Debate over! Candy corn is the greatest candy for Halloween. Here's why.

Gary Cosby Jr. is the photo editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Readers can email him at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com.

We have two major candy holidays in Halloween and Valentine’s Day. For sure, Valentine’s Day is ruled by chocolate, but Halloween is by far the more diverse candy holiday. I mean, if it is sweet, you can give it away on Halloween.

I sometimes write columns that are a bit controversial, so I am accustomed to receiving email from people who disagree, so I am more than ready to receive a flood of email on this topic. The reason? I must advocate for candy corn as the perfect candy, especially given the season of the year.

Candy corn is orange, like pumpkins, the official plant-based representative of the holiday.

That gives candy corn a leg up already.

Now, I admit that orange is probably my least favorite color. I do work in Tuscaloosa, where we don’t appreciate the color orange. It is far too often associated with the University of Tennessee, Auburn University or Clemson University. But, to be perfectly clear, we truly hate orange because of its association with Tennessee.

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Moving right along, this is, after all, a column about candy. But it’s never too late to get in on Tennessee hate week so I guess one more sentence is appropriate. UT orange is just weak. Can I get an amen? I mean, it is creamsicle orange, not even a strong orange. At least Auburn and Clemson have a strong orange. Not that any hue of orange is particularly good, but weak orange is just plain, well, weak.

OK, got that off my chest. Now, back to candy.

What is candy corn?

Candy corn is basically sugar with some artificial colors and gelatin added so it is pretty dang close to perfect in that regard. An article by USA Today lists the ingredients as sugar, corn syrup, salt, sesame oil, honey, artificial flavor, and food colorings with the gelatin and a bit of confectioner’s glaze. That’s basic.

No funky chemicals, just plain old sugar.

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It’s so close to just eating a spoonful of sugar that the brain-teasing quality of the product isn’t diluted by a bunch of nuts or nougat or frothed chocolate or even that lovely dark chocolate. I mean, dang, if they could do some candy corn with dark chocolate, I’d probably overdose myself on the stuff.

On second thought, please, for the love of my waistline, don’t do that!

What makes candy corn so special?

Candy corn gets extra points because they also sell it as pumpkins. Have you tried those things? Oh my! That’s some good stuff right there. It’s candy shaped like little pumpkins. That definitely positions it to be a Halloween favorite.

Some of you might point out that other candy-makers produce pumpkin-shaped candy.

I’ve seen Reese’s Cups made in pumpkin shape. I mean, it’s a nice try. They get points for trying to do something Halloween-ish. I do like me some Reese’s Cups. But second place, at best. They aren’t orange, after all.

If there were ever a situation where orange is the appropriate color, it is Halloween. Fall produces some orangish leaves and the Crimson Tide gets the opportunity to beat on Tennessee every fall. That makes the third Saturday in October the perfect time to bash some weak-orange pumpkins. And then to eat some pumpkin candy corn to celebrate the victory.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes, candy corn. So, uh, hmmm. I guess I’m out of reasons to tout candy corn as the undisputed champion of Halloween. But since we are talking about it anyway, wouldn’t it be great if, instead of sparking up those cigars after smashing the UT pumpkins in Bryant-Denny Stadium that we instead pulled out bags of candy corn and chowed down on them. It would be far less smoky, that’s for sure, and far more sugary, improving the victory celebration when those little sugar monsters hit the pleasure centers in our brains.

I suppose, now that I have established the case for candy corn to be our official Halloween candy, I must point out their only weakness. When we send our kids out trick-or-treating, the last thing we want to see is loose, unwrapped candy in their bags. That puts a fright into any parent.

I need to lobby the makers of candy corn to start putting them in small packets so we can win over the next generation to the delights of this wonderful little candy. I suppose even superheroes have an Achilles' heel, so my candy corn must have one as well or it would simply dominate the candy world and leave us with only the one candy.

We can’t have that.

While I advocate for candy corn, it’s not like a marriage. I cheat, often. With candy, I mean, not the marriage thing. That would not go well. I married a Yankee, after all. I love chocolate, dark chocolate in particular, but I am not averse to chocolate in any form. I like it dark, white, milk, and from any place in the world. I mean, they have chocolates named for countries, for crying out loud! Now that’s power in a candy right there.

What do you think is the best Halloween candy? Let us know in an letter to the editor of 200 words or less emailed to Letters@Dispacth.com

Gary Cosby Jr. is the photo editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Readers can email him at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What is the best Halloween candy of all time | GARY COSBY JR.