Where Does Candy Corn Come From?

Tomorrow is Halloween. If there is one modern-day candy that is associated with this ancient Celtic celebration of the dissolving of the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead, it is (perhaps because of the celebration taking place in the Autumn when crops such as corn are harvested) Candy Corn.

Whatever the reason, I love candy corn. Thanks to my friendly neighborhood doctor, I can't indulge myself these days, but I would eat bags of it if I could. I used to wish they would sell it all year, but now I'm glad they don't so I'm not tempted by it the rest of the year.

But where did candy corn come from? Mental Floss offers this short history:

Nobody knows who invented candy corn, but we do know it began to appear in the 1880s, and we know the first company to make it commercially was the Wunderle Candy Company of Philadelphia. Soon after, the Goelitz Confectionery Company began production of candy corn in Cincinnati in 1898. The process at first was daunting: a candy blend was mixed up, heated and then poured by hand into molds. Each mold needed three separate pours to achieve the tri-color glory that is candy corn. Today the process is mechanized and the tri-color composition isn't nearly as impressive as it was to the people of the 19th century, but the Goelitz Confectionery Company has never changed the recipe and continue to make the candy to this day.

Hmmmm, maybe Goelitz continues to make it, but my favorite brand is still Brach's...or it was when I could actually eat it.

Here's an entire blog dedicated to Sweet Candy Corn. They swear that today is National Candy Corn Day. I wish I could join in on the celebration. Oh, and there's a very funny cartoon over there that answers the question, "Where Does Candy Corn Come From?" so be sure and take a look.

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