Comedian Lewis Black’s theory is that all of the candy corn that ever existed was made in 1911.
He’s wrong on both counts. The Wunderle Candy Co. in Philadelphia was the first commercial manufacturer of candy corn, starting in the 1880s. And while the Wunderle name is gone (the company became part of Nestle), plenty of other companies keep making the grotesquely appealing confection, to the tune of more than 35 million pounds annually.
The fact that candy corn arrived at Weis Markets in Hershey in mid-August suggests to me that there was another bumper crop of it this year.
You just can’t contain candy corn, which isn’t content being associated only with Halloween. National Candy Corn Day falls on Oct. 30 – on the eve of All Hallows’ Eve. If trick-or-treaters show up at your door with blank stares, you can blame Candy Corn Day for getting its fangs into them.
The problem lies with me
I have my own candy corn demons. I’ve always thought that the yellow, orange and white candies resembled traffic cones; each piece should be a warning to me of the danger ahead. Yet recently a 24-ounce bag of Brach’s candy corn went from full to nearly empty in a really short period of time spent in my vicinity.
And now I’m sick of candy corn, and sick of myself for exhibiting the same lack of control as in years past. So I am cutting myself off knowing that the problem lies not with the sugar, corn syrup, honey concoction but with me.
There’s just no rational reason to consume candy corn as rapaciously as I do.
After all, the best-by date of this particular bag of Brach’s candy corn: Aug. 18, 2015.
