Sink your teeth into a history of everyone’s least favorite Halloween candies
A look at how candy corn, black licorice, and circus peanuts came to be
Aux Features Confectionery
Although it’s clear that there are few better Halloween treats than a pile of tooth-shaped clumps of sugar wax, some insist on arguing against the merits of candy corn every year. It’s a perennial controversy, sometimes taken to such extremes that candy corn manufacturers must ward off ransomware attacks to protect their ability to provide those of us with properly calibrated taste buds with our precious sweet kernels.
Eager to uncover the origins of this polarized candy climate, YouTube’s The History Guy looked at where a trio of “controversial candies”—candy corn, circus peanuts, and black licorice—came from and why, despite our inability to collectively enjoy them, they’ve endured over the years.
Candy corn, probably the most famous of these three, goes all the way back to the late 1800s and, according to one popular story, was created by a German immigrant to Philadelphia. They started off shaped as “acorns, turnips, and pumpkins” and gained popularity toward the end of the 19th century, when they were called “chicken feed” or “chicken corn.” Candy corn was a pain to make, but remained in demand throughout decades and decades until eventually becoming linked with Halloween in the 1950s, when trick ‘r treating became common in the United States.
The video also explains that black licorice has long been used as medicine across the world, but became really popular as a candy when sweets companies began branding and producing it (alongside other licorice flavors, like the considerably less gnarly “red”) in large quantities during the 19th century.
It’s managed to persist in the many years since, just like circus peanuts, whose inventors, we learn, are unknown. After the circus peanut’s creator presumably disappeared cackling into the night, the candy’s been made by various businesses going back to the 1800s. Mysteriously, nobody is entirely sure why they were dubbed “circus” peanuts, why they taste sort of like artificial banana, and why they’re colored a pale orange.
As for why each of these divisive candies has remained so popular, the History Guy believes that we just love arguing about whether or not they’re good and that, more importantly, we like the idea of these candies enduring over the centuries, even if we don’t actually want to eat them.
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37 Comments
I’ve decided to make a futuristic dystopian horror movie about Candy Corn becoming the only candy to survive the Halloween Candy Riots of 2055.
I’ll call it… Halloween Candy, and its tagline will be “Candy dies tonight!”It’s going to star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Nicholas Cage, Samuel L. Jackon, Kevin Hart, Chris Pratt, Ana de Armas, Judy Greer, and Jason Mantzoukas.Mostly because they’re the only people who didn’t say no…
Jerry Garcia on Deadheads: “They’re like people who like black licorice. Not everyone likes black licorice but the people who like black licorice really like black licorice.” Sounds legit.
I learned this years ago but your comment brought this to mind: “… it is important to realize that black licorice is more than just candy. It contains glycyrrhizic acid, which can cause swelling and high blood pressure and deplete potassium and other electrolytes that may cause a cardiac arrhythmia or arrest.My SO has cardiac issues so he avoids it like the plague. I have to wonder though, if real black licorice might also be addictive. Sugar is said to be as addictive as heroine, so maybe?
I didn’t know any of that and I’m prepared to think it might be addictive – it is to me anyway. In addition, I think I would like to hang out with the person who came up with “glycyrrhizic” as a word.
Lol. I like the way you think 🙂
Don’t eat a bag and a half every day: https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/too-much-candy-mass-man-dies-from-eating-bags-of-black-licorice/2200390/
The single best day of the year is the first of November. That’s when candy corn goes on sale for like twenty five cents a bag.
Before the flood of comments that candy corn is plain garbage, The secret is that they need the counter-point of dry roasted peanuts. Try them together and I bet that you’ll find them, if not delicious, at least pleasant.Circus peanuts, on the other hand, are irredeemable. And this from someone who loved them as a kid, mostly for the weird texture.
This is worth investigating. Salted or unsalted dry-roasted peanuts?
I like salted. The sweet-salty thing works for me.
I personally like salted. It’s like a Payday or a Salted Nut Roll candybar, but in a smaller, customizable form.
They needn’t even be dry-roasted. But salted for sure to help counter the sweetness.
I dunno, I’ve never had a problem with candy corn. It wasn’t my favorite even as a kid (and these days all the candy we get is organic vegan hippie-dippie stuff from NaturalCandyStore (but it still has a shitload of sugar, I’m not insane)), but I’ll still eat it if it’s around.I don’t think I’ve ever had circus peanuts. They look like packing material, not food.
Circus peanuts are kind of like soft marshmallows with that odd artificial banana flavoring. As a kid I enjoyed sort of dissolving them with my tongue while holding one between my lips. If you’ve never had one there’s little reason to try one now.
I used to get stuff from there, but they sent some super stale candy bars once or twice. Has that happened to you?
Nope, I don’t think we’ve ever had any problems with NCS; we’ve been ordering our Halloween candy from them every year for, like… six or seven years now at least. (We also do a Solstice candy order. Don’t buy a lot of candy otherwise.)
I got the vegan stuff, vegan Snickers and such, so maybe that just doesn’t sell as well for them.
I started ordering by the box at this little family run place that sells candy on the level of like Little League stadiums, Pee Wee hockey, roller rinks, etc. It’s like I’m ordering from the past, it’s so quaint
My sister liked them, I thought and still think they are terrible. I still can’t even get it though my brain that they were/are supposed to be banana flavored. That aint like any banana I’ve ever had. But she likes candy corn, a lot. She’s a type 2 diabetic now, and a couple of years ago I got her a huge bag of sugar free candy corn as part of her birthday present. She said it was one of the worst sugarless things she had ever eaten. I had to try it. I found it at a local candy place and she was correct, it was just awful. I couldn’t even get it down, I had to spit it out.
There’s no reason for those circus peanuts. The color, shape… they look like some kind of alien scat. The taste is forgettable (until you remember D:) and the texture isn’t anything recognizable in any other food group. Tradition often trumps aesthetics, though.
For many years, all the Circus Peanuts I saw were always a weird turquoise color, then suddenly, they changed to the weird orange. I’m guessing they switched manufacturers. They still tasted the same, awful..
I Googled and found some white, yellow and pink circus peanuts (yuck), but no turquoise. That must have some Halloween party you had 😀
Maybe they were secretly laced with LSD?I think I might have seen some white ones, but I don’t remember anything for sure, except that pastel turquisish blue, and then the orange we all know so well. I never understood what the hell was enjoyable about them. But they linger on in the candy aisle at every grocery store, around here anyway. They don’t disgust me like almost every watermelon flavored candy does. I still shudder when I think about Jolly Rancher Watermelon flavored candy, it reminded me of this awful watermelon liquor that me and a co-worker tried one time. It came in a bottle that would probably get the company pickets over it. Very offensive back in ‘81, I’m guessing it’s been changed since then. We would go into the hotel gift shop and try to find the most disgusting new one to try every day. To me, the melon ones were the worst, with the Anise ones a close second, and coffee right behind. Worst of the worst was a Honeydo based one. We both hacked it up almost instantly. It still was fun to do.
From what region do you hail? I’ve been wasting oxygen for nearly seventy years and have never seen a Circus Peanut other than orange-ish. I’ve never really been drawn to them but my dad would go through bags of them in his later years. He gave his sweet tooth a pretty free range after my mom passed away.
I’m 66, And from the NW Ohio/Toledo area. The ones I saw, probably mostly at Easter, were always that odd blue color, then they went orange, and never went back. I don’t understand how they have survived the culling that took other, and IMHO 1000X better candy off the market.
My experience with circus peanuts growing up, was Easter candies I would get as a kid that were essentially Circus peanuts. I did not have actual Circus peanuts until my 20’s.The Easter versions came in pink, yellow, and I believe some shade of blue.
I rarely saw them, except at easter, and that blue would fit in with easter egg colors pretty much perfectly.
Candy corn is delicious. Obviously eat enough of it (like a fistful) and it’s gross, but about 20-30 pieces is the sweet spot – and they’re especially good if you put them in the fridge sealed, so they get cool but not hard.
I don’t get the hate either. I like Candy Corn too.
Candy corn is fine as far as old folk candies go. It’s not my favorite, but people have decided to pretend it tastes like rat shit.Circus peanuts always tasted like banana flavored candy, and I don’t really like banana as a flavor.Black licorice is what parents gave to their children to convince them that they don’t like candy. It’s fine when it’s a background note in bourbon, and trash in candy form
Candy corn is fine. Not worth getting worked up over either way.Circus peanuts are bizarre, badly flavored, badly colored, and badly textured.People who don’t like black licorice should not be allowed to have opinions.
I love how people get white hot angry about *food*
Ketchup on a hot dog? Candy corn? The blood of the rich who hold us down and exploit us?
I’ll have the bucket of blood, please. And I smile as I write that.
I’ll take a firehouse of the blood of rich, thanks!Since I’m not a vegan, I don’t have to pretend I won’t enjoy it thoroughly.
I have no comment whatsoever on the quality/popularity of these candies and whether or not I like them. I would only like to say that I’m a subscriber to The History Guy and watched this video a few days ago. For once, I’m ahead of the AV Club!
I like candy corn. But those candy pumpkins that are similar are gross. Black licorice is only good as a flavor in cocktails. AAnd I’m old enough to remember when circus peanuts also came in multiple colors in same bag and all tasted the same: gross.
I think we have universal agreement on candy corn. Black licorice and circus peanuts do not belong in the same category as that trash. Black licorice in particular is one of those binary things that most people either really like (lie me) or hate, but there are many people who like it.
… is there something wrong with me? I absolutely love candy corn. I struggle to stop myself from eating an entire bag once I get going.