National Candy Corn Day – October 30
4History of National Candy Corn Day
George Renniger, who worked at Wunderlee Candy Company, created candy corn in the 1800s. Working out of Philadelphia he invented it to celebrate what he believed to be the beauty of corn juxtaposed with autumnal colors. Winter was cold, dark, and long and the bright colors of candy would last for a long time, bringing optimism and joy as well as a burst of sugar.
Specialized candy for Halloween turned out to be a winning idea with different Halloween candies becoming increasingly popular over time. Wunderlee was credited for being the first to sell candy corn commercially even though Goelitz, also known as Jelly Belly, is the most linked to commercial candy corn sales.
Candy corn began its life as food for chickens and used to be available between March and November only. It was originally a type of mellow cream known as ‘‘Butter Cream Candies.” The name was changed in the 1950s due to false advertising as it had no butter inside it.
The original method of making candy corn was to pour each color into molds separately but this was a very time-consuming process. The recipe was sugar, corn syrup, and water. Later on, marshmallow and fondant started being added, and then so was carnauba wax. Today, the recipe is pretty similar and gives us plenty of energy for trick or treating.
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Not quite true - it was named “Chicken Feed” because at that time people didn’t eat real corn, only chickens did, but the candy wasn’t going to the birds!
@Kyeh I was thinking, that couldn’t be healthy for the chickens, but then i thought, maybe they’re the only ones that would eat it, since birds don’t have a sense of taste. Oh, snap!!
@ircon96 Also, I can’t imagine that back then, when sugar was a lot more expensive, they would feed it to chickens!
@ircon96 @Kyeh They wouldn’t have done it twice, that’s for sure. You get really sick chickens that way.
@Kyeh @werehatrack Both very true observations!
@ircon96 @Kyeh If chickens have no sense of taste, I wonder why they have a (marked) preference for some foods over others? For example, our chickens will eat both squash and melon, but they have an obvious preference for the melon.
@ircon96 @Kyeh @macromeh Maybe it smells better?
@Kyeh @macromeh @werehatrack I probably should have said “very little” sense of taste. We have about 180 times the number of taste buds that they do, & the olfactory glands aren’t very well developed in most species.
That’s why some people mix hot pepper into their bird seed in an effort to discourage squirrels & other mammals, since it doesn’t bother the birds. Of course, I’m sure many of the furry critters eventually develop a taste for it & start hanging out at sports bar dumpsters for the hot wing leftovers!
Anyway, I’m guessing chickens can detect just enough of what they like &/or need in certain foods when they develop a preference.
/showme chickens eating candy corn
@mediocrebot Hmm, no chickens. I guess they really don’t eat candy corn.
@heartny @mediocrebot There are some things even a chicken won’t eat. About three of them, as I recall.
In my area (metro Detroit) we know Oct 30th as Devils Night. When I was a kid all you saw on the news was reports of people burning down the city. Until just a couple years ago there weren’t city Halloween parties in Detroit bc they were afraid it would bring back the fires. I refuse to call it angels night (most of use don’t) yes I know what it represents but I don’t believe in erasing history, I believe in learning from it it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Night
@Star2236 So, are you saying all those vandals & arsonists may have been hopped up on candy corn, much like the Twinkie defense? I mean, i always knew it was an evil confection, but…