Once again, that season of gluttony has begun – the non-stop eating binge that lasts from early October through mid-February, and includes tailgating, Halloween candy, Thanksgiving feasts, Christmas parties, New Year’s, Super Bowl, and Valentines. Throw in St. Pat’s and Easter, and this thing could last half the year.
The first harbinger of this season is the innocent-looking candy corn. The tri-colored confection has been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember. And for most of that time, I’ve eaten candy corn in a very ritualistic manner. First, I bite off the yellow wide part, then the orange middle, leaving the white tip for last. The trick is to bite it so that the colors remain pure – no lingering bits of yellow attached to the orange, or, worse yet, lingering bits of orange attached to the white. That’s even trickier since the white pieces are so small.
Despite the fact the whole kernel tastes the same from end to end, each color takes on significance in proportion to the amounts found in those kernels. Orange is not as good as yellow, since there is so much of it. White is the best. Occasionally one will find an aberrant kernel with only yellow and red. This was considered lucky as it contained only the higher quality colors. Other colored schemes, such as orange-block-white, just aren’t really candy corn, and aren’t even considered for their color values.
My favorite brand is Brach’s. It has a creamier finish and texture whereas other off-brands tend to be a bit crunch. Publix has come out with their own brand which is acceptable, but there are still differences in texture.
I’m sure the sugar/caloric content aren’t doing my diet any good, but perhaps as long as I stick to my ritual and eat only a few kernals in this fashion, I can make the bags last longer, and reduce those detrimental effects.
[tags]candy, Candy Corn, Halloween[/tags]
I’ve never seen such candy before and I can’t imagine what it tastes like. But I completely understand the ritual eating! I eat apples, Tiny Teddies and Vietnamese noodle soup the same way all the time. I think most people have their own irrational eating rituals for particular foods — especially treats!