“Nothing on Earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night,” says Steve Almond, author of Candy Freak
I’ve always loved Halloween. The spooky and the scary has always fascinated me.
One of the first movies I remember watching was Dracula. It's probably why the classic vampire was my go-to costume choice for all those great runs around the neighbourhood trick-or-treating.
Of course, next to the fun of getting dressed up to scare the neighbours the best part of this night…the candy!
Pillowcases stuffed to the brim with all the tasty tidbits and sweet treats to keep a hungry ghoul or ghost happy. I have many fond memories of my brothers and I sitting on the floor with our respective piles sorting, inspecting and, of course, the inevitable bartering for our favourite pieces and packages that ensued.
In those trades, I found a particular advantage over my brothers. You see, I love those much misunderstood of Halloween treats…the Molasses Kisses. My siblings' disdain was much to my benefit.
To this day, my family — and my sister-in-law, in particular — and I have a spirited disagreements every year on these tasty treats. It's still my advantage, because these are one of the few sweet treats that the kids and my wife avoid!
I mean the “unpopular” lists do have some items that, unlike my Molasses Kisses, really do deserve to be there. You can keep the candy corn; not really a fan of pixie sticks or rockets; and as far as I’m concerned, the worst of the worst in my opinion are those marshmallow peanuts. Nothing more foul than artificial banana flavour.
For most people, it just wouldn’t be Halloween without the annual neighbourhood blitz for candy. But that wasn’t always so. Trick-or-treating did not really start until the late 1930s and early 1940s. Ghouls and ghosts were given a wide variety of homemade treats, sweets or trinkets.
Then flash-forward to the 1950s. Big candy got in on the act and began to promote products for Halloween, and as trick-or-treating became more popular, store-bought candy was increasingly regarded as the most affordable, convenient offering for the eve.
It was in the 1970s when pre-wrapped commercial candy was viewed as the only acceptable thing to shell out. With safety as the driving factor, many parents feared that nefarious individuals would tamper with goodies that weren’t store-bought and sealed.
I was lucky enough to grow up in a time and place where we still had neighbours who were trusted and who still enjoyed the homemade treat traditions.
There was a sweet grandma one street over who would make small bags with chewy rice crispy treats and another nice lady just down at the corner house who had made tray upon tray of the best fudge in the world! Hundreds of kids and parent chaperones were invited into and escorted through her kitchen to get a little chunk of decadence. A busy stop, but man, well worth the wait!
There was one neighbour's house that really made an impression. The house that was handing out candy apples! Big, beautiful and ruby red. It was awe-inspiring to see the neat rows of carefully dipped and wrapped apples. No tricks here just a brigade of treats all lined up in the front foyer waiting for us!
It was that spirit that came to mind the year of my son's first Halloween. In the exuberant enthusiasm only a chef who has become a new dad can muster, I was determined to re-create this sweet memory of my childhood.
With images of ruby red apples floating in my head, I took the short drive to visit our local orchard, which went by the most appropriate of names: Carpe Diem.
With best wishes from Farmer Juffermans, a bushel of his best apples and a recipe for the dip, I set off to try my hand at candy making.
With the help of a few friends at work and a few extra hours, we managed to dip and wrap the whole bushel in time for Halloween night. To help alleviate any worries from those who might fear nefarious individuals, it was decided that each apple would come with one of my business cards and contact info attached.
At last! My child’s memories made real, with rows of ruby red treats all lined up and ready to fend off the tricks of the ghosts and goblins lurking about.
In a cruel twist of fate, it would seem as with most of our Ontario Halloween nights, the cold and the rain seemed to do an excellent job at keeping most of the creatures of the night at bay. So, there I sat… surrounded by all the candy apples with out a ghoul or ghost to share with.
Now I just go with my favourite. Molasses Kisses at my door from now on.
Wishing all of you sweet ghouls and ghosts a safe and happy Halloween!
Daniel Clements is the chef technologist at Georgian College’s School of Hospitality and Tourism.
