My Gripe with Candy Canes

This year’s Candy Canes. Can I eat them or not? Photo by author.

I love seasonal candy: Candy Corn in the fall, followed by Candy Canes for Christmas, Conversation Hearts (the original Necco kind, please), Peeps. If you’ve suggestions for the rest of the year, please share. It’s a long time between Peeps and Candy Corn.

I generally use the candy as part of my seasonal decoration. I don’t eat it until the season is winding down. So I am just now ready to start enjoying that box of Candy Canes.

I am beginning to wonder, though, manufacturers intend Candy Canes to actually be eaten.

Now I know, for example (read it somewhere) that Peeps are made year round in order to have enough for everyone who wants them at Easter. Their packaging is an absolute marvel. Despite looking pretty flimsy, it will keep a Peep fresh for an unaccountably long time. I poke holes in the packages of Peeps that I receive for Easter so that I can consider eating them by July. Call me weird, but I don’t much care for fresh Peeps, but I love the stale ones. The closer they are to being able to snap apart, the better they are. Sometimes I’ve waited over a year before enjoying them.

So I expect that the season for making Candy Canes is probably long also. (I’m not that into eating stale Candy Canes. Once the peppermint oil evaporates, there isn’t much to enjoy.) I expect that having to make candy well in advance of…