History of Easter Candy
Easter Candy Basket. Image: A Gift Inside
History of Easter Candy
Easter is the second-largest “candy holiday” of the year, after Halloween in the US. Trick-or-treating can turn a grown adult into a porch-based sugar distributor for tiny extortionists in costume.
This ranking may be because Halloween retailing starts in July, aggressively elbowing the Fourth of July store displays. Easter has waited politely in the seasonal aisle with its hands folded since January, and then patiently waited until March to set up displays in stores, demonstrating its good manners.
Additionally, Easter candy is typically given as a gift within a family. In contrast, Halloween candy is distributed to complete strangers – dressed as superheroes, dinosaurs, or “vaguely licensed characters” — who arrive at your door and demand tribute.
I am not saying that Easter candy is better than Halloween candy (yes, I am). I have eaten enough of both for research, or as my cardiologist calls it, “a longitudinal study in poor decisions.” And I can assure you that Easter candy is more spiritually uplifting; there’s nothing like buying and eating half a bag of chocolate eggs in your car before you get home.
A Harris Poll conducted by an Instacart survey said:
Nearly two-thirds of Americans (65%) agreed that Easter candy is the best seasonal candy, and 57% said Easter candy is better than Halloween candy… Although Halloween may be the ultimate sweets holiday largely centered around trick-or-treating for fun-sized candies, there’s a sensible reason many folks are more partial to Easter candy.
Disclaimer: I had nothing to do with this poll and did not commission it, fund it, or whisper suggestions into anyone’s ear. I do, however, agree with it completely and without bias.
The following is a completely objective, rigorously researched, and laboratory-tested examination of Easter candy:
What is its history, what are the various types, and do size and colors matter?
Origins of Easter Candy
I’ve written elsewhere about the foods associated with Easter. Easter Sunday follows Lent, during which time Christians of various traditions abstain from meat, eggs, and even sweets—forty days of abstinence, followed by the full, glorious, unrestricted wonder of Easter candy.
The Easter Bunny became a popular, recognizable symbol of Easter in the 1700s — brought to America (specifically Pennsylvania) by German immigrants—who apparently saw no issue with a rabbit delivering eggs. They also brought edible sugar and pastry eggs in the 1700s and early 1800s. Candy eggs became popular in the mid-1800s, with chocolate eggs following in the late 1800s, the evolutionary apex of Easter eggs.
Jelly beans were made by Boston-based candymaker William Schrafft, who adapted jelly from his Turkish Delight recipe and molded it into bean shapes in the mid-1800s as gifts for Civil War soldiers. Talk about patriotic. They became popular in the 1930s as part of the Easter tradition, presumably because they resemble eggs if you squint,
Marshmallow candies became popular in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly with Peeps. Invented by a Russian immigrant named Sam Born in the 1920s, Peeps marshmallow chicks were first sold in 1948.
I would advise caution, however, with the chili lime mango-flavored Peeps. You’ll thank me later.
Peeps Chili Lime Mango Chicks
The Most Popular Types of Easter Candy
According to a National Confectioners Association ranking, 44% of Americans favor chocolate eggs and bunnies, followed by jelly beans (20%), candy-coated eggs (18%), and marshmallow candy (15%).
The top five items are:
- Cadbury Easter Creme Eggs
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs
- Starburst Easter Jelly Beans
- Cadbury Chocolate Mini Eggs
- Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Kisses
Cadbury Mini Eggs
Notice that Cadbury holds two of the top five spots. That’s because Cadbury is a sophisticated English brand deserving of this recognition. Their Mini Eggs are profoundly addictive – the kind of addiction where you eat half a bag in one sitting. I only know this because of extensive, ongoing research.
Starburst Jelly Beans. Author’s photo
Starburst Easter Jelly Beans are, admittedly, a Johnny-come-lately confection that showed up with something genuinely good and earned their seat through merit alone. I can respect that.
East or West, Chocolate is Best
Generally, the West Coast favors Cadbury Easter Creme Eggs while the East Coast and Midwest favor Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs — a regional divide that tells you more about American values than most political surveys.
Statista published a 2023 survey report showing that 51% of American respondents identified Reese’s peanut butter eggs as their favorite Easter candy, while chocolate bunnies were the most-liked non-branded product. This is concerning.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs
Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs, and I say this with great affection and zero ambiguity, are clearly Halloween candy in disguise. The intent is obvious; the packaging is already orange. At that point, you’re not celebrating Easter; you’re pre-gaming October. Even in egg form, it’s a Halloween wolf in Easter sheep’s clothing – a seasonal infiltrator, whispering “Peanuts, we’re shaped like eggs.”
Peanut butter and chocolate, absolutely. Peanut butter and Easter, I remain unconvinced.
And for those keeping score: Brad Reese, grandson of the original inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, accused the now-owner, The Hershey Company, of changing the recipe by using cheaper ingredients, which he claimed was damaging the Reese’s brand. Vote with your wallet, folks.
Update: On Wednesday, Hershey backed down and agreed to change the recipe.
Does Size Matter?
Speaking of chocolate, 65% of Easter candy is chocolate-based, suggesting divine inspiration. Halloween candy is typically small, individually wrapped candy. “Fun-size” Halloween Snickers bars are so small that you need tweezers to open them. Where’s the fun in that?
Easter candy, by contrast, is usually larger, sometimes approaching the dimensions of a small child. Years ago, I took my young son to a local confectionery store at Easter. The staff brought out a chocolate Easter bunny in a wheelbarrow. The bunny was almost the size of my son. My son looked at it the way medieval peasants looked at comets.
Largest egg on display at Le Acciaierie Shopping Centre, Cortenuova, Italy
The Guinness Book of World Records reports a 16,000-pound chocolate egg — created in Italy in 2011, standing 34 feet high, 64 feet in circumference, and weighing as much as two adult orca whales. Has Halloween ever produced anything remotely this ambitious? I rest my case.
Chocolate Worldwide
In the US, Halloween dominates in chocolate sales. But elsewhere, the world has made different, arguably better, choices:
- In Japan, Valentine’s Day has a unique twist: women traditionally buy chocolates for men. This practice drives massive sales, particularly for “obligation chocolate” (giri choco) given to colleagues. It is substantially better than giving a bottle of alcohol, and doesn’t require a designated driver.
- In Switzerland, home to some of the world’s largest per capita chocolate consumers, Christmas and Easter are the top occasions for chocolate gifting. What do they know that we don’t?
- In Belgium, known for its premium chocolate, Easter and Christmas see the highest chocolate consumption, with a focus on artisanal products. They have a chocolate museum in Brussels. A museum. Dedicated to chocolate.
- In France, Christmas is the peak season for chocolate purchases, including elaborate desserts like the bûche de Noël (chocolate yule logs). Historically, these are the people who added various spices, vanilla, and sugar to cocoa to make an easier-to-consume chocolate beverage – a contribution to humanity so significant that Louis XV reportedly prepared his own chocolate beverage in his private Versailles apartment by himself. The Sun King made his own hot chocolate. This is something to which each of us can aspire.
- In India, Diwali, the festival of lights, drives a surge in chocolate sales, as gifting chocolates has become a modern alternative to traditional sweets. Diwali calories, according to leading experts, do not count.
- In Australia, Easter reigns supreme as the top chocolate-buying holiday, with hot chocolate-themed eggs and bunnies being particularly popular. Well done, Australia; you have your priorities in order.
This is proof that the rest of the world has figured out what we in the US are still apparently debating — specifically, whether peanut butter can be ordained as an Easter food group. (It cannot.)
Do Colors Matter?
Jelly beans: Who is going to eat the black licorice ones ;-)
Why yes, colors do matter.
Halloween, bless its heart, operates in black and orange — a palette that says “we chose two colors and stopped.” It is the black-and-white television of holiday aesthetics. Functional, iconic, and deeply uncreative.
Easter, by contrast, deploys the full living spectrum of Springtime. Jelly beans span the entire rainbow, including black — my personal favorite, which has the added benefit of ensuring I never have to share them. Peeps has over 100 different colors currently in production. For Peeps sake! Even chocolate comes in six distinct varieties: dark, milk, white, blond, gold, and ruby. Chocolate has a wider range than most recording artists.
Again, if someone offers you a chili lime mango Peep, that is not a gift. That is a test of character.
Easter Candy Factoids
Here are some interesting facts about Easter candy to impress your friends and family:
- Americans buy 90 million chocolate bunnies annually for Easter — hollow, solid, or filled with candy— because choice is important and chocolate is a constitutional right. Look it up.
- 50 million Cadbury Creme Eggs are sold in the US each Easter, all of them thoroughly deserved.
- Over 16 billion jelly beans are produced yearly for Easter; the black ones account for approximately 47 of these, all of which I am personally available to receive.
- 80% of Americans buy candy for Easter, spending an average of $142 per household; the remaining 20% are fibbing.
- Peeps maker, Just Born, sells 2 billion marshmallows yearly for Easter. I’ve already got mine.
- Cadbury Easter sales account for 10% of their annual revenue. Let’s all help them hit 20%.
- Jelly bean sales surge 4x during Easter week — the most encouraging economic statistic of the calendar year.
Conclusion
So there you have it — irrefutable, peer-reviewed, historically verified proof that Easter candy reigns supreme. It is spiritually uplifting, culturally significant, globally celebrated, delicious, and nutritious. OK, maybe not nutritious.
Easter candy doesn’t need a haunted house or a scary costume to justify its existence — it simply shows up in Springtime, beautiful and abundant – like flowers, like birdsong, like a polychromatic kaleidoscope of opalescent confections in a bag you had fully intended to share.
Easter proves life is, in fact, choc-full of good choices. You have to know where to look, possibly in a wheelbarrow. Easter candy is emotionally restorative, historically important, and good exercise for your bathroom scale.
And if that doesn’t lift your spirits, might I suggest a Peep? Just not the chili lime mango one.
Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
billpetro.com
