Start with corn, grown on a big farm in Iowa.
Pick it, ship it off to a factory. Grind it up, separate it, mix it up with enzymes and catalysts and all sorts of complex chemical processes; out comes high-fructose corn syrup and a number of other products, like stabilizers and preservatives and the like.
Ship off your HFCS and other corn derivatives to another factory. Mix them together, mold them into a tiny shape that vaguely resembles an ear of corn, and dye it in corn-looking colors. Call it “candy corn”:
Looks like corn, sort of. Comes from corn, sort of. Tastes like corn, not at all. Seems like a lot of work to get something that’s like corn, but isn’t. Still, I love the stuff – it’s one of my rare indulgences, kind of like how I’m still fond of processed cheese dip, even though I know it’s fake if I think too much about it. And if there’s an organic/natural candy equivalent for candy corn, I’ve never seen it.
Happy Halloween, everyone!