40 Fun Facts About Candy Corn

Under which barnyard name was candy corn originally sold, long before it became a Halloween staple?

Chicken Feed was no passing joke: Goelitz packaging from the 1920s still showed a rooster scratching among the kernels.

In which Alfred Hitchcock film did the lead actor improvise his character's habit of eating candy corn?

Psycho star Anthony Perkins came up with the snacking himself for motel keeper Norman Bates.

According to a National Confectioners Association survey, what is the most common way to eat a candy corn kernel?

Eating the whole piece at once was the choice of 52 percent of people asked, while nearly a third said they nibble the narrow tip first.

Candy corn is built up in separate color passes: which color is poured into the mold first?

White candy for the pointed tip goes in first, followed by the orange middle and finally the yellow base.

Which insect-made resin, listed on labels as confectioner's glaze, gives candy corn kernels their shine?

Shellac is secreted by the female lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand, and it is also used to finish wood.

Which sandwich cookie brand sold a limited-edition candy corn flavor for Halloween in 2012 and 2013?

Oreo also brings out Halloween cookies each autumn, with orange creme and wafers stamped with ghosts, cats and witches.

When candy corn appeared in the 1880s, about half of the American labor force worked in which occupation?

Farming families were the target market, so candy makers molded sweets into chestnuts, turnips and other crops and sold them to rural children.

Which animal-derived ingredient do candy corn, gummy bears and Peeps all have in common?

Gelatin is made from collagen taken from the skin, bones and connective tissue of animals, which puts most candy corn off the menu for vegetarians.

About how much candy corn does the National Confectioners Association estimate is sold every year?

35 million pounds works out at roughly nine billion kernels, most of them sold in the weeks before Halloween.

The Goelitz Confectionery Company, a candy corn maker since 1898, later renamed itself after which of its brands?

Jelly Belly was coined in 1976 as a tribute to blues musician Lead Belly, and the family firm took the name for the entire company in 2001.

National Candy Corn Day, promoted by the National Confectioners Association, falls on which date each year?

October 30 puts the celebration on the eve of Halloween, the season that accounts for most of the candy's sales.

Which Halloween shape, sometimes called candy corn's first cousin, does Brach's mold from the same sweet mixture?

Pumpkins made by the same molding process have an orange body and a green stem, and are often sold in a bag with the kernels.

The Christmas version of candy corn, with a red end and a green center, is nicknamed after which animal?

Reindeer corn is one of several holiday spin-offs, alongside cupid corn for Valentine's Day and bunny corn for Easter.

Freedom corn, a red, white and blue variant of candy corn, is sold for which American holiday?

Independence Day cookouts are where the red and blue kernels turn up, one of several versions recolored for holidays beyond Halloween.

Which Hershey's candy came in a limited Halloween edition in 2007 that copied candy corn's striped layers?

Kisses got the layered makeover, and the foil wrapper carried swirling stripes to match.

Brach's, a leading maker of candy corn, began in 1904 as a storefront candy shop in which American city?

Chicago was where Emil Brach put his $1,000 savings into a shop he called the Palace of Sweets, starting out with a single kettle.

Which ingredient gives harvest corn, the Thanksgiving variety of candy corn, its brown wide end?

Cocoa powder darkens the base of harvest corn, while the orange center of the usual recipe stays in place.

Which fluffy confection was added to early candy corn recipes to give the kernels a soft bite?

Marshmallow went into the cooked slurry of sugar and corn syrup along with fondant, which gave the candy its smooth texture.

Candy corn workers called stringers once poured hot candy into kernel-shaped molds while walking in which way?

Walking backwards, the men poured warm candy by hand, and every tray needed a separate pass for each color until machines took over the job.

Candy corn gets its kernel shape from depressions stamped into trays filled with which kitchen staple?

Cornstarch molds are also used to shape gummy bears and other soft candies, and the starch is recycled once the sweets are tipped out.

The Wunderle Candy Company, the first to produce candy corn in the 1880s, was based in which city?

Philadelphia had the head start, but it was the Goelitz family who took up the recipe in 1898 and made it a national seller.

Gustav Goelitz, whose family firm popularized candy corn, emigrated to the United States in 1866 from which country?

Germany was the homeland Gustav Goelitz left before opening a candy business in Belleville, Illinois, where two younger brothers soon joined him.

Which 2007 animated film had its own Brach's candy corn, sold alongside a sweepstakes for a trip to New York City?

Bee Movie candy corn was made with real honey, a tie-in for the DreamWorks comedy co-written by and starring Jerry Seinfeld.

A former factory of Brach's, the candy corn giant, was blown up on camera in 2007 for which superhero film?

The Dark Knight used the blast as the Gotham General Hospital explosion, a scene that was not in the script until the effects chief said it could be done.

Colonel Candy Corn helps Princess Bubblegum defend the Candy Kingdom in which Cartoon Network series?

Adventure Time cast Keith Ferguson as the colonel's voice, and the 2014 episode Something Big leaves him holding off a creature made of plants.

Cupid corn, the candy corn sold for Valentine's Day, pairs a red end with a center of which color?

Pink fills the middle of cupid corn, one of the recolored versions candy makers have rolled out for holidays through the year.

Which Wunderle Candy Company employee is credited by oral history with inventing candy corn in the 1880s?

George Renninger is named only in oral histories, which is why the candy's exact origins remain a little hazy.

In early candy corn factories, what were the runners that held 45 pounds of warm candy at a time?

Buckets known as runners were carried along the trays by the men who poured the kernels, long before machines took on the work.

Which cooking oil, a surprise on a candy label, is among the usual ingredients of candy corn?

Sesame oil matters to shoppers with allergies, and a US law called the FASTER Act has required sesame to be labeled since 2023.

What name did Brach's give its 2022 candy corn mix of hot dog, hamburger and popcorn flavors?

Tailgate candy corn also came with fruit punch pieces, one of many novelty flavors alongside caramel apple and s'mores.

Which frontman and hit songwriter for Adele and Beyoncé practiced piano as a child in exchange for candy corn?

Ryan Tedder got the kernels from his father as a reward, long before he co-founded OneRepublic and co-wrote Halo.

Which comedian's Grammy-winning album The Carnegie Hall Performance includes a six-minute track titled Candy Corn?

Lewis Black opens his fifth album, recorded at the New York hall, by joking that the venue had capped how often he could swear.

Heimlich's Candy Corn Toss, a boardwalk game at a Disney park in California, is themed to which Pixar film?

A Bug's Life gave the park its hungry caterpillar Heimlich, whose earlier train ride chewed through giant candy corn, carrots and watermelon.

Which confectioner, also behind Lemonheads and Red Hots, owns Brach's, the top-selling brand of candy corn?

Ferrara took over Brach's through a 2012 merger and bought the Goelitz family's company in 2023, putting both famous kernel makers under one roof.

Confectioners use which name for the soft sugary mixture that candy corn kernels are molded from?

Mellowcreme starts as a cooked slurry of sugar and corn syrup, and the same mixture is molded into other autumn shapes such as acorns.

In Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down, which family pet eats the jar of candy corn Greg wins at school?

The pet pig finds the prize after Greg's letter-carrying balloon travels the farthest in a school contest.

Which Seattle drinks company, known for odd limited flavors, has sold a candy corn flavor in its Halloween packs?

Jones Soda launched Candy Corn in its 2005 Halloween cans beside Caramel Apple, and a later pack matched each flavor to a classic film monster.

Candy corn's flavor is based on honey, sugar and which other familiar baking ingredient?

Vanilla rounds out the sweet, honeyed taste, while the kernels themselves are known for a slightly waxy texture.

Which gumdrop brand, sold since 1945, comes in a variety flavored and shaped like candy corn?

Dots are made by Tootsie Roll Industries, whose advertising claims more than four billion of the gumdrops are produced each year.

In a 2008 food-themed Yule log screensaver by animator PES, candy corn stood in for which part of the fire?

Flames made of candy corn flickered above a log built from pretzels in the free download.