(CNN) – Americans love Halloween candy. Halloween candy sales increased 14% between 2021 and 2022, and this year is on track to do the same. In 2022, American consumers spent more than $3.7 billion on candy in the six weeks leading up to the holiday.
Consumers’ favorite candy? Chocolate, which Americans bought at a ratio of almost 2:1. And in the world of chocolate, milk chocolate is king: Last Halloween season, more people bought milk chocolate than all other non-chocolate candy combined.
But while sales of chocolate candies have remained stable compared to five years ago, other types of candies are the growth market. Americans bought about 7.8% more packages of non-chocolate candy last Halloween season compared to 2018, while sales of chocolate packages fell 2.5%.
But there is one notable exception to the dolce vita of non-chocolate candy: the iconic “candy corn,” typical of Halloween.
NIQ data shows Americans are buying fewer seed-shaped candies and more gummy bears and marshmallows.
The number of packages of candy corn sold during the Halloween season, or the six weeks leading up to the first week of November, has declined every year since at least 2018, reaching a low of 12.7 million in 2022. As of October 14, Americans had purchased 5.3 million packages of the candy this season.
“It’s not like, ‘Yeah, okay,'” Beth Kimmerle, author of “Candy: The Sweet History” and founder of food data company Attribute Analytics, refers to Americans’ love of sweet corn. “People either love him or hate him.”
By comparison, sales of packs of gummy candies and marshmallow candies, which include Peeps, have each increased more than 30% since 2018.
“So think about a peep,” Kimmerle said. “You can cover it with sugar, you can color the sugar, you can color the inside of it. You can give it different shapes. Marshmallows offer a lot of flexibility.”
Nostalgia, not taste
“The taste is very, very sweet,” says Susan Benjamin, candy historian and president of West Virginia candy store True Treats. “But it is not a sweetness that can be described. And it often goes against what it should look like.”
According to Kimmerle, in a flavor profile conducted by Attribute Analytics on Oct. 8, the tasting panel found that sweet corn has a high degree of “sweet” flavor, while the other flavors are less noticeable and dissipate quickly. The jury described a bag of Nice! Brand as “sweet,” followed by artificial vanilla, caramelized sugar, and “chemical.”
In contrast, the flavor profile of a variety pack of Albanese Gummi Bear Cubs made on the same day shows a range of different flavors that linger in the mouth longer and complement each other, Kimmerle said: sweet, artificial cherry, artificial fruit and sour.
Candy corn-style candies are also offered in other flavors, but Kimmerle also emphasizes the importance of a candy’s texture.
“The gummy bears bounce happily in the mouth when chewing and then dissolve,” explains Kimmerle. Sweet corn candies, on the other hand, appear grainy and crystallized.
“It’s neither a marshmallow nor a candy. It’s somewhere in between,” says Kimmerle.
What other reasons are there for buying sweet corn without an appealing texture or taste?
“I would put it in the category of something that people have to buy because of the nostalgia factor,” Kimmerle says.
Benjamin also sees the sentimental appeal of candy corn.
“I remember it from my childhood, but the younger ones don’t,” he says. “And candy is as much about memory as it is taste.”