Each Halloween sees bags of white, yellow, and orange candies filled with trick-or-treat candy bags across the country. There are many bags to be filled: The National Confectioners Association estimates that candy companies make nearly 35 million pounds (15.8 million kilograms) each year. This is roughly 9 billion pieces of sweet candy.

Candy corn is a sweet imitation of dried corn kernels. It is also known as a “mellow cream”, a candy made of corn syrup and sugar with a marshmallow flavour. It’s fat-rich in flavour, but it’s completely free.

The candy corn is most well-known for its three stripes (yellow at the bottom, orange in the middle and white at top), but there are many other flavours and colours available depending on the holiday.

  • Thanksgiving: Brown, orange, and white Indian corn (the brown portion is chocolate-flavoured).
  • Christmas: Green, red and white reindeer corn
  • Valentine’s Day: Pink, red, and white cupid corn
  • Easter Bunny Corn in pastel colours

The traditional variety is especially popular around Halloween. October 30th is National Candy Corn Day. But candy corn wasn’t associated with Halloween before World War II when trick-or-treating became more popular.

Candy corn has been around for more than 100 years. Its look reminded of farm life may have helped it catch on with urban folk who long for the rural past. Its tri-coloured appearance was a breakthrough in the candy industry of the time. The Goelitz Candy Company began making candy corn in 1900. Today, the company’s name is the Jelly Belly Candy Company.

While the recipe for candy corn hasn’t changed much in the last 1800s, the process of making it has. In the beginning, workers used large kettles to mix the main ingredients: sugar, water, and corn syrup. They then added fondant, a sweet, creamy icing made of sugar, corn syrup, and water, and marshmallow for smoothness. They then poured the mixture into kernel-shaped moulds using cornstarch trays. This was done three times. One for each colour. Candy corn was unavailable between August and November due to the tedious work involved.

Machines do most of the work today. To create their signature design, manufacturers use the cornstarch moulding process. The machine fills the tray with cornstarch and holds the candy corn in place. Each hole is filled with sweet white syrup artificial food colouring. The orange syrup is next, followed by the yellow syrup. After the mould cools, the mixture is left to sit for 24 hours before hardening. The machine then empties the trays, and the kernels are thrown into chutes. The cornstarch that is left over is sifted in a large sifter. Next, workers glaze the candy corn to make it shine and package it for shipment.

Can candy corn be made from corn?

Candy corn is a sweet imitation of dried corn kernels. It is also known as “mellow cream”, a candy made of corn syrup and sugar with a marshmallow-like taste.

Can candy corn be bad?

Although candy corn may taste sweet, it is low in fat. The candy has a minimal impact on your diet and health.