Candy corn is widely credited to George Renninger, a candymaker at the Wunderle(e) Candy Company in Pennsylvania, who is said to have created it in the 1880s.
Key details
- Sources attribute the invention to George Renninger of Wunderle Candy Company in the 1880s, with Wunderle cited as the first to produce the tri-colored kernels commercially.
- The Goelitz Candy Company (later Jelly Belly) began producing the candy shortly after and helped popularize it under the name “Chicken Feed” before it became closely tied to Halloween decades later.
- While some histories note uncertainty around exact origins, mainstream confectionery references and calendars consistently credit Renninger for the invention during that period.
