By Skylla Mumana | Reporter
Halloween is a time for ghouls, fun, mystery and, most importantly, trick-or-treating. As someone who used to avidly dress up and trick-or-treat during Halloween as a kid, I was always looking forward to how much candy I could get. Even though I don’t like chocolate, I was excited about getting to load up on other candy, including Starburst, Jolly Ranchers and any other sugar-filled brand I could get my hands on. One candy that I was never excited about getting, though, was candy corn.
Candy corn was first created in the late 1880s by a man named George Renninger — an employee at Wunderlee Candy Company in Philadelphia. After the product was picked up by Goelitz Candy Company, it was popularized and marketed as a candy called “chicken feed.”
I’ve tried it on multiple occasions, and I’ve tried to like it on each of those occasions. However, its waxy texture has never appealed to me, and its odd flavor profile is unappealing as well. With other sugar-based candies, there’s at least some flavoring involved, but with candy corn, it just tastes like sugar syrup.
Also, of all the candy in the world to buy, why buy candy corn to give out to kids? There are so many other options, such as Snickers, jelly beans, Sour Punch Straws and Milk Duds, to name a few. They are more flavorful and arguably more filling. However, with candy corn, you would need to eat at least a couple dozen just to feel full, and even then, who would want to?
Statistically, candy corn’s ranking is bottom-tier in comparison to other Halloween classics. According to USA Today, chocolate takes the lead as a fan favorite with 68% on Halloween night. Candy corn comes in second with only 10% of trick-or-treaters preferring it in their bags. While the rest is a mixture, I don’t think there’s a coincidence here.
Now, let’s say you genuinely enjoy candy corn or, by some mistake, you have purchased way too much and don’t feel like eating it. What should you do with the leftovers? While I would recommend throwing it away, there are a lot of ingenious ways to use it.
One way to use it is to create another dish out of it. Why settle for boring old candy corn when you can revamp it and create a variety of foods? Delish, a recipe site, has a lot of fun recipes that are based on candy corn. You can create cookies, rice crispy treats, ice cream, meringue swirls and much more.
Another way that it can be used is as decorum. You can create candy garlands, sweet wreaths, cute card decorations and much more. This way, you will be able to use up any excess and have a cute fall theme for your home.
Overall, there are so many candies to choose from. Grab a chocolate bar. Eat a Snickers. Munch on a Jolly Rancher. Don’t punish trick-or-treaters; leave candy corn out of the bowl.
