Explainer: 10 grossest Halloween candies of all time
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Bon Appetit
I call them the "grossest," but it depends on whom you're asking: To your average trick-or-treater, these may very well be the 10 "coolest" Halloween candies.
I put each of the candies through an evaluation from a friend's son, 5-year-old P.J. Koesterer, a New York City resident and trusted authority on candy yuckiness.
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Fangs with tongue
Bon Appetit
This combo disguise-plus-candy is one part plastic, one part gummy, and all parts yuck. Kids are entitled to about 90 seconds of tongue wagging before the candy dissolves.
$1.95; Au'some Ghoulish Gummy Tongue; store.offbeattreats.com
5-year-old says: "Whoa, that's scary!"
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Severed finger dip stick
Bon Appetit
Fun Dip for the witchy crowd. Grotesquely colored human digits — on sticks! — go into mouth, then into neon powder, then back into mouth.
$3; Galerie Creepy Candy Finger with Dipping Powder; galerieusa.com for stores
5-year-old says: "Spooky!"
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Glow worms
Bon Appetit
These gummies come packaged with a pair of plastic tongs equipped with a small LED. Pick up a bug and see it light up. Ditto for Swedish Fish and kids' pinkies.
$11.29 for 12 1.4-ounce bags; KandyKastle Lightning Bugs Gummy Candy; candycentral.com
5-year-old says: "Awesome! Do you eat it?"
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Grubs
Bon Appetit
These are shorter, squatter, and ickier than your typical gummy worms. Catch-22 of cautioning kids about potentially dangerous behavior: Will they think to put the candies into their nostrils if you don't warn them not to?
$19 for 12 1.7-ounce bags; Creepy Confections Grimy Grubs; candy-crate.stores.yahoo.net
5-year-old says: "Bumpy"
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Messed-up green mouth
Bon Appetit
Less of a lollipop than a large candy pacifier with a disturbing handle — big green lips and braces — that'll turn a kid's face into something well suited for a fun house.
$10.75 for 12 pops; Big Stuff Lip Pops; candydirect.com
5-year-old says: "I'm gonna eat all those tooth parts!" (the tooth parts are inedible)
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Squishy eyeballs
Bon Appetit
Forget the "peeled grapes in a bowl" trick. These gummy eyeballs are much more realistic in look and feel.
$10 for 14; CandyTech Gummi Eyeballs; dylanscandybar.com
5-year-old says: "Crazy! I can squish it."
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(Fake) bug pops
Bon Appetit
"Crawlers" being closely identified with "creepy," burying a candy bug Tootsie-Pop-style in a sucker is a surefire way to spook tots and strict vegetarians alike.
$30 for 24 pops; Creepy Confections Fly & Spider Pop; candy-crate.stores.yahoo.net
5-year-old says: "Look at those bugs! 3-D!"
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(Real) buggy pops
Bon Appetit
Yes, that's a real scorpion in that lollipop. Other bugs you can find in this line of candy: Crickets and worms. In our opinion, a bit too gruesome for children, but it had to make the list.
$2.95 each; Hotlix Scorpion Sucker; hotlix.com
5-year-old says: "What the ... it's real? A real scorpion? That thing's poisonous. Scorpions are poisonous, right?"
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Snotty nose
Bon Appetit
Grody to the max: A prosthetic nose — complete with ear straps — full of candy mucus that gets squeezed out directly onto the wearer's tongue.
$29.40 for 12; Hose Nose; candywarehouse.com
5-year-old says: "Eww! That's cool!"
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Ghoul mask
Bon Appetit
13 ounces of candy shaped into a hideous full-size mask. The only thing creepier than the painted visages is the volume of sugar (220 grams) contained in one treat.
$10; Creepy Confections Goblin Mask Pop; brandnewllc.com for stores
5-year-old says: "You can eat this? It's giant!"
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