Candy corn has to be the most divisive seasonal candy. Some people really love it (like my colleague Naajia Shukri); a lot of people really hate it. I guess I land somewhere in the middle: I like the texture and, you know, candy is candy, but candy corn isn’t going to be the first thing I grab out of the Halloween candy bowl. (That honor is reserved for Fun Size 100 Grand bars, always and forever.)
But there’s always room for improvement, right? Like, say, a mashup between Funfetti cake, which everyone loves, and a classic Halloween candy? We picked up a bag of Brach’s new Funfetti Candy Corn and put those little ersatz kernels to the test.
Regular old candy corn has a flavor that’s sort of marshmallowy, kind of vanilla-y, and a little caramelly—a melange of different versions of straight-up “sugary,” if you will. My problem with Brach’s Funfetti candy corn is that it doesn’t bring enough of that vanilla-cake-batter flavor to differentiate it from traditional candy corn, which already smacks of vanilla and sugar. Blindfolded, I’m not certain I could tell the two apart.
Also, I think they could have played up the Funfetti aspect by actually adding little sprinkles to the kernels, rather than just covering them in plasticky-looking multicolored flecks—kind of a missed opportunity for a little extra texture to help them stand apart. Funfetti Corn is sort of cute, but probably doesn’t need to exist.
Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks.
Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction.
Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home.
Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!
Gwynedd Stuart
Tyler Bowers
Danny Palumbo
Hebba Gouda
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!