Tastemaker: Candy Corn

By Kristi Kates | Oct. 21, 2017

Care for a small Snickers in your trick or treat bag? How about a miniature Mounds bar? A tiny Twix?       
      
If you’re a Michiganian, chances are you’d set all of these aside for a bag of our state’s No. 1 Halloween candy: candy corn.
      
Candy corn became a thing in the 1880s, when it was first manufactured by hand by Goelitz Confectionary, the same company that would go on to create Jelly Belly jelly beans in the '80s. Primarily marketed to rural customers, it was originally called “chicken feed,” and was made in a three-step pouring process, one for each color in each individual corn.
      
According to Candystore.com, which just put together their 2017 interactive map of each state’s top Halloween candy choices, more than 146,000 pounds of candy corn are sold in Michigan every year. The second-place candies are fruit-flavored Skittles (135,000 pounds), followed by Starburst (87,000 pounds).
      
Today, Goelitz Confectionary sells its tri-colored triangular treat under the Jelly Belly brand. You can find it at Mary’s Kitchen Port, 539 Front. St., in Traverse City. 941-0525, maryskitchenport.com.