Google Fans The Flames With More Halloween Candy Data

Late last month, we shared Zippia's ever-controversial list of each state's favorite Halloween candy. You, our stunning readers, had many thoughts on the matter. Now, it's my duty to share a counterpoint via additional data collected by Google Trends. Per a press release sent to The Takeout, Google Trends assessed each state's most-searched Halloween candy (as opposed to most uniquely searched), and there are apparently only two contenders: candy corn and M&M's. See below:

Google Trends

If this map is to be believed, U.S. residents are searching for two types of candy way more frequently than any other candy variety. Interestingly, candy corn seems to dominate search histories across the continental United States, though M&M's do have strong representation in the Badlands.

As you can see, this data doesn't align with the data previously presented by Zippia. That's because Zippia started gathering data from a set selection of 63 items it categorized as "Halloween candy," then determined the most uniquely searched candy from that list in each state, relative to other states. Meanwhile, if you just want the raw data on which candy is most searched for, period, Google Trends' own map has you covered. And it turns out we're all more alike than we are different. How beautiful.

You can't survive on candy alone, which is why Google's Halloween assessment also included an analysis of the nation's most-searched Halloween recipes. The data included the usual suspects; caramel and candy apples are trending in Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, and Alabama, while popcorn balls are the most-searched recipe in Arizona, California, Michigan, Nevada, and North Carolina. (Many of our readers listed popcorn balls as their most hated Halloween treat.)

But some of the most-searched recipes lean toward the macabre. For example, in Arkansas, residents are obsessed with something called "bloody cake," while Idahoans regularly search for "blood pasta." (The latter might simply involve marinara.) Meanwhile, in Kentucky, they're making something called "feet loaf," and Tennessee's top search was for "broken bloody glass cupcake." Hmm, chilling.

Finally, Google assessed the nation's most-searched Halloween drinks. This one is fun, because the map sorts the drinks by theme: classic punch-based drinks, "bloody" drinks, "supernatural" drinks, and drinks that are inspired by a movie or book. I've heard of some of these—there are a few iterations of "witches' brew," as well as classic syringe Jell-O shots. A startling number of states also prioritize drinks involving "blood bags," a concept which brings back some truly horrific college memories of a game called Slap the Bag. Some of these recipes/cocktails sound more "trick" than "treat," but I appreciate the insider look into each state's ghoulish preferences.