I Want Candy

Oct. 25, 2006

Ghosts, monsters, pumpkins, costumes ... yeah, yeah, yeah. We know what Halloween’s really all about, don’t we? The candy, of course. And each year, attendees at the annual All Candy Expo get a sneak peek at what’s coming out in new candies as well as what we can look forward to in our trick-or-treat bags each Halloween. This time around, the trend is plenty of black and orange, candies from beyond the grave (so to speak), and lots and lots of gummis. Read on, sweet (and sour) loving candy consumer...

SOUR POWER
Perhaps the most appropriate candies for Halloween are those that pack a little extra zip, perfect for helping pucker your lips into that scary zombie pout. The most popular sour candies to date are the infamous Sour Patch Kids, Sour Punch Straws, and Pixy Stix, but rest assured that you’ll have a lot more sour candy than that to choose from this Halloween.
Starting on the mildly sour side, SweeTarts have repackaged their SweeTart candies into tiny skull and bone shapes - the candy tastes the same (thankfully), but the shapes add a little Halloween fun.
For horror-movie-related sour candy-ness, you’ll laugh when you see the “Tremors” Subterranean Sour Sand Worm (does anybody even remember this movie?) - one giant gummi worm lurks in a test tube container, surrounded by dirt-colored sour sugar, just waiting for you to “discover” it - it looks creepier than it tastes, for as sour candies go, it’s actually quite good.
And if you want an extreme sour experience, check out the Toxic Waste Nuclear Sludge Sour Chew Bar in Sour Apple - just reading the name of it makes the inside of your mouth dry up almost as much as eating a package of ultra-sour Mega Warheads, which are loaded with malic acid and keep your tongue in pure Halloween-y pain for at least a minute until you hit the candy’s sweeter center. Yikes!

FEARFULLY FRUITY
Jolly Rancher leads the pack here with their Creepy Fruity lollipops, complete with that Jolly Rancher taste in three flavors (blueberry, watermelon, and green apple) and nattily decked out for Halloween with nicely stamped monster faces.
Tootsie-Pops have Halloween-themed pops of their own, called Spooky Shapes, which are much more Halloween-y than the “regular” Tootsie-Pops that always seem to show up in your trick-or-treat bag. Kellogg’s Triple Spooky Berry Twistables are a combination between a fruit roll-up and Twizzlers, in orange, green, and almost-black colors, three strands to a candy for an overload of fruity Halloween fun.
And LifeSavers get scary with their LifeSavers Gummi Spooky Treats (what is it with the word “spooky” this year?) in flavors like “Freaky Fruit Punch,” “Eerie Orange,” and “Wacky Watermelon.”

WACKY WILLY WONKA
Who’s the man that never lets you down on Halloween? Why, Mr. Willy Wonka, of course, and this year’s no exception. Rolling out of the Wonka Candy Factory just in time for that most candy-friendly of holidays are this year’s new Wonka-riffic inventions.
We’ll begin with the Nerds - one of Wonka’s most popular products - specially retitled (surprise) “SPOOKY NERDS,” recolored in orange and white, and re-flavored in Fruit Punch and Orange, plus (drumroll, please) Spooky Nerds Rope, that effervescent combo of Nerds affixed to a licorice rope base.
On the scary side of Wonka, there’s the Count Wonkula Bloodberry Donutz - it’s a donut, it’s chocolate, and when you bite into it - yep, you guessed it - it bleeds some kind of fruity-candy flavoring.
Also keep your eyeballs peeled for Wonka’s Monster Mix-Ups Assorted Bags, which are packaged with Halloween jokes on each piece and which hold a whole Wonka treasure chest of Halloween treats, including Howlin’ Laffy Taffy, more Spooky Nerds, and plenty of those aforementioned SweeTarts, too - hey, there’s something Wonka for everyone.

CREEPY CHOCOLATE
Do we ever get bored with M&Ms? Seems like no matter what color they put them out in, they remain a favorite for just about anyone who likes chocolate - they’re simply chocolate done right. And for October, they’re chocolate done Halloween in - what else? - an orange and black colored “Pumpkin Mix.”
Nestle has taken Halloween quite seriously this year, and are offering up their Grave Bandit Box - a huge, coffin-shaped box loaded with chocolate candies, including “Baby Ruthless” (Babe Ruth), “Nancy Crunch” (Nestle’s Crunch) and “Butler Finger” (Butterfinger) in mini sizes - and the box itself participates in the holiday by howling and shrieking every time you open it. Just set one of these by your door on Halloween night and you’re all set for the trick-or-treaters - unless you eat all the chocolates yourself first.
Snickers have been Halloween-ified, too - you can now get ‘em in pumpkin shapes, just like the Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkin Cups - and even Whoppers (in orange and black...er, dark brown) and Kit Kats have joined the Halloween party, in an orange colored white chocolate version with chocolate creme in the center - tasty.

NASTY BUT NICE NOVELTIES
It would take days and days to tell you all about the novelty candies that are available this Halloween season. The candy industry has gone crazy in this department, with everything from Gummi Boogers (in three booger flavors); Gruesome Gummi Body Parts (ew); Bag O’ Blood Candy; which is a frighteningly real-looking blood donor bag full of strawberry gel candy; and Bug Factor Lollipops with an artificial (thank goodness) bug in the center.
A few of the more palatable highlights are the Hubba Bubba Mummy Tape, which is a longggg strip of gum rendered in an almost black color and a black raspberry flavor. Good stuff, except, don’t you agree, that in white, it would make much more efficient Mummy Tape? Hmm.
Halloween Pop Rocks (yes, they’re orange) team up with Halloween Pop Rocks Dips, which is basically a bigger bag of Pop Rocks with a grape-masquerading-as-black lollipop dipper.
And, perhaps most appropriately of all for Halloween, those Wax Lips are back in the form of Big Stuff Lip Pops, which have frighteningly colored red or green wax lips on the outside, and a blue raspberry lollipop behind the scenes - two Halloween candies in one, and a Halloween costume, too - what more could you ask for? Well, actually - how about the full-face sized (no kidding), cherry or orange flavored Halloween Mask? That’s right, a detailed mask on a stick that’s made of candy. Just make sure you lick it after you wear it, not before, or you’ll be washing your face all evening.
And finally, it’s not a candy, technically - it’s a soda - but what a soda. Jones Sodas, famed for their Thanksgiving offerings (yes, they made Turkey Soda) has put out a line of Halloween sodas this year, so after you get all that candy stuck in your teeth, you can rinse out your mouth with sodas like Candy Corn, Spider Cider, Gruesome Grape, Berried Alive, Lemon Drop Dead, or Monster Mojito.

TBA - TO BE AVOIDED
Some Halloween candies, however, should either not be messed with or should be avoided entirely, unless you’re a glutton for punishment. For instance, Fear Factor’s line of Halloween candies are far too heavy on gimmick and low on taste (their “mystery” treats like gummi frog legs, candy maggots, and gummi pig entrails - no thanks).
And last but not least, let’s talk about Candy Corn - a sweet Halloween staple that everyone knows and most people like. Well, Gourmet Candy Corn has entered the market this year, and that’s not a good thing. They have the same texture as Candy Corn, but with overly sugary flavors like Tangerine, Green Apple, and Cherry, they’re just... wrong. In addition, there’s now Candy Corn Taffy, another attempt to make more money by melding two Halloween flavors. Too sugary, too sticky, trying too hard. Just get your Candy Corn and Taffy - and all your other Halloween candy - separately, and call it a day... er, make that a Halloween night.