As the University of Connecticut’s students begin to don costumes and meet up with friends for Halloweekend, there’s bound to be an abundance of sweet treats ready to be consumed — and an abundance of fervent arguments over which of them is the best. Here at the Life section, our writers make their case for their favorite confectionary delights from Hershey bars, candy corn and orange Kit-Kat.
Jaylyn Davis, Staff Writer, iue25001@uconn.edu, she/her/hers
As a child, I had a huge chocolate obsession. Every time I went trick-or-treating on Halloween, I’d try to get as many chocolates as possible. I didn’t mind getting other candies, such as Sour Patch Kids or Skittles. However, Hershey’s, Crunch and Twix were by far the candy pieces that I enjoyed the most.
As I got older, my appreciation for candy began to expand beyond chocolate. I recently got a huge knack for candy corn, which may be controversial for some. I’ve been told that candy corn tastes like cardboard and has a bland texture but in my opinion, candy corn doesn’t taste like cardboard. Every time I chew on it, my tongue becomes enriched with extremely sweet flavors. In terms of the texture, I find it remarkably pleasing. If you want to judge me for liking candy corn, go ahead. You can tell me candy corn is bad, but I’m always going to believe that it’s a very delectable candy.
Zayda Shevlin, Campus Correspondent, fhy24005@uconn.edu, she/her/hers
As a kid, the most memorable part of Halloween was candy trading at the end of the night after trick-or-treating. I was lucky enough to adopt a rare palate that can tolerate candies that most people find blasphemous to Halloween, so I can receive all the candy that most people just can’t handle.
Almond Joys, Candy Corn and Smarties are all candies most kids loathe and don’t even see as worth trading, just an item taking up space in their pumpkin buckets and pillowcases.
I saw this as an opportunity to be the proud soldier to take the candies most kids see as worthless. This inevitably grew my candy stash larger than my peers’ and expanded my post-Halloween sugar intake further into November. This secured my schoolyard street credit of still having a piece of candy at lunch when everyone else had already succumbed to the gluttony of eating all your candy during the first few days after Halloween.
Reese’s, Snickers and M&M’s might be Halloween candy staples, but one second of a pleasant taste on your tongue doesn’t compare to being the bravest trick-or-treater, taking on candies that some wouldn’t dare to touch.
Zola Bloom, Campus Correspondent, hyl25003@uconn.edu, she/her/hers
Each October of my childhood, filling an optimistically big bag with candies while running alongside the older kids through our neighborhood was close to euphoria. What made the chilliness in a costume that fell over my eyes genuinely great? Pausing every block or so to dig in my stash for that shiny gold package of perfection.
Biting into a Twix is like transcending through multiple layers of heaven. The first, chocolate; the next, smooth caramel. It wouldn’t be complete without the crunch of the cookie inside. Yet the confection, in all its goodness, is not ostentatious or overwhelming.
I can tell you for certain there will come a day — it might be in the following December, it might be in June next year — but you will find one lost candy bar in the pocket of your jeans. There’s a chance it’s been through a full laundry cycle by now. The biscuit might be cracked and the foil wrinkled. It may be melted and make a mess of your hands as you unwrap it. But I promise the humble Twix will taste exactly as good as it did last Halloween.
Thaddeus Sawyer, Staff Writer, thaddeus.sawyer@uconn.edu, he/him/his
I think it’s important to remember the actual prompt at hand here. The question isn’t what our favorite candy is, but rather what our favorite Halloween candy is. With that in mind, I think it’s only right to pick a candy that can only be found in October.
Enter the orange Kit-Kat. Different from their UK counterparts in the fact that they are covered in a white chocolate-like creme rather than being citrus-infused, the Halloween Kit-Kat combines the bliss of a white chocolate Kit-Kat with the nicheness of a seasonal-only treat. The fact that no actual fruit is involved is only a bonus.
While I also enjoy a Kit-Kat “Count,” a vampire-shaped variation on the candy, I would have traded five of those for one orange Kit-Kat after trick-or-treating. When I think of Halloween candy, I think of an orange Kit-Kat.