October 9, 2024 • 27 mins
Candy corn is the second most popular Halloween candy in the U.S. -- and probably the most divisive. In this classic episode, Anney and Lauren dig into the history of how candy corn rose to fame (or infamy), plus explore the science of how it's made.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello and welcome to SAVER, a production of iHeartRadio. I'm
Lauren Vogel Bah. I'm standing in all by my lonesome
today for Annie Reese who is out on Jerry duty.
And today we have a classic episode for you about
candy corn. This one originally aired just after Halloween in
twenty eighteen early November. Shout out to listener Eric for
(00:30):
putting this episode at the top of my mind by
drawing us into a Twitter thread with Holly Frye, who
is a big candy corn fan. I'd say I'm a
middling candy corn fan, but these are, of course a
contentious candy former. Annie and Lauren do have a lot
to say about that, and I'm going to let them
take it away.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Hello and welcome to SAVOR. I'm Annie Reese.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
And I'm Lauren vocal Bam. And today we're talking about
candy corn.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
We are we really missed an opportunity to do a
scary like pun name. Oh well, yes, we're talking about
candy corn, which I guess if you're listening to this today,
it comes out perhaps you're in your post Halloween haze.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Huh, maybe you still have some little packets of candy
corn sitting around.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yes, and maybe you're really excited about that, or maybe
you are very not excited about that.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Because people tend to fall into one of those two camps. Yes,
it's a polarizing candy.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
It is extremely polarizing. I would say one of the
most divisive of the candies. I firsontally think the circus
peanut is the worst.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Oh heck, okay, mm hmm, all right, that's a whole
other episode. It tastes like styrofoam, banana flavored styrofoam.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Does it have banana flavor?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Usually h Well.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Time called candy corn the most polarizing candy of them all.
Net Bas's Brand Passion Index found them to be the
most traditional candy of Halloween, least loved by consumers, one
that generated quote, the most negative feelings. In the words
of Lewis Black, candy corn is the only candy in
(02:20):
the history of America that's never been advertised. And there's
a reason all of the candy corn that was ever
made was made.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
In nineteen eleven. Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Or you have this from Chowhound quote, I think only
serial killers eat candy corn. And why a person would
choose candy corn over literally any other candy that's on
sale at Walgreens is.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Beyond me, okay?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Or how about this headline from Atlas Obscura quote a
coying kernel of evil, the history of candy corn, or
the nickname Satan's earwax, or this claim the leftover crumbs
and guy feeer Go tea would taste better than candy corn.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Oh snap, Yeah, that's an image that took me to
a place.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It does. It really paints a picture. Apparently.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
There was a cartoon character named Moose, a moose on
a past nick junior show Moose and Z that was
known for, among other things, his Halloween song called I
don't like candy corn, but me personally, I'm actually kind
of ambivalent about it.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, okay, that's very measured of you.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
It's fun.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, when I was a kid, it was definitely low
to your candy. But you know it's candy, right, It's
still made of sugar.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
How about you.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
I like candy corn.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I sort of like the texture and just the sort
of like nice mellow flavor to it. And I mean,
but I only ever want to eat like six pieces
of it a year, and it definitely does not come
in bags of six pieces, right, and so I don't know,
Like once every couple of years, I like let myself
buy some. Then I have about six pieces that I'm like, okay,
(04:00):
done here, and then just slowly goes stale in my cupboard.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
That sounds like a sad short story. That's a metaphor
for something else, you know. I'm not sure what I'm
going to ponder on that later. What's your least favorite candy?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Goodness, I guess smarties, Like I don't really understand why
they exist.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, I did read that a lot of people who
like candycorn like smarties.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Really.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, I think it's the texture is similar.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
It's not similar at all.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Well, some people think it is.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
It's definitely nice.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Lauren is very sure about this.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
If candy corn, I'm talking about like the powdery the
chalky smarties, not the like chewy candies. The chewy smarty
candies are just fine, but the chalky ones are like,
why did you press sugar into this format? Like, why
would you do this?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Explain to me?
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, I demand answers. Well, you know where to reach us,
folks if you need to. I bet this gets the
most angry male of any episode. We've ever done.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Lauren likes candy co Side note, the day before Halloween,
October thirtieth, is Candy Corn.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Day, National Candy Corn Day here in the United States.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
That's right, mm hmm. But this brings us to our
question candy corn. What is it?
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Well, candy corn is what's called a mallow cream or
mellow cream or malo cream candy. It's made from a
few different kinds of sugar, and its flavored with a
little bit of vanilla to taste sort of like marshmallows.
But the texture is smooth and creamy, like a less
chewy caramel, or like room temperature chewy ice cream, like
(05:36):
solid frosting, like smoother mars of pan.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I feel like you're trying to pitch me an idea,
and my face is like the ideas are increasingly frantic.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Annie is not buying this plan.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
They usually have a shiny glaze and they are super
sweet like I would say that the main flavor profile
is sweet. Candy corn in particular is shaped like kernels
of corn and is typically tricolored white, orange, and yellow.
One of the sugars used to make it is corn syrup.
So yes, there is some corn and candy corn. Technically
(06:15):
we should call this in defense of candy corn.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Man.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I can't stop. What video game is it that has
the character named mallow?
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Oh goodness, I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Well, Listener's right in, because now I'm consumed with this
one thought what came was that?
Speaker 3 (06:32):
And he looked like a big marshmallow now that I
look back on it. Anyway, you have a whole Google,
a whole Google just for me. Uh huh, Well, another
thing for me to do later, but for now, let's
talk about how candy corn is made.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah, it's pretty cool. Actually, Okay. The process can go
a couple of ways, but basically, you start by heating
up a blend of table sugar and corn syrup and
then whisking in some more sugar and some gelatine and
whipping that to create like a sort of stiff fluff
like a meringue. Almost fondant is then added to increase
(07:07):
the density of the fluff, and then you separate it
out into different batches for coloring. It is a molded candy,
and the molds can be made either by packing corn
starch into frames and then stamping the kernel shape into
the corn starch, or you can get a plastic mold
and coat it with a fine layer of cornstarch. But
either way, you've got these molds and the kernels in
(07:29):
the molds are tipped down and so then pumps inject
the batter into the molds layer by layers, starting with
the white tip and then the orange center and then
the yellow top or bottom as the I mean, however
you want to.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Look at it, Yeah, that's your worldview.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Oh are you bottom up? This got real deep?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It did.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
But yeah, So once they're in the molds, the candies
are left to cure in those molds for a day
or two, and when they are hardened, they are kind
of shaken out the molds and then coated with a
shiny wax and packaged. The whole process takes three or
four days. And fondant I mentioned is one of the ingredients.
It's this appliable, sculptuble sort of sugar dough. If you've
never heard of it. It's made from powdered sugar, corn
(08:13):
syrup and water and maybe other stuff like gelatin or
melted marshmallows. And if you've ever seen one of those
fancy smooth sided cakes on TV or like at a
catered event, it's probably decorated with fondant. So yeah, one
of the ingredients in candy corn is more other candy.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Different other candy.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Sure, I thought fond it for a while was pronounced fondue,
and then it was just a you know.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Like a weird spelling.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yeah, and I thought it was melted chocolate like fond dou.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Yeah, that's not what it is.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I know you can make a chocolate fondant, but it's.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
One of those things.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
I'm not sure why I ever thought that, but my
brain was trying to make here you go, that's.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
What that is.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Simplify.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
No, And all those different types of sugar are used
because zucrose aka table sugar, really likes to be crystal form,
like big, chunky crystal form. Its molecules just like stacking
up together like that. To convince it to have a fine,
smooth texture like you want for confections like candy corn,
you have to kind of trick sucrose into not chunking up.
(09:15):
And corn syrup is a good stabilizer for this because
it contains available glucose, and glucose molecules are a little
bit smaller and they sort of like bust up in
between the sucrose molecules and like interfere with the crystallization process.
So yeah, any disapproves of all of this. And I
would argue that this texture is the primary part of
(09:39):
candy corn that people who like it or dislike it
are thinking about, because the flavor is really mild. It's
just like a little bit of vanilla, maybe a tiny
bit of like honey kind of flavor in there, a
little bit of like burnt sugar kind of flavor. But
a representative from Jelly Belly told Thrillist that the flavor
is quote a blend of creamy, fondent, rich marshmallow and
(10:01):
warm vanilla notes.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Those warm vanilla notes, Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Like a wonderful jazz symphony show.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
That is an interesting point, though, because a lot of
the complaints I read about candy corn were texture based,
and for most of my friends, a lot of times
when they don't like a food, it is texture related. Yeah,
it's kind of an interesting thing. I don't think I
have a food where the texture is the main thing
that turns me offered onto it.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
I love the texture of some foods. That's why I
like I guess like bread and pasta and like gummies
so much. But yeah, the same batter for candy corn
is used to make other shapes sometimes, like wee little pumpkins,
and some people love them. In twenty sixteen, Bona Petite
ran a article with the headline the best candy is
mellow cream pumpkins. Because this isn't even a contest, didn't.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Benefit teat once say that was the worst candyto you know,
oh phone of tea. So how does one eat candy corn?
There there are actually instructions about how to do this.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
There is a pole. Forty three percent of us.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Go top down, nibbling at the narrow end first, like
how most people not me eat a piece of pizza.
About forty seven percent eat them whole, and the rest
go from the bottom of the triangle up, which is
how I eat my pizza.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Mm hm.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
For the record, there's no different flavorwise between the three sections.
I mean, I guess you're getting like the highest concentration
of glaze when you eat the white tip and the
highest concentration of mallow cream when you eat the wide
yellow end. But yeah, they're not different flavors.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah. And another searing essay I wrote on candy corn,
wrote or Red wrote Red.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yes, I have not written a searing essay on candy
corn yet yet. One of the writer's complaints was, as
a kid, he expected the layers have a different flavor,
saw the three.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Colors, yeah, and he felt lied to.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Mm hmm oh, I see, yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Trade.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
If you want to be upset about something, I recommend
googling candy corn on the cob because there are photographs
of this out there and it's I was upset personally.
You can create like a decorative corn cob using candy
corn kernels stuck into the base of like stiff modeling
fondent or like cookie doo, something like that. I was
mad at it. I don't know why I got so angry,
(12:28):
but I was like, this is unnatural, and I disapprove.
I'm putting my foot down. That's it, humanity done it.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
But what about that that pumpkin keg I showed you
where the It was a pumpkin cooler and the people
had just, oh, that's great, stuck the necks of beer
into a pumpkin.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I mean it's also upsetting at a certain point, but like.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It's one of my favorite images.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I've just randomly stumbled upon For some reason, I was
picturing when you mentioned you said candy corn on the cob,
the kernel's pointing out like pinhead almost.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Oh, that's also a little bit upsetting.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
But it setting.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
But it doesn't make sense. I mean, the whole thing
doesn't make sense. But you know, it also doesn't make sense.
Is that apparently people deep fry candy corn?
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah, no, humanity, you can go right to your room.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
We're done here. If we're talking about nutrition, I mean
they're mostly sugar. Yeah, per piece, they're only about seven calories.
I mean they're candy.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Yeah, they're fat free. But sugar isn't a health food. Nope, Nope,
that's probably not news to you. If we look at numbers,
as of twenty thirteen, nine billion pieces of candy corn
are produced a year. That's thirty five million pounds. Jelly Belly,
which is one of the premier national makers of candy corn,
(13:44):
says that they make most of it during July in
preparation for the Halloween season, and according to Brox they make,
which is one of the other leading manufacturers, they make
over two million pieces per day when their line is
like really up and running.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Wow, you can get other varieties rather than the classic
the Halloween fall colors. You can get red, white, and
green for Christmas that's reindeer corn, pink, red and white
for Palendine's Day, cupid corn, and for a while, candy
corn was a popular addition to the Garden of Easter baskets.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Bunny corn. Yeah, there's also freedom corn for the Fourth
of July, freedom corn and corn.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
But most everyone, if they're eating candy corn, they're eating
the Halloween slash fall variety. One study from the National
Confectioners Association survey found that candy corn was the preferred
Halloween candy of only twelve percent of respondents, which seemed
high to me, honestly.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
But it was number two after chocolate yeah, which was
like seventy percent. So it's not really a contest, But
I mean, yeah, I don't know. By sales data from
twenty seven to twenty seventeen, candy corn was the favorite
Halloween candy in seven states Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada,
New Mexico, and Rhode Island.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
I don't want to keep hammering this point home, but
I read so many essays about why people hate candy
corn like passionate essays, and I think it was somebody
from Michigan wrote, essentially, I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed
when they heard that candy corn was there.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
The state's favorite candy just cracked me up.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Oh favorite Halloween candy.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Specific Yes, yes, still, but yes worth noting not only this,
you can get candy corn flavored bagels.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Does that fall in your realm of acceptable bagels? No?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
No, I cussed really loud in my head when I
read that.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Actually I suspected you might.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Yeah, you can get candy corn flavored Oreos, candy corn,
Emminim's coffee, panacotta, and all of the drinks candy corn, cocktail,
candy corn, beer, candy corn, jello shots.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
A Starburst flavored candy corn, pumpkin spice flavored candy corn.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Apparently, opened candy corn can last six to eight months
if you store it properly in an airtight container or
in the fridge. There you go, make your candy corn
last almost all you air. Well, that's our overview of
this most divisive of candies. But how did candy corn
get here? We'll look into that after a quick break
(16:28):
for a word from our sponsor.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
And we're back. Thank you Sponsors, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Unlike most candies, candy corn is pretty specifically American. According
to the Trade Association, candy corn was invented in the
way back, the way back, in this case being the
eighteen eighties, courtesy of an employee of the Wonderly Candy
Company named George Rinnager out of Philadelphia. This was sort
of the trend at the time so called butter cream
(17:01):
candies molded into different shapes. But what really made candy
corn stand out from the pack was those three colors,
a real pain in the butt to make at the time.
The end product, though, was eye catching and new. They
sold the recipe to another candy maker, one by the
name of Gulitz Candy Company. You may know it by
another name, the Jelly Belly Candy Company.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
They came out with their own tricolored candy corn in
eighteen ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
The Goulitz family had been in the candy business for
a few decades, but candy corn and other mellow cream
candies then called butter creams were their runaway success.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
At the time. This candy was made manually in a
decent sized kettle. Candy makers would mix a semi liquid
of sugar, corn syrup, fondant, marshmallow water. The resulting slurry
was poured into buckets called stringers, and then these dudes
called runners would walk in reverse pouring the mixture into
kernel shaped molds.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Each layer was pored in by hand from these stringer
buckets on an individual run down the line of molds,
so you know, one for each color. And the buckets
were called stringers because they didn't have like a single spout,
They had this whole row of spouts or sort of
like funnel heads kind of. And so by reaching the
stringer out over a row of molds and tipping it
just so you could fill the whole row in a
(18:19):
single pore.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Oh cool.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
And the molds were made of cornstarch, as they are
today sometimes This was an innovation in candy making from
around that time. And yeah, instead of using a metal
or wooden mold, which you might need to grease somehow
to prevent the candy from sticking, you could press shapes
into fir impact cornstarch, and you know, your candy batter
sticks to that a little bit too. But that's actually
(18:41):
a good thing because it imparts like a fine layer
of cornstarch on the candy that helps it sent.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Another thing about the time that's important to this is
that about half the American workforce were farmers. That meant
that a lot of companies targeted them and their families
directly with these farm adjacent shape.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Other shapes for Mala creams included, yes, pumpkins, but also turnips, chestnuts,
and clovers. Although it was only made for a few
months out of the year due to the labor intensive
creation process, it was marketed as.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
A year round treat.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
The Gullets would eventually develop a machine that made hand
pouring the candies obsolete, supposedly after one of the owners
woke up in the middle of the night was shooting
back pain from having poured candy out of these stringer
buckets all day.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Thanks, I've got to put an end to this.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yes, no mall.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
In the nineteen twenties, folks gave candy corn the possibly
affectionate name chicken feed. The manufacturers sold it in a
box with a chicken on the front. The motto of
the Gults Candy Companies version was quote King of the
candy corn field, it's something worth crowing for, and I
will say it was sort of a gimmicky candy for
(19:52):
children at like county fairs.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, hey, kids, it's like.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Chickens, like chicken feed fun malls.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Prior to World War One, corn was a food Americans
generally a skewed. It was seen as a poor person's
food and the taste wasn't really that great. Animal feed,
not human food. But thanks to wartime shortages of wheat,
Americans came around to corn candy corn though, that got
on pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Also that the sweeter hybrids of corn that we eat
fresh today hadn't been developed yet. But yeah, at the time,
even like grits and corn flour and stuff like that
were looked down upon by some segments of the population.
We wouldn't get more dependable hybrids of sweet corn, you know,
like the fresh stuff that we eat like a vegetable,
until like the nineteen thirties and onward from there.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
And this just about brings us to Halloween. But first
it brings us to one last quick break for a
word from our sponsor, and we're back.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
So when did candy corn become associated with Halloween? You ask,
we hope you ask because we're going to answer yeah,
and the answer is sometime in the nineteen fifties. Interestingly, though,
an ad that came out in the very same decade
declared candy corn eight year long candy. A nineteen fifty
one grocery store ad read quote, the candy all children
(21:19):
love to nibble on all year long.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
And there's a nineteen fifty seven Brox ad that includes
candy corn and a spread of summertime candies summertime candies.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Up until this point, candy corn was sold as a
penny candy, a candy targeted towards children that was sold
in bulk. Also, up until this point, lots of candy
makers were in on the game. A lot of people
were making types of candy corn. But nowadays we have
jelly belly and brocks, and that's about it.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
On a nationwide scale. That's just about it.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Ads for candy corn in the fifties other than that, though,
largely went all in on them being a Halloween candy,
way more so than other candies, to the point that
people start to think it was weird to eat it
outside of Halloween times. They succeeded in associating it with
Halloween but then it became all.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Just Halloween exactly basically. Yeah, and this was also the
era when Halloween became associated with candy in general. Prior
to this, trick or treating might have met use some
homemade baked goods or homemade candies. But post World War
Two and post the sugar rations that came with World
War Two, candy companies started marketing their packaged candies as
this like cool and convenient handout for trigger treaters, and simultaneously,
(22:33):
trigger treating was really cementing itself as like a family
tradition in America.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yet another candy corn related thing that happened in the
fifties candy related illness. After one particular Halloween, a lot
of trick or treaters experienced gastro ande, testinal distress, or
even rashes and welts. The cause was orange dye and
number one, and only in large amounts was it causing
these issues. It makes me wonder just how much these
(23:00):
large amounts we're talking. Yeah, it wasn't just candy corn
that used orange dye number one. All kinds of things did,
from hot dogs to candy pumpkins. Though it had been
approved all the way back in nineteen oh six it
was actually poisonous.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Oops.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, yeah, it was made of coltar.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Well, it was derived from coal.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Tar, which isn't aspartame.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Again, like, we are all made of chemicals. Things can
be derived from a number of petroleum products, and if
you have a problem with the use of petroleum products
in general, then that's a bad thing, maybe environmentally or
something like that. But the chemical itself, you know, isn't
maintaining some kind of property of coal or petroleum. It's
(23:43):
a chemical. We are all made of chemicals.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Every time you say that, it makes me think of
the Moby song We're all made of Stars.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I like my version better. So yeah, it was a
really big thing through the fifties in the sixties, and
then we started to get the more modern eras of
candy making with all the you know, sour flavors and
different weird chocolate treats and all that kind of stuff.
And the dominance of it through that specific era has
(24:14):
led some candy experts to speculate that it's a nostalgia
thing for the baby boomer generation who grew up with
it being this specific Halloween treat, and that it just
confuses the heck out of gen xers and millennials, who
you know, had more options when we were kids.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
That makes sense.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
Yeah, nostalgia is a powerful thing.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
It reminds me of this experience I had when I
was taking a lyft a couple months ago.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
It was really late and my lift driver was an
older African American woman. I was clearly like out of it.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
I think it was late, and she says, would you
like some candy? And I said no, and she was like,
take some candy. And I was like, okay, She's like no, no, no, no, no,
take some candy.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
I take it. And that's a candy I've never seen before.
And I don't know what it is.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
I can't tell you what it was, okay, but it
looks like a life saver.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I believe it was called apple. Oh oh yeah, yeah, sure.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
I put it in my mouth and it becomes clear
that this is a candy that's never going to go away.
Oh And she sort of snickers and she says, back
in my day, candy was going to last you for months.
Candy these days, that's not the real thing. That's not
how candy's supposed to be. And then she went into
(25:33):
all these stories about how she would take this candy
and put it in like a Kleenex.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Oh and like come back for later. Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
And she'd teach her grandkids a lesson because they would
come and try to steal her candy, and she'd be like, well,
jokes on you, kid, because that was in my mouth. Really,
it was quite the memorable lift bridge.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Oh that's great, though it was. It was I thought
I appreciated the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
As we record, the Halloween has not happened yet. And
as I mentioned in another episode, I have five candies
I have to get for free, and I have.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
All but one. Oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
And our office manager saw me like dive for an
almond joy the other day.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
They're very rare.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
So I gotta find a butter finger, all right, cross
your fingers for me, listeners.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I think good better finger thoughts.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
It's a curse. It has to be free. I can't
buy it. This is the rule. I don't know what
will happen. I think the universe it will be like
the end of Cabin in the Woods.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Oh yeah, don't get man.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Well, it's in everybody's best interest that this happen.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
That this happens.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah, well, I'll.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Keep an eye out.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I will, but I think if you buy it it
won't count either. It has to just appear somehow.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Okay, you have to like forge it.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
In the wild, exactly exactly. It's just growing next to
some Chantarell's. Well that's my next couple of days, just
searching for a better finger. If you see me wandering around, well,
good luck, thank.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
You, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
That brings us to the end of this classic Candycorn episode.
We hope that you enjoyed listening or re listening as
much as we did, and if you have any thoughts
about candycorn, we would love to hear them. You can
email us at Hello at saverpod dot com or find
us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook at saver pod, and
(27:27):
we do hope to hear from you. Savor is production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, you can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan
Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and
we hope that lots more good things are coming your way.
Hello and welcome to SAVER, a production of iHeartRadio. I'm
Lauren Vogel Bah. I'm standing in all by my lonesome
today for Annie Reese who is out on Jerry duty.
And today we have a classic episode for you about
candy corn. This one originally aired just after Halloween in
twenty eighteen early November. Shout out to listener Eric for
(00:30):
putting this episode at the top of my mind by
drawing us into a Twitter thread with Holly Frye, who
is a big candy corn fan. I'd say I'm a
middling candy corn fan, but these are, of course a
contentious candy former. Annie and Lauren do have a lot
to say about that, and I'm going to let them
take it away.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Hello and welcome to SAVOR. I'm Annie Reese.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
And I'm Lauren vocal Bam. And today we're talking about
candy corn.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
We are we really missed an opportunity to do a
scary like pun name. Oh well, yes, we're talking about
candy corn, which I guess if you're listening to this today,
it comes out perhaps you're in your post Halloween haze.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Huh, maybe you still have some little packets of candy
corn sitting around.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yes, and maybe you're really excited about that, or maybe
you are very not excited about that.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Because people tend to fall into one of those two camps. Yes,
it's a polarizing candy.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
It is extremely polarizing. I would say one of the
most divisive of the candies. I firsontally think the circus
peanut is the worst.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Oh heck, okay, mm hmm, all right, that's a whole
other episode. It tastes like styrofoam, banana flavored styrofoam.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Does it have banana flavor?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Usually h Well.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Time called candy corn the most polarizing candy of them all.
Net Bas's Brand Passion Index found them to be the
most traditional candy of Halloween, least loved by consumers, one
that generated quote, the most negative feelings. In the words
of Lewis Black, candy corn is the only candy in
(02:20):
the history of America that's never been advertised. And there's
a reason all of the candy corn that was ever
made was made.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
In nineteen eleven. Mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Or you have this from Chowhound quote, I think only
serial killers eat candy corn. And why a person would
choose candy corn over literally any other candy that's on
sale at Walgreens is.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Beyond me, okay?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Or how about this headline from Atlas Obscura quote a
coying kernel of evil, the history of candy corn, or
the nickname Satan's earwax, or this claim the leftover crumbs
and guy feeer Go tea would taste better than candy corn.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Oh snap, Yeah, that's an image that took me to
a place.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It does. It really paints a picture. Apparently.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
There was a cartoon character named Moose, a moose on
a past nick junior show Moose and Z that was
known for, among other things, his Halloween song called I
don't like candy corn, but me personally, I'm actually kind
of ambivalent about it.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, okay, that's very measured of you.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
It's fun.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, when I was a kid, it was definitely low
to your candy. But you know it's candy, right, It's
still made of sugar.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
How about you.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
I like candy corn.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I sort of like the texture and just the sort
of like nice mellow flavor to it. And I mean,
but I only ever want to eat like six pieces
of it a year, and it definitely does not come
in bags of six pieces, right, and so I don't know,
Like once every couple of years, I like let myself
buy some. Then I have about six pieces that I'm like, okay,
(04:00):
done here, and then just slowly goes stale in my cupboard.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
That sounds like a sad short story. That's a metaphor
for something else, you know. I'm not sure what I'm
going to ponder on that later. What's your least favorite candy?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Goodness, I guess smarties, Like I don't really understand why
they exist.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, I did read that a lot of people who
like candycorn like smarties.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Really.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, I think it's the texture is similar.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
It's not similar at all.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Well, some people think it is.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
It's definitely nice.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Lauren is very sure about this.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
If candy corn, I'm talking about like the powdery the
chalky smarties, not the like chewy candies. The chewy smarty
candies are just fine, but the chalky ones are like,
why did you press sugar into this format? Like, why
would you do this?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Explain to me?
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, I demand answers. Well, you know where to reach us,
folks if you need to. I bet this gets the
most angry male of any episode. We've ever done.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Lauren likes candy co Side note, the day before Halloween,
October thirtieth, is Candy Corn.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Day, National Candy Corn Day here in the United States.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
That's right, mm hmm. But this brings us to our
question candy corn. What is it?
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Well, candy corn is what's called a mallow cream or
mellow cream or malo cream candy. It's made from a
few different kinds of sugar, and its flavored with a
little bit of vanilla to taste sort of like marshmallows.
But the texture is smooth and creamy, like a less
chewy caramel, or like room temperature chewy ice cream, like
(05:36):
solid frosting, like smoother mars of pan.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I feel like you're trying to pitch me an idea,
and my face is like the ideas are increasingly frantic.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Annie is not buying this plan.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
They usually have a shiny glaze and they are super
sweet like I would say that the main flavor profile
is sweet. Candy corn in particular is shaped like kernels
of corn and is typically tricolored white, orange, and yellow.
One of the sugars used to make it is corn syrup.
So yes, there is some corn and candy corn. Technically
(06:15):
we should call this in defense of candy corn.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Man.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I can't stop. What video game is it that has
the character named mallow?
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Oh goodness, I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Well, Listener's right in, because now I'm consumed with this
one thought what came was that?
Speaker 3 (06:32):
And he looked like a big marshmallow now that I
look back on it. Anyway, you have a whole Google,
a whole Google just for me. Uh huh, Well, another
thing for me to do later, but for now, let's
talk about how candy corn is made.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah, it's pretty cool. Actually, Okay. The process can go
a couple of ways, but basically, you start by heating
up a blend of table sugar and corn syrup and
then whisking in some more sugar and some gelatine and
whipping that to create like a sort of stiff fluff
like a meringue. Almost fondant is then added to increase
(07:07):
the density of the fluff, and then you separate it
out into different batches for coloring. It is a molded candy,
and the molds can be made either by packing corn
starch into frames and then stamping the kernel shape into
the corn starch, or you can get a plastic mold
and coat it with a fine layer of cornstarch. But
either way, you've got these molds and the kernels in
(07:29):
the molds are tipped down and so then pumps inject
the batter into the molds layer by layers, starting with
the white tip and then the orange center and then
the yellow top or bottom as the I mean, however
you want to.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Look at it, Yeah, that's your worldview.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Oh are you bottom up? This got real deep?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It did.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
But yeah, So once they're in the molds, the candies
are left to cure in those molds for a day
or two, and when they are hardened, they are kind
of shaken out the molds and then coated with a
shiny wax and packaged. The whole process takes three or
four days. And fondant I mentioned is one of the ingredients.
It's this appliable, sculptuble sort of sugar dough. If you've
never heard of it. It's made from powdered sugar, corn
(08:13):
syrup and water and maybe other stuff like gelatin or
melted marshmallows. And if you've ever seen one of those
fancy smooth sided cakes on TV or like at a
catered event, it's probably decorated with fondant. So yeah, one
of the ingredients in candy corn is more other candy.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Different other candy.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Sure, I thought fond it for a while was pronounced fondue,
and then it was just a you know.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Like a weird spelling.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yeah, and I thought it was melted chocolate like fond dou.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Yeah, that's not what it is.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I know you can make a chocolate fondant, but it's.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
One of those things.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
I'm not sure why I ever thought that, but my
brain was trying to make here you go, that's.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
What that is.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Simplify.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
No, And all those different types of sugar are used
because zucrose aka table sugar, really likes to be crystal form,
like big, chunky crystal form. Its molecules just like stacking
up together like that. To convince it to have a fine,
smooth texture like you want for confections like candy corn,
you have to kind of trick sucrose into not chunking up.
(09:15):
And corn syrup is a good stabilizer for this because
it contains available glucose, and glucose molecules are a little
bit smaller and they sort of like bust up in
between the sucrose molecules and like interfere with the crystallization process.
So yeah, any disapproves of all of this. And I
would argue that this texture is the primary part of
(09:39):
candy corn that people who like it or dislike it
are thinking about, because the flavor is really mild. It's
just like a little bit of vanilla, maybe a tiny
bit of like honey kind of flavor in there, a
little bit of like burnt sugar kind of flavor. But
a representative from Jelly Belly told Thrillist that the flavor
is quote a blend of creamy, fondent, rich marshmallow and
(10:01):
warm vanilla notes.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Those warm vanilla notes, Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Like a wonderful jazz symphony show.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
That is an interesting point, though, because a lot of
the complaints I read about candy corn were texture based,
and for most of my friends, a lot of times
when they don't like a food, it is texture related. Yeah,
it's kind of an interesting thing. I don't think I
have a food where the texture is the main thing
that turns me offered onto it.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
I love the texture of some foods. That's why I
like I guess like bread and pasta and like gummies
so much. But yeah, the same batter for candy corn
is used to make other shapes sometimes, like wee little pumpkins,
and some people love them. In twenty sixteen, Bona Petite
ran a article with the headline the best candy is
mellow cream pumpkins. Because this isn't even a contest, didn't.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Benefit teat once say that was the worst candyto you know,
oh phone of tea. So how does one eat candy corn?
There there are actually instructions about how to do this.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
There is a pole. Forty three percent of us.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Go top down, nibbling at the narrow end first, like
how most people not me eat a piece of pizza.
About forty seven percent eat them whole, and the rest
go from the bottom of the triangle up, which is
how I eat my pizza.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Mm hm.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
For the record, there's no different flavorwise between the three sections.
I mean, I guess you're getting like the highest concentration
of glaze when you eat the white tip and the
highest concentration of mallow cream when you eat the wide
yellow end. But yeah, they're not different flavors.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah. And another searing essay I wrote on candy corn,
wrote or Red wrote Red.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yes, I have not written a searing essay on candy
corn yet yet. One of the writer's complaints was, as
a kid, he expected the layers have a different flavor,
saw the three.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Colors, yeah, and he felt lied to.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Mm hmm oh, I see, yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Trade.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
If you want to be upset about something, I recommend
googling candy corn on the cob because there are photographs
of this out there and it's I was upset personally.
You can create like a decorative corn cob using candy
corn kernels stuck into the base of like stiff modeling
fondent or like cookie doo, something like that. I was
mad at it. I don't know why I got so angry,
(12:28):
but I was like, this is unnatural, and I disapprove.
I'm putting my foot down. That's it, humanity done it.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
But what about that that pumpkin keg I showed you
where the It was a pumpkin cooler and the people
had just, oh, that's great, stuck the necks of beer
into a pumpkin.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I mean it's also upsetting at a certain point, but like.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It's one of my favorite images.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I've just randomly stumbled upon For some reason, I was
picturing when you mentioned you said candy corn on the cob,
the kernel's pointing out like pinhead almost.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Oh, that's also a little bit upsetting.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
But it setting.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
But it doesn't make sense. I mean, the whole thing
doesn't make sense. But you know, it also doesn't make sense.
Is that apparently people deep fry candy corn?
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah, no, humanity, you can go right to your room.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
We're done here. If we're talking about nutrition, I mean
they're mostly sugar. Yeah, per piece, they're only about seven calories.
I mean they're candy.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Yeah, they're fat free. But sugar isn't a health food. Nope, Nope,
that's probably not news to you. If we look at numbers,
as of twenty thirteen, nine billion pieces of candy corn
are produced a year. That's thirty five million pounds. Jelly Belly,
which is one of the premier national makers of candy corn,
(13:44):
says that they make most of it during July in
preparation for the Halloween season, and according to Brox they make,
which is one of the other leading manufacturers, they make
over two million pieces per day when their line is
like really up and running.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Wow, you can get other varieties rather than the classic
the Halloween fall colors. You can get red, white, and
green for Christmas that's reindeer corn, pink, red and white
for Palendine's Day, cupid corn, and for a while, candy
corn was a popular addition to the Garden of Easter baskets.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Bunny corn. Yeah, there's also freedom corn for the Fourth
of July, freedom corn and corn.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
But most everyone, if they're eating candy corn, they're eating
the Halloween slash fall variety. One study from the National
Confectioners Association survey found that candy corn was the preferred
Halloween candy of only twelve percent of respondents, which seemed
high to me, honestly.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
But it was number two after chocolate yeah, which was
like seventy percent. So it's not really a contest, But
I mean, yeah, I don't know. By sales data from
twenty seven to twenty seventeen, candy corn was the favorite
Halloween candy in seven states Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada,
New Mexico, and Rhode Island.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
I don't want to keep hammering this point home, but
I read so many essays about why people hate candy
corn like passionate essays, and I think it was somebody
from Michigan wrote, essentially, I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed
when they heard that candy corn was there.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
The state's favorite candy just cracked me up.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Oh favorite Halloween candy.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Specific Yes, yes, still, but yes worth noting not only this,
you can get candy corn flavored bagels.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Does that fall in your realm of acceptable bagels? No?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
No, I cussed really loud in my head when I
read that.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Actually I suspected you might.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Yeah, you can get candy corn flavored Oreos, candy corn,
Emminim's coffee, panacotta, and all of the drinks candy corn, cocktail,
candy corn, beer, candy corn, jello shots.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
A Starburst flavored candy corn, pumpkin spice flavored candy corn.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Apparently, opened candy corn can last six to eight months
if you store it properly in an airtight container or
in the fridge. There you go, make your candy corn
last almost all you air. Well, that's our overview of
this most divisive of candies. But how did candy corn
get here? We'll look into that after a quick break
(16:28):
for a word from our sponsor.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
And we're back. Thank you Sponsors, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Unlike most candies, candy corn is pretty specifically American. According
to the Trade Association, candy corn was invented in the
way back, the way back, in this case being the
eighteen eighties, courtesy of an employee of the Wonderly Candy
Company named George Rinnager out of Philadelphia. This was sort
of the trend at the time so called butter cream
(17:01):
candies molded into different shapes. But what really made candy
corn stand out from the pack was those three colors,
a real pain in the butt to make at the time.
The end product, though, was eye catching and new. They
sold the recipe to another candy maker, one by the
name of Gulitz Candy Company. You may know it by
another name, the Jelly Belly Candy Company.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
They came out with their own tricolored candy corn in
eighteen ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
The Goulitz family had been in the candy business for
a few decades, but candy corn and other mellow cream
candies then called butter creams were their runaway success.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
At the time. This candy was made manually in a
decent sized kettle. Candy makers would mix a semi liquid
of sugar, corn syrup, fondant, marshmallow water. The resulting slurry
was poured into buckets called stringers, and then these dudes
called runners would walk in reverse pouring the mixture into
kernel shaped molds.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Each layer was pored in by hand from these stringer
buckets on an individual run down the line of molds,
so you know, one for each color. And the buckets
were called stringers because they didn't have like a single spout,
They had this whole row of spouts or sort of
like funnel heads kind of. And so by reaching the
stringer out over a row of molds and tipping it
just so you could fill the whole row in a
(18:19):
single pore.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Oh cool.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
And the molds were made of cornstarch, as they are
today sometimes This was an innovation in candy making from
around that time. And yeah, instead of using a metal
or wooden mold, which you might need to grease somehow
to prevent the candy from sticking, you could press shapes
into fir impact cornstarch, and you know, your candy batter
sticks to that a little bit too. But that's actually
(18:41):
a good thing because it imparts like a fine layer
of cornstarch on the candy that helps it sent.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Another thing about the time that's important to this is
that about half the American workforce were farmers. That meant
that a lot of companies targeted them and their families
directly with these farm adjacent shape.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Other shapes for Mala creams included, yes, pumpkins, but also turnips, chestnuts,
and clovers. Although it was only made for a few
months out of the year due to the labor intensive
creation process, it was marketed as.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
A year round treat.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
The Gullets would eventually develop a machine that made hand
pouring the candies obsolete, supposedly after one of the owners
woke up in the middle of the night was shooting
back pain from having poured candy out of these stringer
buckets all day.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Thanks, I've got to put an end to this.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yes, no mall.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
In the nineteen twenties, folks gave candy corn the possibly
affectionate name chicken feed. The manufacturers sold it in a
box with a chicken on the front. The motto of
the Gults Candy Companies version was quote King of the
candy corn field, it's something worth crowing for, and I
will say it was sort of a gimmicky candy for
(19:52):
children at like county fairs.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, hey, kids, it's like.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Chickens, like chicken feed fun malls.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Prior to World War One, corn was a food Americans
generally a skewed. It was seen as a poor person's
food and the taste wasn't really that great. Animal feed,
not human food. But thanks to wartime shortages of wheat,
Americans came around to corn candy corn though, that got
on pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Also that the sweeter hybrids of corn that we eat
fresh today hadn't been developed yet. But yeah, at the time,
even like grits and corn flour and stuff like that
were looked down upon by some segments of the population.
We wouldn't get more dependable hybrids of sweet corn, you know,
like the fresh stuff that we eat like a vegetable,
until like the nineteen thirties and onward from there.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
And this just about brings us to Halloween. But first
it brings us to one last quick break for a
word from our sponsor, and we're back.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
So when did candy corn become associated with Halloween? You ask,
we hope you ask because we're going to answer yeah,
and the answer is sometime in the nineteen fifties. Interestingly, though,
an ad that came out in the very same decade
declared candy corn eight year long candy. A nineteen fifty
one grocery store ad read quote, the candy all children
(21:19):
love to nibble on all year long.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
And there's a nineteen fifty seven Brox ad that includes
candy corn and a spread of summertime candies summertime candies.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Up until this point, candy corn was sold as a
penny candy, a candy targeted towards children that was sold
in bulk. Also, up until this point, lots of candy
makers were in on the game. A lot of people
were making types of candy corn. But nowadays we have
jelly belly and brocks, and that's about it.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
On a nationwide scale. That's just about it.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Ads for candy corn in the fifties other than that, though,
largely went all in on them being a Halloween candy,
way more so than other candies, to the point that
people start to think it was weird to eat it
outside of Halloween times. They succeeded in associating it with
Halloween but then it became all.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Just Halloween exactly basically. Yeah, and this was also the
era when Halloween became associated with candy in general. Prior
to this, trick or treating might have met use some
homemade baked goods or homemade candies. But post World War
Two and post the sugar rations that came with World
War Two, candy companies started marketing their packaged candies as
this like cool and convenient handout for trigger treaters, and simultaneously,
(22:33):
trigger treating was really cementing itself as like a family
tradition in America.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yet another candy corn related thing that happened in the
fifties candy related illness. After one particular Halloween, a lot
of trick or treaters experienced gastro ande, testinal distress, or
even rashes and welts. The cause was orange dye and
number one, and only in large amounts was it causing
these issues. It makes me wonder just how much these
(23:00):
large amounts we're talking. Yeah, it wasn't just candy corn
that used orange dye number one. All kinds of things did,
from hot dogs to candy pumpkins. Though it had been
approved all the way back in nineteen oh six it
was actually poisonous.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Oops.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, yeah, it was made of coltar.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Well, it was derived from coal.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Tar, which isn't aspartame.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Again, like, we are all made of chemicals. Things can
be derived from a number of petroleum products, and if
you have a problem with the use of petroleum products
in general, then that's a bad thing, maybe environmentally or
something like that. But the chemical itself, you know, isn't
maintaining some kind of property of coal or petroleum. It's
(23:43):
a chemical. We are all made of chemicals.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Every time you say that, it makes me think of
the Moby song We're all made of Stars.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I like my version better. So yeah, it was a
really big thing through the fifties in the sixties, and
then we started to get the more modern eras of
candy making with all the you know, sour flavors and
different weird chocolate treats and all that kind of stuff.
And the dominance of it through that specific era has
(24:14):
led some candy experts to speculate that it's a nostalgia
thing for the baby boomer generation who grew up with
it being this specific Halloween treat, and that it just
confuses the heck out of gen xers and millennials, who
you know, had more options when we were kids.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
That makes sense.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
Yeah, nostalgia is a powerful thing.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
It reminds me of this experience I had when I
was taking a lyft a couple months ago.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
It was really late and my lift driver was an
older African American woman. I was clearly like out of it.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
I think it was late, and she says, would you
like some candy? And I said no, and she was like,
take some candy. And I was like, okay, She's like no, no, no, no, no,
take some candy.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
I take it. And that's a candy I've never seen before.
And I don't know what it is.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
I can't tell you what it was, okay, but it
looks like a life saver.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I believe it was called apple. Oh oh yeah, yeah, sure.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
I put it in my mouth and it becomes clear
that this is a candy that's never going to go away.
Oh And she sort of snickers and she says, back
in my day, candy was going to last you for months.
Candy these days, that's not the real thing. That's not
how candy's supposed to be. And then she went into
(25:33):
all these stories about how she would take this candy
and put it in like a Kleenex.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Oh and like come back for later. Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
And she'd teach her grandkids a lesson because they would
come and try to steal her candy, and she'd be like, well,
jokes on you, kid, because that was in my mouth. Really,
it was quite the memorable lift bridge.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Oh that's great, though it was. It was I thought
I appreciated the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
As we record, the Halloween has not happened yet. And
as I mentioned in another episode, I have five candies
I have to get for free, and I have.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
All but one. Oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
And our office manager saw me like dive for an
almond joy the other day.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
They're very rare.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
So I gotta find a butter finger, all right, cross
your fingers for me, listeners.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I think good better finger thoughts.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
It's a curse. It has to be free. I can't
buy it. This is the rule. I don't know what
will happen. I think the universe it will be like
the end of Cabin in the Woods.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Oh yeah, don't get man.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Well, it's in everybody's best interest that this happen.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
That this happens.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah, well, I'll.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Keep an eye out.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I will, but I think if you buy it it
won't count either. It has to just appear somehow.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Okay, you have to like forge it.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
In the wild, exactly exactly. It's just growing next to
some Chantarell's. Well that's my next couple of days, just
searching for a better finger. If you see me wandering around, well,
good luck, thank.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
You, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
That brings us to the end of this classic Candycorn episode.
We hope that you enjoyed listening or re listening as
much as we did, and if you have any thoughts
about candycorn, we would love to hear them. You can
email us at Hello at saverpod dot com or find
us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook at saver pod, and
(27:27):
we do hope to hear from you. Savor is production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, you can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan
Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and
we hope that lots more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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