As we approach Halloween, our country seems to be angry at two camps that can not see eye-to-eye on important issues.

Such as candy corn is a delicious traditional candy treat or an inedible sugary trick played on the American public.

Well, no matter how much people do it, a lot of people are eating it. Around 35 million pounds are sold every year, mostly in the fall.

And, guess what? You can thank – or blame – Cincinnati for it. The little tri-colored kernels were first commercially manufactured here, beginning 120 years ago. And the original recipe, perfected by the Goelitz Company, is still being made today by the nation's attention.

Cincinnati food historian and blogger Dann Woellert tells the story in his book "Cincinnati Candy, a Sweet History."

"You know, you're asking about my favorite book in the whole book," he said. His book covers chocolates and mints and licorice and opera creams and taffy, Cincinnati was one of the centers of candy-making in the country from the 1880s to 1920.

more: There's a new favorite candy in Ohio in 2018

Candy corn was actually invented in Philadelphia, where George Renninger of candy company Wunderle gets the credit, but it took a Cincinnati company to give it fame.

The candy business here was German-dominated, with companies like the Myers Confectionery, Reinhart and Newton, the Peter Eichert Company and the Doscher Candy Company.

Among them was the Goelitz Company. It was established in Belleville, Illinois, in 1869. In 1889, Adolph Goetliz moved to Cincinnati to be part of the candy supply and transportation networks. He and his two brothers set up business and the business of manufacturing candy, including candy corn. Though, at the time, it was called "chicken feed."

Candy corn was then a newly-invented kind of confection called "buttercream." It took the place of marzipan candies, made from almond paste, which can be molded into shapes, and often was sold in the shape of cute little vegetables. Buttercream was much cheaper, and it could be molded but remain chewable.

It's made by cooking sugar, water and corn syrup in big pots, then adding fondant (which is also water, sugar and corn syrup), then marshmallow (also made of sugar and water and gelatin) whipped in to make it softer. There was also a little wax. Really, it should be called sugarcream, because there's no butter.

At first, candy corn was not for Halloween, which was not widely celebrated. It was for Christmas. At the Goetlitz factory, it was made in the summer for the big autumn candy season. It must have been very hot in the factory, where candy was cooked in huge cauldrons, then poured into handheld buckets that held 45 pounds.

Then it was poured into molds lined with cornstarch. Of course, it took three passes, one each of white, yellow and orange. The cornstarch made it easier to release the candies from the molds. It's still very much molded candies are made.

While the workers worked, they spoke German. Even through World War I, Adolph Goetlitz insisted on it, even when it was a very risky thing in the light of anti-German hysteria, when the National Protective League had citizens spying on their German-American neighbors.

The candy business was growing all over the country, and candy became very popular. By 1912, they were turning down new orders. Adolph's brother, Herman, and Adolph moved to Chicago, merging the two branches.

A box of Goelitz recipes in a candelabrum at the Brack's Cornerstone Studio in downtown Cincinnati on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018. (Photo: Sam Greene)

The Nuss company took over the Cincinnati buttercream manufacturing. In Woellert's book, there's a 1922 ad for Nuss' Butter Cream Corn. "A Remarkable Seller and Repeater, sold in pails, boxes and snappy, typical novelty packages for Christmas and New Year's."

In 1922, Herman took copies of the family and moved to Oakland, California. Both Goelitz companies operated until 2001 when they reunited as the Jelly Belly Candy Company and got famous making crazy jellybean flavors. They still make candy corn. This year, they introduced a new package featuring the art of a rooster and the logo "something worth crowing for." The corn is a little smaller and tastes a little different than the market leader, Brach's.

Trick or treating, introduced in the 1930s, is probably what made candy corn an iconic Halloween treat. There are many spin-offs of the original yellow, orange and white corn. Now it comes in other colors for other holidays; in other flavors like cinnamon, cappuccino and caramel macchiato. The color scheme is reproduced in Halloween costumes and costumes.

And, for people who really do not care, there is an antidote that starts appearing on the Internet around 2012. The candy corn disappears into the backdrop of a soup like a Payday candy bar. You're welcome.

more: Polly Campbell: Best Things I ate in September

more: Review: Forno offers an Italian embrace in Montgomery

Read or Share this story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/dining/2018/10/26/history-candy-corn-grown-cincinnati-called-chicken-feed/1726973002/