Bought your chicken feed yet?

Chicken feed produced a golden egg for one Illinois candy company.

Back in 1900, Gustav Goelitz’s Confectionery Company produced and sold candy corn as chicken feed. Goelitz marketed the candy in a box branded with a rooster and the tagline:

“Something to Crow About.”

It caught on.

According to the Goelitz website, the candy was such a success, it “carried the company through two World Wars and the Depression,” and saved it from bankruptcy.

More than 100 years later, the fourth Goelitz generation is still selling the identical candy and recipe, although the company changed its name to Jelly Belly Candy after its primary candy product. In honor of its roots, it developed a candy corn-flavored jelly bean.

Candy corn is still a favorite Halloween treat, only it has slipped one notch to second place, with anything chocolate taking the number one honors.

Manufacturers produced 9 billion pieces of candy corn in 2015; that’s 35 million pounds. One serving amounts to 140 calories (3 mini-Hershey bars); a single piece is around 3.57 calories.

In case you are wondering, there is a preferred way to eat the corn. According to a survey by the National Confectioners Association, 43 percent start with the narrow white end. About 10 percent begin eating the wider yellow end first.

Companies are tinkering with the candy corn recipe and trying new flavors, like caramel apple, caramel popcorn, and cinnamon. The Zachary Confections company (sells to retail stores like Target) makes 12 varieties, including blackberry cobbler, raspberry lemonade, cherry and pumpkin spice.

Candy corn has made its way into Oreos, M&Ms, coffee, bagels, and even a martini!