Sweet! Here’s Minnesota’s Favorite Halloween Candy

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — With Halloween arriving Monday, we wanted to know: What are Minnesotan's favorite Halloween candies? Is the Land of 10,000 Lakes full of chocolate lovers — think Hershey bar, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or Butterfinger — or do you (gasp!) prefer non-chocolate treats like Skittles, Lifesavers or candy corn?

It’s a big deal for candy-makers and businesses leading up to the holiday. On a typical week Americans spend $300 million on candy, but experts say U.S. candy sales should hit $2.5 billion for Halloween 2016.

Two recent surveys of Minnesota tastes disagree on what the top candy is in the state. The Influenster website surveyed more than 40,000 readers to determine which Halloween candies are favorites and found the candy with the highest total number of votes was Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Along with Kit Kat and Butterfinger, the trio were voted top treats in every state.

According to Influenster’s readers, Minnesota’s favorite candy is the 100 Grand Bar.

But CandyStore.com, an online candy wholesaler, tracked eight years of its sales data to determine the best-selling Halloween candy by state, in pounds sold. That list says that Minnesota shoppers buy Skittles much more than any other candy, followed by Tootsie Pops and Almond Joy.

"The year of 1979 was an important one for Minnesotans," says CandyStore.com. "It was the first time a Minnesota hospital performed a blood transfusion and the year in which the state’s favorite candy, Skittles, was invented. After nearly 40 years, we’re glad to see modern medicine has changed, but not the love for a classic American candy."

»What is your favorite candy, Minnesota? Tell us in comments.

For some folks, candy corn is the quintessential Halloween treat, while others use it as a decorating prop. Comedian Lewis Black has a whole rant about candy corn, which he describes as “which is neither candy, nor corn," and suggests all candy corn in existence was made in 1914 and recycled annually.

Chocolate is the most popular candy among all age groups, but was most popular among those ages 45 to 60 who preferred it over other candies by 78 percent, according to a 2015 Nielsen survey says the 24/7 Wall Street site. Candy corn was a distant second in preference, receiving about 12 percent of the vote, even though 52 percent of people say they have to have candy corn on Halloween.

The CandyStore website published an interactive map showing the top-selling candy in all 50 states.

Deb Belt (Patch Staff) contributed to this report

Image via Luke Jones, Flickr, used under Creative Commons