Saturday, October 23, 2010

Some Things About Candy Corn

With Halloween fast approaching, I thought
I'd share a few things about candy corn.

* There's just something about candy corn that screams

H A L L O W E E N ! ! !

* It's a sure sign that fall is upon us.
.
* It's a candy treat of solid sugar that {honestly?} isn't really all that great tasting - it's the texture I like.
.
* You have to eat it one section at a time: bite off the white tip...then the orange middle...and the yellow base gets eaten last. It's just the way it's done.
.
* Until this year I thought candy corn was enjoyed around the planet. Come to find out, some of my international friends have never tried it. {I should have done a blog giveaway for candy corn...next year!}

* I used it as a decoration last weekend when my SIL's came over. The photo above is of our table centerpiece and we picked at the candy corn throughout the night. The next morning there was one lone "kernel" by the spider. :o)

I did a little internet search and found these facts {the source}:

* October 30th is National Candy Corn Day
* One serving of candy corn contains only about 140 calories
* Candy corn has 3.57 calories per kernel
* More than 35 million pounds of candy corn will be produced this year. That equates to nearly 9 billion pieces -- enough to circle the moon nearly four times if laid end-to-end.
* Halloween accounts for 75% of the annual candy corn production
* A cup of candy corn has fewer calories than a cup of raisins. {who knew?}
* Candy Corn was invented by George Renninger and produced by the Wunderlee Candy Company in the 1880's. In 1900, the Goelitz Candy Company, now Jelly Belly Candy Company, started mass producing the candy, but, due to the lack of machinery, it was only made available seasonally from March to November. Its recipe has remained unchanged.

There you have it. Don't you feel
really smart about candy corn now?
;o)

PS: I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend. Doug and I are hosting a "chili cook-off" tonight at our house. We're expecting 25 guests and about 9 different kinds of chili. We'll do a taste test and vote for the winner. Our weather is beautiful so our back patio will be buzzing with activity, fun, libations, food, friends/family, laughter... {mmm...probably should have invited all the neighbors...}

10 comments:

humel said...

I definitely know a lot more about it than I did! Though, still have no clue what it tastes like lol.... We lead such sheltered lives in the UK!

Enjoy your cook-off, sounds fun xx

Sian said...

How can they make so much of it and we don't even have it over here? I love anything sugary - much more my thing than chocolate so maybe it's good that it's unobtainable here actually. Cute post!

MarleneMAZ said...

Thanks for all the info. You are right I had never heard about it until I moved here, I think that Halloween is definitely more of a national celebration in the USA than anywhere else. Have fun at your Chili cook off, so glad it is not so hot these days.

Kirsti said...

Well who would have thoight that much sweeties would have less calories than raisins...lol...never tatsed them as you can't get them here in Scotland...Hope the chilli is good and glad its warm where you are - its FREEZING here and we have aleady had our first snow of the year...roll on next spring!!!...Take care...Kirsti xx

Maria Ontiveros said...

The best thing i've learned about candy corn this year are the ways to combine it with other things, like dry roasted peanuts. Some people also add choc. chips.
Rinda

scrappyjacky said...

Some very interesting info there,Deb....yet another thing I've never tried...though [unlike tacos] I don't think it is actually sold in the UK....maybe because we don't really celebrate halloween.
The cook off sounds great fun...and I have tried chilli!!!!

Amy said...

Candy corn is not available in Australia as far as I know. A friend of mine, living in Australia from the US, brought back a couple of things when she had a visit home ..... I have to say, sweet stuff tastes very different here. We don't seem to have a lot of the additives and our sugars are different, mostly I did not like the chocolate and the caramel tasted very artificial. I know it is what you are used to and I'd say a lot of our stuff would proabably not be sweet enough for many people in the US. Recently I tried some Ben and Jerry's ice cream, just to see what the fuss is about, boy - if that is considered a good ice cream I think a lot of people do NOT know what they are missing!
Anyway, it is all personal preference isn't it? I think Candy cane looks fabulous and I love seeing how everyone uses it differently with their decorating

Hmmm, long comment .... sorry Deb :-) Enjoy the chili cook off, sounds like a fabulous way to spend the weekend!

Mom said...

Cute post! I thought candy corn was universal--I stand corrected!

Hope your cook-off is a success--heck, I know it will be! You rock as a hostess! Love you! xo

debs14 said...

I can't believe that this gorgeous sugary confection hasn't made it 'across the pond' and I do feel a little deprived now! We have the Jelly Belly jelly beans but I've never seen candy corn. I think maybe you should sell it in pretty home made boxes on your etsy page next year!
That cook off sounds fun, those neighbours are going to be soooooo jealous when they see what's going on! Be sure to post the winning chilli recipe. That's something we DO have over here!!

Stephanie @ La Dolce Vita said...

I'm funny with candy corn, sometimes I like it, sometimes, not so much. Definitely looking forward to Halloween though!

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