Saturday, October 30, 2010

Corny

I was watching an episode of Good Eats on the Food Network last night.  It was called "All Hallows Eats", and was about homemade Halloween treats--candy apples, candy corn, and popcorn balls.  Every time the show goes to a commercial they feature a fact or some trivia on the screen; that's how I learned that today (October 30th) is National Candy Corn Day.

Candy corn is one of my favorite sweets. The yellow, orange, and white kernel-shaped candies are an example of a mellow cream, a type of candy made from corn syrup and sugar that has a marshmallow-like flavor.  According to Wikipedia, George Renninger of the Wunderle Candy Company created the candy in the 1880s. The sweet copy of dried corn kernels was originally made by hand in a very labor-intensive procedure, and were only available on a seasonal basis.  Now everything is done by machine, and the candy is available year-round.  You can even buy it in non-traditional seasonal color combinations. (Pastel-colored Bunny Corn for Easter, anyone?)

In honor of the day, I briefly thought about making a batch of candy using Alton Brown's recipe, but decided against it; I'd probably end up eating it all myself.   The recipe yielded 60 to 80 pieces; that's a dangerous amount of candy for one person to have in the house, especially when candy corn is one of their weaknesses.  Instead, I'll go to the store and buy the smallest package of candy corn I can find.  You can't let a holiday like this pass without celebrating it in some way!

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the info - now I know why I don't like candy corn - it's the marshmallow taste. I never could put my finger on it!

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  2. And here I thought it had a honey taste! LOL! I love it, too...even the texture is addictive to me! Yum. I did try some that was white, orange and brown and it just wasn't the same with that bit of chocolate in it.

    You're so well behaved...I buy the biggest bag and shamelessly eat it all myself! :)

    p.s....I'm having a very fun time browsing the CSN stores! This is going to be a hard decision! After this week and all of my cookie baking, I'll get down to some serious shopping! Thanks again...how very fun!

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  3. Thanks for reminding me to pick some up!...it's a tradition to have this for Halloween. I also liked when they started making the pumpkin and ghost shapes with the same flavor as the candy corn....but I can't find them anymore.
    Happy Halloween!

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  4. Halloween is just not Halloween without candy corns!

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