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Traditional Fall Tabletop Treats: Candy Corn, Popcorn Balls & Candy Apples

Halloween and seasonal candy and treats have been displayed in full caloric glory on tables across America for decades. We even make a special jar or dish for candies to sit in a place of honor on our tabletops and desks. Many homes and offices keep a perpetually replenished treat bowl for guests year round, but most particularly through the fall and winter seasons. Beginning with Halloween and on through Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day and Easter, candy plays a part in the celebrations. The next time you head for that table and reach for that next confection consider this. Why is that candy shaped like corn? Who thought of coating a healthy fruit with gooey caramel or rock hard sugar? Where did some of those candied treats we expect to find at every holiday season come from?

CANDY CORN: Born in the 1880’s by an unknown creator, the Wunderle Candy Company of Philadelphia was the first to make them commercially. After 1898 Goelitz Confectionery Company of Cincinnati became the most famous producer of these kernels of 3.57 calories of sugar. Goelitz still manufactures candy corn today.

The basic ingredients of candy corn are sugar, water, and corn syrup. This is cooked into a slurry that fondant and marshmallow are then whipped in to. The hot candy is then poured into hand-held buckets and then poured into molds in layers, one at a time. Because the world had never seen tri-color candies its design was considered revolutionary and quickly became so popular they went on back order. Since the shape was a vegetable, most likely to represent the fall harvest, the company even tried other veggies, including turnips!

Through the rise and fall of recessions and booms, war and peace, the candy corn survived. Even when sugar prices hit the roof in the mid 1970’s the humble candy corn kept Goelitz from bankruptcy. Now more than 20 million pounds of candy corn or roughly 8.3 billion kernels have been sold in the last 100 years.

POPCORN BALLS: Like the traditional autumnal treat candy corn, popcorn balls were popular confections in the late 1800s & early 1900s. The first recipe published for this holiday treat was about 1861 when the New York cookbook author E. F. Haskell printed it in her “Housekeeper’s Encyclopedia.”

In the fall, many a butcher block, kitchen counter top or kitchen table was the scene of a family gathered to mix and stir the sticky mess of sugar or molasses or honey and then form those popped kernels into balls of celebration. Usually wrapped in sheets of waxed paper and twisted on each end, these were a welcome neighborhood treat. Vendors even sold them on the streets of the late 1800’s for a penny per popcorn ball, profiting about 70% per ball!

CANDY APPLES: Candy apples or toffee apples are traditional treats found on many a harvest table. Candied apples became popular mainly because fall comes during the annual apple harvest. While toffee apples are coated in a caramel base the candy or candied apple is hard coated with cooled sugar syrup, usually tinted red. Sometimes, especially at the holiday season, the candy is flavored with red hot cinnamon.

According to the November 28, 1948 Newark Sunday News, William W. Kolb invented the red candy apple in 1908. During the Christmas season of that year he was working in his candy shop with red cinnamon candy. He dipped some apples into the mixture and then decided to place them in the windows for a holiday display. The entire first batch sold out for 5 cents each. This later led to selling thousands yearly, leading to the candied fruit becoming a staple at fairs, carnivals and special events across the country.

 

Tags: amish candy, amish tables, candy apple, candy corn, candy jar, candy making, popcorn balls, toffee apple

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 11:19 pm and is filed under Entertaining, Party & Event Hosting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.