(FoxNews) – Before it was known as “candy corn” — and more than a
hundred years before it was crowned the “worst” Halloween candy in
a 2019 poll — the triangular, tri-colored treat went by a much different,
less-alliterative name.
The original recipe for what’s now known as “candy corn” is said to
have been invented sometime in the 1880s, according to popular belief,
by an employee of the Wunderle Candy Company. (The Wunderle Candy
Company puts the exact date at 1888, and says an employee named
George Renninger came up with the idea.)
Wunderle wasn’t the only company to hop on the candy corn craze. The
Goelitz Candy Company — which later became Jelly Belly — began
producing the treats by the turn of the 20th century, marketing them
under the name “Chicken Feed,” according to a 2015 report published
in National Geographic.
George Renninger
The 1898 packaging design for Goelitz Candy Corn. (Jelly Bean)