Cruel joke for trick-or-treaters or coveted seasonal delight? The great Halloween debate over candy corn is on.

In the pantheon of high-emotion candy, the classic shiny tricolor kernels in autumn鈥檚 white, orange and yellow are way up there. Fans and foes alike point to the same attributes: its plastic or candle-like texture (depending on who you ask) and the mega-sugar hit it packs.

鈥淚 am vehemently pro candy corn. It鈥檚 sugar! What is not to love? It鈥檚 amazing. It鈥檚 like this waxy texture. You get to eat it once a year. It鈥檚 tricolor. That鈥檚 always fun,鈥� comedian Shannon Fiedler gushed on TikTok. 鈥淎lso, I know it鈥檚 disgusting. Candy corn is objectively kind of gross, but that鈥檚 what makes it good.鈥�

Or, as Paul Zarcone of Huntington, New York, put it: 鈥淚 love candy corn even though it looks like it should taste like a candle. I also like that many people hate it. It makes me like it even more!鈥�

Love it or loathe it, market leader Brach鈥檚 churns out roughly 30 million pounds of candy corn for the fall season each year, or enough to circle planet Earth about five times, the company says. Last year, that amounted to $75 million of $88.5 million in candy corn sales, according to the consumer research firm Circana.

When compared to top chocolate sellers and other popular confections, candy corn is niche. But few other candies have seeped into the culture quite like these pointy little sugar bombs.

While other sweets have their haters (we鈥檙e looking at you Peeps, Circus Peanuts and Brach鈥檚 Peppermint Christmas Nougats), candy corn has launched a world of memes on social media. It inspires home decor and fashion. It has its knitters and crocheters, ombre hairdos, makeup enthusiasts and nail designs.

And it makes its way into nut bowls, trail mixes, atop cupcakes and into Rice Krispie treats. Vans put out a pair of shoes emblazoned with candy corn, Nike used its color design for a pair of Dunks, and Kellogg鈥檚 borrowed the flavor profile for a version of its Corn Pops cereal.

Singer-actor Michelle Williams is a super fan. She recorded a song last year for Brach鈥檚 extolling her love.

As consumers rave or rage, Brach鈥檚 has turned to fresh mixes and flavors over the years. A Turkey Dinner mix appeared in 2020 and lasted two years. It had a variety of kernels that tasted like green beans, roasted bird, cranberry sauce, stuffing, apple pie and coffee.

It won鈥檛 be back.

鈥淚 would say that it was newsworthy but perhaps not consumption-worthy,鈥� said Katie Duffy, vice president and general manager of seasonal candy and the Brach鈥檚 brand for parent Ferrara Candy Co.

The universe of other flavors has included s鈥檓ores, blueberry, cotton candy, lemon-lime, chocolate and, yes, pumpkin spice. Nerds, another Ferrara brand, has a hard-shell version.

It鈥檚 unclear when candy corn was invented. Legend has it that Wunderle Candy Co. in Philadelphia first produced it in 1888 in collaboration with a longtime employee, George Renninger. It was called, simply, Butter Cream, with one type named Chicken Corn. That made sense in an agrarian-society kind of way.

Several years later, the Goelitz Confectionery Co., now Jelly Belly, began to produce candy corn, calling it Chicken Feed. Boxes were adorned with a rooster logo and the tagline: 鈥淪omething worth crowing for.鈥� Brach鈥檚 began candy corn production in 1920.

Today, kids delight in stacking candy corn in a circle, points in, to create corncob towers. As for nutrition, 19 candy corns amount to about 140 calories and 28 grams of sugar. To be fair, many other Halloween candy staples are in the same ballpark.

Ingredient-wise, it couldn鈥檛 be more straightforward. Candy corn is basically sugar, corn syrup, confectioner鈥檚 glaze, salt, gelatin, honey and dyes, among some other things.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not any sweeter than a lot of other candy, and I鈥檝e tasted every candy there is,鈥� said Richard Hartel, who teaches candy science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Hartel鈥檚 students spend time in the lab making candy. The candy corn lab is among his most popular, he said, because it鈥檚 fun to make. His unscientific poll of the nine seniors who last made candy corn turned up no strong feelings either way on actually eating it.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the flavor, I think, that puts some people off. It sort of tastes like butter and honey. And some people don鈥檛 like the texture, but it鈥檚 really not that much different than the center of a chocolate-covered butter cream,鈥� he said.

Candy corn fans have their nibbling rituals.

Margie Sung is a purist. She鈥檚 been partial since childhood to the original tricolor kernels. She eats them by color, starting with the white tip, accompanied by a warm cup of tea or coffee.

鈥淭o this day, I swear the colors taste different,鈥� she laughed.

Fact check: No, according to Duffy.

Don鈥檛 get people started on Brach鈥檚 little orange pumpkin candies with the green tops. That鈥檚 a whole other conversation.

鈥淭he candy pumpkins? Disgusting,鈥� said the 59-year-old Sung, who lives in New York. 鈥淭oo dense, too sweet, not the right consistency.鈥�

She likes her candy corn 鈥渂orderline stale for a better consistency.鈥� Sung added: 鈥淯nfortunately, I can鈥檛 eat too many because I鈥檓 a Type 2 diabetic.鈥�

Aaron Sadler, the 46-year-old spokesman for the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, and its mayor, doesn鈥檛 share his candy corn. He keeps stashes at home and in a desk drawer at his office.

鈥淢y fiancee can鈥檛 stand that I like candy corn,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 buy it and I get this look of disdain but I don鈥檛 care. I just keep plugging on.鈥�

Sadler has been a partaker since childhood. How does he describe the texture and flavor? 鈥淪ugary bliss.鈥�

He鈥檒l keep buying candy corn until mid-November.

鈥淚t鈥檚 50% off after Halloween. Of course I鈥檓 going to buy it,鈥� Sadler chuckled.

After Thanksgiving, he鈥檒l move on to his Christmas candy, York Peppermint Patties. And for Valentine鈥檚 Day? Sandler is all about the candy Conversation Hearts.

And then there are the hoarders. They freeze candy corn for year-round consumption. Others will only eat it mixed with dry roasted peanuts or other salty combinations.

鈥淢y ratio is 2 to 3 peanuts to 1 piece of candy corn. That鈥檚 the only way I eat it,鈥� said Lisa Marsh, who lives in New York and is in her 50s. She stores candy corn in glass jars for year-round pleasure.

To the haters, 71-year-old fan Diana Peacock of Grand Junction, Colorado, scolded: 鈥淭hey鈥檙e nuts. How can they not like it?鈥�

Au contraire, Jennifer Walker fights back. The 50-year-old Walker, who lives in Ontario, Canada, called candy corn 鈥渂ig ole lumps of dyed sugar. There鈥檚 no flavor.鈥�

Her Ontario compatriot in Sault Ste. Marie, Abby Obenchain, also isn鈥檛 a fan. She equates candy corn with childhood memories of having to visit her pediatrician, who kept a bowl on hand.

鈥淎 bowl of candy corn looks to me like a bowl of old teeth, like somebody pulled a bunch of witch鈥檚 teeth out,鈥� said Obenchain, 63.

Candy corn isn鈥檛 just a candy, said 29-year-old Savannah Woolston in Washington, D.C.

鈥淚鈥檓 a big fan of mentally getting into each season, and I feel like candy corn is in the realm of pumpkin spice lattes and fall sweaters,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd I will die on the hill that it tastes good.鈥�

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