all. I had never realized the love hate relationship that America has with candy corn. Either you can’t pass the candy dish without grabbing a handful, or you despised the stuff even before I told you that it is finished with insect secretions.

Much like my beloved sauerkraut (the blog that I send your way each Thanksgiving Pass the Sauerkraut Please (2022)), this controversial treat has its origins in the genius of a German.

Philip Wunderle, born in Gernsheim, Germany, stepped off the boat in New York in 1865 and after a number of manual labor jobs, found his love for candy making. He started making gumdrops in his one room apartment and employed Jack Carson to sell his confections with a pushcart on the streets of Philadelphia. From those modest origins, he built a multi-million dollar, multi-generational enterprise.

This father of candy corn manufacturing in this country, and his inventor employee, George Renninger are celebrated on National Candy Corn Day each year, October 30. Don’t get caught without an adequate supply for yourself, or those discerning candy connoisseurs in your family.

Cause it’s fall y’all. Pass the candy corn.