Trick-or-Treat! Halloween Snacks
Halloween is right around the corner, and that means that the shelves of American grocery stores are being lined with seasonal candies and treats. Over the coming week, Americans will head out to the store to purchase candy for trick-or-treaters in their neighborhoods. Many will buy a variety of candy to put into a large basket for the children, and others will assemble small bags of candy so that they can safely be handed out.
Going trick-or-treating as a kid meant that I always came back home with at least a pound of candy. My friends and I would sit in a circle and trade the candies we got so that we could all end up with our favorites. Though there are many types of treats handed out by neighbors, these are some of the more common ones I would find in my trick-or-treat bag.
Candy Corn
Individual pieces of candy corn are supposed to resemble corn kernels. Candy corn is almost always made with white, orange, and yellow layers stacked on top of each other. Though it may look like corn, it has a sugary, buttery taste and a dry and chewy texture. Outside of the month of October, candy corn is usually not sold in stores because it is a specialty item for Halloween. It is also very polarizing: people either love or hate candy corn because of its texture.
Hershey's Chocolate
Hershey’s chocolate bars have been an American staple since 1894, and since then, they have expanded into a global brand. You will see Hershey’s chocolate marketed towards almost any holiday! During Halloween, you can find small bars of chocolate in stores, specifically for trick-or-treaters. There are also many varieties of Hershey’s to choose from including Krackle with rice puffs, dark chocolate, cookies and cream, and more.
Tootsie Pops
Tootsie Pops are lollipops with a twist! Inside the lollipop, there is a Tootsie Roll, which is a small piece of chocolate-flavored taffy. Tootsie Pops have been around for almost 100 years now, and they aren’t going away anytime soon. The original lollipop flavors include chocolate, raspberry, cherry, orange, and grape. More recently, the brand has added on limited-edition flavors, like caramel, sour apple, and wild black cherry.
Popcorn Balls
Popcorn balls are made of popcorn tightly bound together by a sugary, glue-like substance. Most of the time, popcorn balls are homemade and handed out to trick-or-treaters in small Ziploc baggies. There is no exact source of when or where this tradition started, but I suspect that people started making popcorn balls so that kids would consume less candy. If you are interested in making popcorn balls, you can follow this recipe.
Photo: Joy the Baker
Caramel Apples
Caramel apples are usually eaten around Halloween because that’s when apples are in season in the United States. Caramel apples are fun and can be customized in a lot of ways! After you put the layer of caramel on, there are endless possibilities of what types of candy you put on it or how you choose to decorate it. Typically, you can find caramel apples topped with crushed peanuts, sprinkles, or M&Ms.
Photo: Kat Wirsing for Delish
Vocabulary list:
Halloween (n.): celebrated on the 31st night of October, people will dress up and carve pumpkins, usually not associated with religion in the United States but is the night before the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day
Seasonal (adj.): associated with a certain time of year or holiday
Trick-or-treaters (n.): children who dress up and collect candy around their neighborhoods on Halloween
Kernels (n.): the edible part of corn, inside of the husk
Specialty (adj.): describing a certain product that a region or group is famous for making, a novel item associated with the region
Polarizing (adj.): causing people to have very strong and often differing opinions
Staple (adj.): main or important item in everyday life
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bridgette Lang is an undergraduate student studying International Relations at Boston University. On campus, she helps run a collegiate Model United Nations Conference and manages finances for BU College Democrats. In her free time, Bridgette enjoys traveling, trying to learn Spanish, and visiting with her friends and family back home in Pennsylvania.