The Most Popular Halloween Candy In Maryland: Study Ranks Top 3

Experienced trick-or-treaters know certain houses in the neighborhood have better candy than others. Marylanders eager to please their costumed guests may be interested to know that a recent study honed in on the most popular Halloween candy in every state.

Online retailer CandyStore found each state’s favorite Halloween candy by combing through 11 years of sales data and focusing on the months leading up to the holiday.

The company also verified the conclusions with major candy manufacturers and distributors.

The most popular Halloween candy in Maryland was Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, with nearly 39,000 pounds sold in the state in 2018.

The second-place finisher in our state was Milky Way, and Hershey Kisses came in third.

Our neighbors in Virginia like their Halloween candy on the spicy side. The most popular brand of Halloween candy there last year was Hot Tamales, with Snickers and Tootsie Pops coming in second and third, respectively.

According to CandyStore's research, Skittles are the most popular Halloween candy overall sold in America, followed by Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, M&Ms, Snickers and Starburst. While the above candies dominated a large section of the country, Jolly Ranchers made an appearance as the favorite treat in Georgia and Utah. Double Bubble is the top seller in Oklahoma and Montana.

Whatever their selections, people across the country are united in their plans to celebrate with something sweet. Ninety-five percent of the 179 million Americans who celebrate Halloween will purchase candy for the holiday, according to the study. On average, these people will spend $27, and nearly 25 percent of all those purchases are made online. Most purchases are made in the first two weeks of October, according to CandyStore.

Maryland is not alone in its tendency to stock up on Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Kansas, North Carolina and Oregon also had these treats as their top pick.

In fact, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are among the Hershey Company's top-selling candies, in a category with Hershey Kisses, Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars and Kit Kats. The peanut butter cups were the brainchild of a former Hershey employee who had worked on the company's dairy farm in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

H.B. Reese, for whom Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are named, began manufacturing the candy as part of an assortment that included peppermint cream, raisin clusters, coconut caramel and other items in 1928 in Hershey, Pennsylvania, according to the Hershey Community Archives. The peanut butter cup became the most popular selection; and in 1935 he started marketing it as a separately packaged candy. Also that year, Reese, who was known for being a family man, built a fishing lodge on the Eastern Shore in Maryland, and he invited his employees to stay there for a dollar a day, including meals, according to the archives.

In 1941 when sugar was rationed due to World War II, he scaled back operations and focused only on his bestseller: the peanut butter cup. From the beginning of Reese's candy production, he had turned to the Hershey Company to supply the chocolate coating. After his death in 1956, Reese's family sold his candy business to the Hershey Company in 1963.

Its fan base has grown in the years that followed — there is an "I Love Reese's Day," celebrated May 18 each year since 2010 — and the candy has been shaped into Christmas trees, hearts and of course, pumpkins, to go with the season.

— By Elizabeth Janney and Gus Saltonstall