With Halloween creeping up, does it ever make you wonder what’s up with all the candies? What types can one kid even fit in his bag? Read on and find out the different brands and varieties of your Halloween candies.
Candy Corn. Did you know that October 30 is National Candy Corn Day? Candy Corn is the largest selling Halloween candy up to date. Created by George Renninger in the 1880s, the colours are to mimic corn. There is also a Thanksgiving variant coloured white, orange and brown, while a Christmas variant coloured white, green and red is sold as “reindeer corn”.
Tootsie Rolls have originally only five flavours – chocolate, cherry, raspberry, orange and grape. The center flavour remains chocolate. The sixth flavour is rotated around lemon-lime, blue raspberry and watermelon. Did you know that this was named after the inventor’s daughter, Tootsie? And does one really know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? — On average, 364, according to students at Purdue.
PEZ. This fun candy was intended to be an alternative to tobacco products. PEZ is short for the German word Pfefferminz which means peppermint. There are varieties of flavours on the market and not only does this make Americans consume 3 billion PEZ a year, but beloved PEZ dispensers also contribute to candy sales. Those who collect the dispensers are called PEZheads.
Jelly Beans. People love these so much, National Jelly Bean Day is celebrated every April 22nd. This was also the first candy to be sold by weight rather than by piece. President Reagan loved this candy so much; he used them to help him quit smoking.
Snickers are the second most popular candy during Halloween. Named after the inventor’s family horse, Snickers is a beloved candy manufactured to over 70 countries worldwide and over 15 million bars every day.
Kit-Kat. These wonderfully tasting sticks remain as UK’s top selling candy. It’s said that enough KitKats can outstack the Eiffel Tower every five minutes. In Japan, KitKat flavours go up to 15 selections, while in Malaysia, they have their own special formula to combat the warm temperature.
M&Ms was born all thanks to Forrest Mars, Sr. of the Mars company and Bruce Murrie, son of Hershey president William Murrie. During the Spanish Civil War, Mars thought of a chocolate soldiers could bring with them that would last without melting. M&Ms was eventually invented and people loved them since.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Made of peanut butter with a chocolate coating, these cups can come in different sizes: mini, regular and big cup. Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins are Halloween edition and, as the name implies, are shaped as pumpkins. These cups’ easy-to-distribute individual wrappings as well as their deliciousness make them one of all-time favourites for Halloween candies.
Bazooka. First marketed after WWII, the packaging came out in patriotic colours of red, white and blue. Beginning in 1953, the gum came with comic strips starring Bazooka Joe. Over 700 mini comic strips were made over its history.
Dubble Bubble is a bubblegum invented in 1928 by an accountant named Walter Diemer. As pink was the only available food dye that time, Dubble Bubble was thus made into pink-coloured batches we all came to adore.
Junior Mints are small round candies with mint filling and a coating of dark chocolate. Developer James Welsh named it after his favourite Broadway show named Junior Miss. When the play was adapted to film, Junior Mints were also marketed making it a clever sales move. Nowadays, more than 15 million of these candies are manufactured every day and shipped to the rest of the world.