According
to tradition, George
Renninger, a candy maker at the
Wunderlee Candy Company in Philadelphia, PA, invented the tricolor candy in the
1880s. The Goelitz Confectionery Company brought the candy to the masses in
1900. When the Goelitz Confectionery Company first produced candy corn, it was
called "chicken feed" because
corn was commonly given to chickens.
The boxes were illustrated with a colorful rooster logo
and a tag line that read: "Something worth crowing for." It was popular among farmers who loved the corn kernel
shaped candy that looked different from a lot of other candy. In 1950, the price of candy corn was
just 25 cents per pound.
The original three colors of candy corn — orange, yellow, and white — mimic a
corn kernel, although each piece of candy is about three times the size of an
actual kernel. The bottom of the triangular candy is yellow, it’s orange in the
middle, and the pointy end is white.
Back then, the hot candy corn mixture was poured into “runners,” or
hand-held buckets that held 45 pounds of candy mixture. Men called “stringers”
walked backwards as they poured the steaming mixture into trays coated with
cornstarch and imprinted with kernel-shaped molds. They made three passes; one
each for the orange, white and yellow colors.
The Goelitz Confectionery Company is now called Jelly Belly Candy Company. It has the longest
history in the industry of making candy corn. Although the method has changed, candy
corn still uses the original recipe. About 20 million pounds of candy corn
are sold each year. Ingredients in Brach’s candy corn:
sugar, corn syrup, confectioner’s sugar glaze, salt, honey, dextrose,
artificial flavor, gelatin, titanium dioxide color, yellow 6, yellow 5, red 3,
blue 1, sesame oil.
Today, candy corn starts as a mixture of sugar, fondant,
corn syrup, vanilla flavor, and marshmallow crème. The candy corn ingredients
are melted into a liquid candy—called slurry—colored, and run through a
cornstarch molding process to create each kernel. Wooden trays filled with
cornstarch are imprinted with rows of candy corn molds, where the layers are
individually deposited from bottom to top.
The holes are
partially filled with white syrup, then orange syrup, followed by yellow syrup.
(Candy corn comes in many different flavors.)The mixture cools in the tray about 24 hours, which seals the three layers together. The
kernels of candy corn are sifted from the trays and polished in large drum pans
with edible wax and glaze to create their irresistible shine. Here are some
additional candy corn facts you may not know:
· More than 17,000 tons of candy corn
is produced each year. According to the National
Confectioners Association, more than 35 million pounds (or 9
billion pieces) of candy corn will be produced this year.
· Candy corn is one of the
better-for-you candies of the Halloween season.
It contains roughly 28 grams of sugar and only 140 calories per heaping handful,
and its fat free.
· Candy corn has a long shelf life.
Once the package is opened, store candy corn away from heat and light at room
temperature. It should last three to six months. If unopened, packaged candy
corn will last about nine months.
· Candy
corn is over 130 years old. It’s a “mellow cream,” or a type of candy
that’s made from corn syrup and sugar with a marshmallow kind of flavor. It
tastes rich, but it’s actually fat-free.
·
Although
75% of the annual candy corn production is for Halloween, you can find it year
round in varying holiday
colors.
Brach’s Candy
Corn:
·
There
are nineteen pieces of candy corn in a serving.
·
A
serving has140 calories (7.4 calories per kernel), zero grams of fat, 70 mg of
sodium, 36 grams of carbs, and no protein.
·
A
large bag of Brach’s candy corn is 22 ounces and has about 300 pieces.
According to the National
Confectioners Association:
·
Candy
corn makers will produce nearly 35 million pounds of candy corn this year. This
is equal to about 9 billion individual kernels of corn, enough to circle the
moon nearly 21 times if laid end-to-end.
·
Candy
corn is so popular that it has its own day: October 30 is National Candy Corn
Day.
A survey of Americans found:
·
8%think
the whole piece of candy corn should be eaten at once
·
7%
think you should be start eating at the narrow, white end 10.6% like to start
eating at the wider yellow end
“My favorite Halloween candy is the candy corn. It comes in four
colors: white, yellow, orange, brown. Those are also the stages of your teeth
rotting after you eat it.” (Jay Leno) [i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“Candy
Corn Trivia: 8 Sweet Things to Know” By Penny Klatell
“Candy
Corn: Trivia & 13 Unique Flavors” by Invader Bethany
Hagerstown
· “It’s Candy-Corn Season!”by Jessica Prokop
· “The History of Candy Corn: A
Halloween Candy Favorite” By Sara
Broek
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