Candy canes. Sticks of candy shaped like canes. They come in all different types of flavors, and many different colors. They can be real big, or very very small.

The one thing that stays constant about them is when they are eaten and/or handed out. Like the Pumpkin Spice Latte, candy canes are a seasonal candy. Think about it—have you ever seen anyone eating a candy cane outside of the Christmas season? 

The answer is no. It just doesn’t make sense. So let’s put this together: Given out and eaten during Christmastime, very commonly associated with the idea of Christmas, they decorate Santa’s house like garden gnomes and they’re basically the first thing to come to mind when you think Christmas candy…are candy canes the candy corn of Christmas?!  

Back in the good ol’ days, candy canes were just straight sticks made of sugar. Then, in 1640, a miracle happened. A German choirmaster decided to spice things up a bit and decided to curve the stick to make it look like a shepherd’s staff. It was around that time that they also started decorating Christmas trees with them.

Then finally, in 1847, candy canes migrated to America. Introduced by a German-Swedish man named August Imgard, these sticks of candy were an instant hit. We loved them so much we made a holiday just for these sugary sticks of candy. The national candy cane day is December 26, the day right after Christmas.

Each year, about 1.76 billion candy canes are made, 90% of which is sold between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The most cane sales happen the second week of December. Absolutely no confusion there.

Candy canes–the original peppermint flavored ones–have been around for as long as 600 years, and ever since it got its iconic curve, it became dedicated to Christmas. So, to answer the question that everyone wants to know the answer to, are candy canes the candy corn of Christmas? Yes. Yes they are.