SWEET AND SOUR

BOO! STARTLING FLAVOURS AND HIGH PRICES LURK IN THE TRICK-OR-TREAT BAG

- Story by KIM SEVERSON / NYT

espite soaring chocolate prices and inflation pressures, 2025 is expected to be a record year for candy sales in the United States, with about US$3.9 billion (126 billion baht) spent on Halloween candy alone, according to the National Retail Federation.

So perhaps the most timely measure of the American psyche isn’t in a polling booth or a therapist's office, but in the trick-or-treat bag.

"A lot of times what we get out of Halloween is a reflection of ourselves," said Shannon Weiner, the senior director of consumer insights for the Ferrara Candy Company, which sells popular handouts like Nerds Gummy Clusters and Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers. "Candy has social currency for people."

This year, Reese’s peanut butter cups dominate as the top Halloween candy choice, and gummies continue to climb in popularity, especially among the Generations Z and A. But new favourites are beginning to emerge.

We asked analysts who study food and retail trends, as well as the confectioners themselves, to peer into the collective candy haul and tell us what our choices might be saying about us. Here’s what they see.

FLAVOUR MAXIMALISM

It’s all about amped-up flavours and textures this year. Extreme sour is the coin of the realm. Freeze-dried candy, which first appeared in the 1980s, is the most popular kid at the Halloween party.

SweeTarts and Lemonheads, those stalwarts of the trick-or-treat circuit, are debuting freeze-dried versions. Skittles introduced a freeze-dried version last year, and chilli-coated Gummies Fuego this fall. Ferrara has pushed its mouth-puckering Nerds franchise into new textural territory with Nerds Juicy Gummy Clusters — chewy, goo-filled gummy balls coated in crunchy little Nerd pieces.