It's A Candy Corn-ucopia!

Candy corn is one of the signature flavors of Halloween. Every October, when the glut of "Pumpkin Spice" everything floods the market, a new wave of candy corn starts hitting store shelves. But no longer do we just have to choose from the little, triangular candies. Now, just like with pumpkin, almost everything comes in a Candy Corn flavor. I'm not complaining, mind you, as I do love me some candy corn but I didn't really notice the seriousness of the trend until a recent shopping trip to Target. I went on a little shopping spree, spending  way more than my wife would prefer. Here's my full line-up of the results.

S'Mores Candy Corn & Starburst Candy Corn
Not everyone enjoys the taste of candy corn and I can understand that. I didn't like it until I was probably around 16. Luckily, Brach's and Starburst are to the rescue for people like that. They no longer have to feel left out while everyone else scarfs down handfuls of candy corn, ignoring their cries of "GROSS!"

Actually, though, these aren't that good. The S'Mores candy corn is some sort of hybrid, mixing both flavors into one. The marshmallow/chocolate taste doesn't stand out the way that I feel it should and everything blends together into some sort of sweet mess. It does get the texture down, though, and the candies flake and crumble just right in your mouth.

The Starburst has the opposite problem. The texture is all wrong; when you chew them, they have the soft, creamy texture of a regular Starburst, just to a slightly lesser effect. The flavors, though are pretty good. They have that strong, fruity taste you would expect out of a Starburst, but again it's slightly different from its cubical counterpart. Of the two, I would go with the Starburst over the S'Mores, but even then, I'd rather have a real Starburst than the candy corn version.


Candy Corn Oreos

I had really high hopes for these. I missed them when they came out last year. Well, I didn't miss them but I could not find them worth a damn. No Target near me had them. So when I saw them last week, I didn't hesitate to swoop them up.

They are extraordinarily sweet. I like sweet and all, but these are teeth-meltingly sweet. I'm not saying they are bad because of that; that just means you can't eat too many in one sitting. (I guess you shouldn't eat too many of any cookies in one sitting but whatever.) So far, I had two and I can't seem to bring myself to eat a third.

They also have a distinct salty undertaste. It's not overpowering but I could definitely detect a saltiness to them. It's pretty good, actually, as it helps to balance out the sweetness a little but not really enough.

White Chocolate Candy Corn M&Ms
This one suffers from the same problem the Oreos do; they're just too sweet. Eating them practically made my teeth hurt. they are tasty, I'll give them that. But they have a very subdued Candy Corn flavor. It's really the white chocolate that stands out the most.





Candy Corn Jones Soda
Out of the group of Jones Sodas I purchased, this was the one I was most afraid of. Mostly because I did this dance with Jones back in 2005 when they first released a Candy Corn flavored soda. That version was pretty bad, with such an overpowering flavor that it was hard to take. Now, 8 years later, and I'm falling into the same marketing trap.

I'm kinda glad I did, though, because Jones made some marked improvements to Candy Corn. The flavor is much more subtle, not like the overwhelming taste of melted candy corn of the last go around. It's enough to excite the tastebuds without overloading them into a diabetic shock. If Jones maintains this level of flavor, I'll be willing to make this one of my Halloween traditions.