By Nathan De La Cerda | Multimedia Journalist
As the Halloween season begins to approach us, the tradition of handing out candy is often our most favorite tradition. Going door-to-door threatening to trick unless given treats brings great joy to many people. Everyone loves receiving free candy. One could even argue that Halloween candy is intentionally made to taste differently from the typical candy we would buy from the grocery store. The production quality of Halloween candy is worse during the Halloween season.
Think about this — in October, we typically see brands release some kind of fun-sized, Halloween-themed bags of candy. Science Meets Food claims that planning for Halloween production occurs about 2 years in advance before the product is intended to hit the shelves. The manufacturers of this candy are known for trying to create new Halloween themed flavors such as pumpkin pie or candy corn. The ingredients can easily be thrown out of proportion to the point where it is difficult to distinguish the taste of the candy.
In addition to this, during Halloween, we see these bags of Halloween candy including some we have never even heard of. I am all for their idea of trying to make candy more fun and respective of the holiday, but the creators of this candy could at least give it some flavor. Some of these candies are the weirdest and by far the worst tasting candies of Halloween. For example, Oddee provides evidence of manufacturers producing a variety of flavored mints such as brain-flavored death mints and lollipops of many different shapes and flavors like pickles. I would only like to trust the candy brands in which I know have a better reputation of tasting better. The issue could be that candy production and candy sales are increasing during this time of the year. Many companies may just want to earn some of the profit that is widely available in candy sales. However, some will fail to meet the expectation of the highest quality candy. These Halloween candies are an embarrassment to all other candy.
With the mounds of candy that we receive every year, we will typically eat the same kind of candy among this huge stash. We eat too many chocolates or too many gummies within the Halloween season. During the Halloween season, children consume almost three cups of sugar in eating Halloween candy according to Business Insider. After eating so much of the same candy, we may easily become weary of the same old candies. Thus, giving the effect that the candy tastes worse. There is no telling what our magic our taste buds are up to. They are constantly changing so some things we may have enjoyed eating at one point may not be as good as we thought anymore. The same may go for the types of candies we enjoy eating such as chocolate, gummy or sour candies.
The care of the candy is extremely important for maintaining the taste of the candy. Improper maintenance will result in the candy becoming grainy or hard. In addition, Business Insider claims that Hershey produces their Halloween candy about six months in advance. During the Halloween season, candy will hardly get the amount of proper care that it requires to keep their great taste. If candies are not kept in cool, dry conditions at room temperature they will surely begin to lose their quality. For example, moving candies back and forth from differing conditions will result in a lower quality candy. In my opinion, this sounds like the exact circumstances that candy experiences during Halloween.
Halloween overall produces lower quality candy to many children. We have to blame is the excessive production, higher intolerance, changing taste buds, and improper care for the extremely low quality of candy during the Halloween season.
