Sitting at her home in Wiggins, Mississippi, on a fall afternoon, Wanda King counted all the candy corn flavors she’s collected over the years.
There’s sea salt chocolate, burnt milk, peppermint, cookies, Starburst, Sour Patch Kids, apple pie, pumpkin pie and s’mores. Some have Christmas themes, such as eggnog and witch’s teeth, which are off-white with green tips. It also has sweet corn that tastes like torrejas, waffles and pancakes.
King, 62, said he has collected nearly 40 varieties, which he stores in jars in the guest room.
“Sweet corn doesn’t go bad. It will last forever,” he says.
King and her husband, Danny, operate a YouTube channel dedicated to their four-acre farm. Her connection to candy corn began as a joke about six years ago and took off thanks to her viewers, who sent her bags to try.
Although King’s friends call her the “candy corn queen,” there is a line she won’t cross.
“I couldn’t imagine turkey-flavored sweet corn,” he said, adding, “And I can’t imagine eating sweet corn pizza. I just can not”.
Chicken feed, as sweet corn was originally called because of its appearance, was invented by the Wunderle Candy Company in the late 1880s during a candy boom in the United States, said Susan Benjamin, a food historian.
“The triumph of candy corn is the triumph of surpassing all those thousands of candies that were made in the 19th century to be one of the few that survive today,” he said.
Today, sweet corn is sold widely throughout the United States. The Jelly Belly Candy Company produced about 65 million beans in the last fiscal year, a spokesman said. Brach’s, a competitor, produces about 30 million pounds each year, a spokeswoman said.
But who eats it? Sweet corn often tops the list of most divisive treats along with black orozuz and circus peanuts, Benjamin said.
It’s been about 30 years since the last time Ray Garton, 60, a California horror novelist, ate candy corn. “It’s too sweet,” he said. “I shudder just thinking about it.”
On the opposite end is Melissa Cady, 38, owner of an Etsy shop in Hollis, Maine. While she likes to eat candy corn, she prefers to dress like that. She has candy corn colored buttons, earrings, headbands, sweaters and dresses.
“I totally understand all the people who say, ‘It’s disgusting.’ It has a strange, wax-like texture,” he said. “I totally understand your way of thinking, but I’ll still eat them. Is that weird?”
By: Derrick Bryson Taylor
The New York Times
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6973954, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-11-07 19:00:07
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