Candy apples (UK/IRL/AUS: Toffee apples) are a common treat at Halloween because the holiday comes in the wake of the annual apple harvest. They are made by rolling whole apples in a sticky candy coating, and sometimes then rolling them in nuts or other small savories or confections, and allowing them to cool.

The most common "candy" is a hard coating of cooled sugar syrup, usually tinted red and sometimes flavored with cinnamon. Other variations include caramel apples, taffy apples and chocolate apples.

Tampering scares

At one time candy apples were a common treat given to children who were trick or treating, but, much to the delight of candy manufacturers, this practice rapidly waned in recent years. An urban legend dating back to the 1960s claimed that apples could be adulterated with razor blades or needles, but most trackable cases appear to have been hoaxes or pranks, in many cases created by the "victims" themselves, or a close acquaintance. However, in the wake of the Tylenol poisoning scare in 1982, a rash of real "Halloween tamperings" were reported, as copycats of the Tylenol murderer tried to inflict their own petty injuries on strangers by handing out apples (including candy apples) with foreign objects inserted. At the peak of this practice some hospitals were offering to x-ray children's Halloween haul at no cost to look for such items.

External links

• Discovery.com Recipe
• Snopes.com Urban Legends Reference Pages: Horrors (Pins and Needles)