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13 Halloween Candy Facts To Pig Out On

Some jerk was being condescending to a child, and now we call it “Salt Water Taffy.”

13 Halloween Candy Facts To Pig Out On

September 27, 2021

If there is one event that took place in the second half of the 19th century that split America down moral and ethical lines, it's definitely the invention of candy corn. Here’s the story, plus 12 others:

13

Candy corporations tried to extend Daylight Savings to sell more candy. Before it was extended in 2007, --makers in 1985 lobbied to have Halloween covered by Daylight Savings Time so children would have an extra hour to collect candy. They went so far as to put a candy pumpkin on the seat of every senator during the 1985 hearings on Daylight Saving. CRACKED.COM — Source: NPR

12

262 Fun-Sized candy bars will kill you. An average American weighing 180lbs would need to consume 5.4lbs of sugar in one sitting for it to be a lethal dose, which would be the amount in 262 fun-sized candy bars (9.3 grams of sugar each). CRACKED.COM — Source: PBS

11

Candy corn was invented 140 years ago and called Chicken Feed. During the 1880's, many confectioners made sugary treats based on the agricultural industry, in the shape of pumpkins, chestnuts, and turnips. CRACKED.COM — Source: History

10

Fun-Size was made specially for Halloween trick-or-treaters. NIE Twix FUN SIZE S WICKERS size The Mars company came out with Fun Size in the 1960's as a slightly larger treat than their junior size, targeted towards Halloween consumers. Other companies followed suit and began using the term, although Mars holds the trademark. CRACKED.COM — Source: Time

9

Salt Water Taffy gets its name from a smart-ass comment. Ocean flooding had ruined several candy shops on the Atlantic City boardwalk in New Jersey after an 1883 storm, so when a young customer asked a candy shop owner what she could buy his response was to joke that salt water taffy was all that was left. CRACKED.COM — Source: Mental Floss

8

Smarties were made with the same machines that produced bullets during WWI. Machines that compressed gunpowder into pellets for use in ammunition were repurposed to make the candy after swapping out some ingredients. CRACKED.COM — Source: CBC

7

Nestle set off a 132lb chocolate firework. Launched in Switzerland in 2002, the largest chocolate firework (and somehow not the only chocolate firework) was made by Nestle and was 9.8 feet tall. It was likely made using the child labor and modern-day slaves they've been caught with on their cocoa plantations as recently as 2019. CRACKED.COM — Source: Mashed

6

Snickers is named after the inventor's favorite horse. After the success of the Milky Way bar, owners Frank and Ethel Mars purchased a 3,000 acre horse farm in Tennessee. They were about to release a new peanut candy bar when Ethel's favorite horse Snickers died, and SO they named the new product in it's honor. CRACKED.COM — Source: Thought Co.

5

Bubblegum is only pink because of what food coloring happened to be on hand. The light pink that became SO synonymous with bubblegum that it took on its name just happened to BE the one food coloring that was around when Walter E. Diemer invented the chewy treat in 1928. CRACKED.COM — Source: Mental Floss

4

Cotton Candy was invented by a dentist. At the end of the 19th century, dentist William Morrison partnered with a confectioner to make a machine that would use centrifugal force to spin sugar into cottony strands. The first name for the concoction was Fairy Floss. CRACKED.COM — Source: National Today

3

Caramel apples were first made with Halloween leftovers. Kraft Foods had a lot of leftover caramel candies from the holiday in the 1950's, so a crafty employee experimented by melting them down and adding apples. This is very similar to the invention of candy apples in 1908, but for some reason it took people 40 years to think of using caramel. CRACKED.COM — Source: National Today

2

Reese's Pieces almost didn't appear in E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. Steven Spielberg was deciding between M&M's and Hershey's Kisses for the movie when the Hershey Company offered $1,000,000 to use Reese's Pieces, which launched just a few years earlier, instead. CRACKED.COM — Source: Mental Floss

1

Skittles are the most popular Halloween candy in the U.S. According to sales data from CandyStore.com, Americans purchase 3.3 million pounds of Skittles every Halloween. They also top the list in the most populous state, California. CRACKED.COM — Source: Reader's Digest

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