The most popular Halloween candy in Washington is almost certainly not what you think it is.
But if Halloween brings back memories of time at the beach, sunny summer days and a trip to the sweet shop — well, you’re a weirdo — but you might also be in luck this year. Washington state’s top-selling Halloween candy — by a large margin — is salt water taffy.
Really.
According to a survey by CandyStore.com, Washington’s three top candy sellers during the Halloween season are salt water taffy, with a whopping 220,965 pounds sold; Tootsie Pops, with 195,602 pounds; and Skittles, with 71,553 pounds.
So how the heck did that happen? Shelly Garrett, store manager and regional assistant at Candy Tyme in the Vancouver Mall says it’s actually not so surprising.
“It actually makes a ton of sense,” Garrett said. “It’s the No. 1 item we give away.”
Salt water taffy is one of the main sweets given to children that trick-or-treat at the mall each year. But families also like to buy it to give out at home because it’s cheap in bulk and it doesn’t weigh a lot, she said.
“The kids are just excited to get candy, especially when it’s free,” Garrett said. “But salt water taffy is actually one of our top sellers year-round. People say it’s hard to find year-round.”
That said, it’s still not Candy Tyme’s top Halloween seller. That would be the more traditional Jelly Belly candy corn, she said.
“It’s just the best,” she said.
Another reason families are handing out smaller candy like taffy, or even noncandy items like pens and stickers, is because of food allergies. Salt water taffy doesn’t have many ingredients that could set off an allergy, Garrett said.
“There’s a lot of allergies out there,” Garrett said. “That may be why salt water taffy may be popular. Peanut allergies are a big thing. But most taffy is peanut free, and a lot is made in peanut-free factories.”
Salt water taffy is also gluten free, nut free and usually dairy free, depending on the brand, she said.
Charlotte Cook, owner of Popcorn Cove at 13411 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd., said salt water taffy is also in demand at her shop year-round, but she was a bit baffled at the thought of it as a Halloween candy.
“When I take my kids trick-or-treating, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them pick up taffy,” Cook said. “But a lot of it does go into gift boxes at Christmastime, so it’s not just a summer thing.”
Still, after a little consideration, she said it wouldn’t be a bad offering as a Halloween candy.
“That’s awesome that it’s No. 1,” Cook said. “It’s in high demand year-round. Although personally, I don’t like it.”
We’re not even the only state that ranked salt water taffy as a Halloween hit, said Clair Robins, content strategist for CandyStore.com.
“I don’t know why Washingtonians buy so much salt water taffy, but I do know that they aren’t the only ones,” Robbins said. “It was also No. 1 in Nebraska and No. 3 in California.”
CandyStore.com used sales data from its own private sales coupled with industry partners and distributors for the months of August, when Halloween orders start to come in, through October to compile its top three candies for each state.
At least our neighbors to the south in Oregon have a more traditional purchase pattern for Halloween candy.
In Oregon, the top sellers were Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, with 92,495 pounds sold; M&M’s, with 60,290 pounds; and candy corn, with 40,263 pounds.
Alexa Cruz, sales staff at Bruce’s Candy Kitchen in Cannon Beach, Ore., said those traditional sellers sound more accurate for her state. But still, her company, which makes its own salt water taffy, sells quite a bit of that summer staple year-round, as well.
“It’s kind of hard to gauge on the coast, because people always buy taffy,” Cruz said. “I haven’t seen anyone buying it for Halloween, but people are still buying it now because the weather is nice. I can’t say I’ve heard of it as a Halloween candy.”
Bruce’s Candy Kitchen sells 60-63 different types of salt water taffy, she added.
It wasn’t theirs, but the weirdest flavor she’s seen so far is chicken and waffles taffy, Cruz said.
She also has an origin story for the candy that she likes to tell — because, you see, there actually is no salt water in salt water taffy.
As the lore goes, taffy was popular on the Jersey shore back in the late 1800s. And during that time, there was ocean flooding and at least one seller had his stock covered with sea water.
“So the story goes that a girl walked into that flooded Jersey shop and asked for taffy,” Cruz said. “And he said, ‘All we have is salt water taffy.’ And the name stuck.”
