Oh my goodness—lucky you!! You get to celebrate on of the greatest holidays of the season 2 days from now! No, my math isn’t wrong—I’m NOT talking about Halloween which is in 3 days, I’m talking about National Candy Corn on October 30!!!! Wahoo!!! If you didn’t know about this most special holiday until this year—I feel bad for you, my friend. You have really been missing out.

Candy corn is definitely the #1 candy thought of when thinking about Halloween--but why?? It is definitely a unique candy because people either absolutely LOVE it (by love I at least mean they can’t help themselves but eat a whole bag every year) or they absolutely HATE it and think it tastes waxy and disgusting. Me? I think I’ll pass. It does bring up warm, cozy nostalgic feelings of Halloween in yesteryears, but it is not worth the calories in my book. I’ll take those Snickers bars any day of the week though :)

Well, these candies actually have quite a history and some pretty fun facts about them to boot! So let’s get crackin’ on any and all things candy corn to get you pumped for the big holiday! Who needs Halloween anyway when you have National Candy Corn Day the day before! I haven’t a clue why this holiday plays second fiddle to Halloween :)

Apparently people think candy corn is like Oreos and that there’s a proper way to eat them so here’s my first question for you…..when you eat candy corn do you just pop the whole thing into your mouth and chew? Or do you start at the yellow end first? Or the white end? A poll declared that 43% of people nibble on the narrow white end first, 10% start on the yellow end, which leaves about half of people that just eat the whole thing in one delicious bite! Who would have thought?!

Versions For Other Holidays

Did you know that candy corn is not just around at only Halloween any more? They make some for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines and Easter? I think that singlehandedly makes the candy corn haters more mad than anything else!

Started By Jelly Belly Company in the 1880’s

That’s right—it’s the same Jelly Bellies we all know and love but they used to be called the Goelitz Candy Company back then. In the early days of the 20^th century, workers cooked sugar, corn syrup, marshmallow and other ingredients into a slurry in large kettles and then poured the warm mixture by hand into cornstarch trays imprinted with the kernel shape. Today, of course, machines do almost all the work.

They originally called it “chicken feed,” hence this ad for Goelitz’s Candy Corn from the late 1800s that sports the tagline, “Something worth crowing over.”

Causes More Tooth Decay Than Chocolate

That’s right. Just ask your local dentist and they will tell you that chocolate clears quickly from the mouth while it is hard to buffer all that sugar in candy corn, allowing the sugar to stay on the teeth longer. So I guess I was right about sticking with the chocolate. I’m sure my dentist would be thrilled if I helped myself to all the chocolate I want because apparently that’s not bad for your teeth ;)

Are you one of the 74% that do like candy corn? Or do you think it’s the worst?? I’d love to know in the comments below!