Love it or hate it, candy corn is a staple of most holiday
celebrations – especially Halloween. The sugary snack was invented in the 1880s
by George Renninger, an employee of the Wunderlee Candy Company.
When it first appeared, candy corn was popular with farmers because
of its appearance. Candy corn is triangular and has three different layers of
color to resemble an individual kernel of corn. Today, the National
Confectioners Association estimates that candy companies produce about 35
million pounds of candy corn a year.
How It's Made: Then
and Now
Candy corn is made primarily of sugar, corn syrup, and
honey; carnauba wax is usually added, too. In the past, the ingredients were
cooked into slurry in large kettles and stirred by hand. Fondant and
marshmallow were added to smooth the texture and make the candy soft to bite. Once
the mixture was complete, it was poured – still by hand – into pre-shaped molds
one color at a time.
Today, the process is similar but machines do the
work that was once done manually. A "corn starch molding process" creates the
tiered-design. Machines fill a tray with "kernel-shaped holes" of cornstarch,
which maintains the corny-shape. The holes are then filled with
artificially-colored syrups; first white, then orange and yellow. Molds are
left to harden for 24 hours and then emptied into a sifter to remove extra
cornstarch. After some glazing, candy corn is packaged and shipped for
consumption.
Other Candy Corn
Facts
Did you know these facts about candy corn?
- Despite its ingredients, a serving of candy corn only
contains about 140 calories. According to the bag on my desk, one serving of
candy corn is approximately 21 pieces. I don't know about everyone else, but I
can only eat about 5-10 pieces before getting a stomachache.
- Candy corn is becoming popular for holidays other than just Halloween.
Other corns include Indian corn, Reindeer corn, Cupid corn, and Bunny corn.
- As mentioned earlier, it is estimated that 35 million pounds
of candy corn will be produced this year. This equals about 9 billion pieces of
corn, which is supposedly enough to circle the moon 21 times if laid out
end-to-end.
Do you like candy corn?
Resources:
http://www.candyusa.org/Candy/candycorn.asp
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/candy-corn.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_corn
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