Sugar Savvy

Halloween knows how to sell candy. Last year alone America spent an estimated $2.1 Billion stocking up for the door-to-door holiday. The origins of trick-or-treating can be traced back to a 9th century custom where beggers would go from village to village asking for cakes made of bread and currants. Fast forward to the 21st century and the goodies look a little different. From chocolate covered peanuts and nougat bars to candy corn and cream-filled hard candies, there’s a treat out there for every trickster.

So what is the number one selling Halloween candy? Surprisingly it’s not chocolate, but a Halloween staple that’s been around for over a hundred years - candy corn. George Renninger, a Wunderlee Candy Company employee, created the popular candy in the 1880’s and the confection was introduced to the public in the early 1900’s. The tri-color design of the confection was revolutionary for it’s time, and the public went nuts for it. But lack of machinery and equipment meant that candy corn was only produced seasonally from March to November. Nowadays you don’t have to look very hard to find candy corn, or feel silly for buying a bag to enjoy in the middle of the summer. This year, more than 35 million pounds of candy corn will be produced, equaling nearly nine billion pieces. If laid end-to-end, that’s enough to circle the moon four times.

A close second to candy corn for the best selling Halloween candy is the Snicker’s bar, which also happens to be the best selling candy bar of all time. The Mars family introduced this bar in 1930 and named it after one of their favorite horses. Since launching the original candy bar, a nougat center topped with peanuts and caramel and covered in milk chocolate, over a dozen different variations have been made worldwide. From Peanut Butter Snickers, made here in the U.S., to Snickers Hazelnut, manufactured in Australia. Even Slovakia had their own Snickers bar, Snickers Hard, which has a greater percentage of peanuts than do the original Snickers. Even the shape of Snickers has changed over the years, from the regular size candy bar, to “The Fun Size” given out at Halloween, and even smaller to Snickers miniatures. With so many varieties and sizes available, it’s no surprise why this candy bar brings in $2 Billion annually.

While everyone has their favorite Halloween candy, and chances are it’s one of the chocolate staples we’ve all grown up with (including, Reese’s Cup, which came in third place, followed by Kit Kat, Milky Way and M&M’s), marketers are still trying to push new goodies on the consumers for this billion dollar holiday. This year alone, 891 new candy varieties have been introduced and to make sure they stand out against the old favorites, they’re getting more colorful and more interesting. Jolly Rancher introduced a soda that is just as colorful and chocked full of sugar as it’s hard candy counterpart. Kellogg’s introduced Spooky Berry Twistables that seems to be what a Fruit Roll-Up and a Twizzler’s lovechild would look like. More varieties include new takes on some old favorites, like Orange Pumpkin Pop Rocks, ghoulish-shaped Tootsie Roll Pop’s, and even Marshmallow Peeps Cocoa Cats, which look nothing like the peeps we all know and love, and taste like chocolate.

When this time of year rolls around, people usually buy a bag of their favorite treat to enjoy for themselves, whether they partake in the holiday or not. Although I do enjoy a good Snickers every now and then, my face would always light up when a pack of Skittles would drop into my plastic pumpkin. Whatever your favorite kind is, you can be sure to find an abundance of it until November 1.