With all the candy oriented holidays in our culture it’s no surprise we end up with an overload of all sorts of different candies. As we move from Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Years to Valentine’s to Easter we can use the excess candy from one holiday to supply the next holiday looming on the horizon.

Storing Candy

Most candy can be kept at room temperature without spoiling, with the exception of chocolate. Because fat can turn rancid (ever detect a slight soapy smell on your chocolate?) any chocolate candy that you plan to use thirty days or more from the date of purchase is best stored in an airtight container in the freezer.

RePurpose Candy

Use candy corns to decorate Thanksgiving baked goods, or fill a cornucopia with them.

All types of candy bars can be buzzed into milk-shakes, chopped and stirred into home-made ice-cream, as an ice-cream topping, chopped and stirred into baked goods batter, chopped or sliced and used to decorate the top of a frosted cake …

Gum drops, gummie shapes, candy corns, peppermints, Lifesavers, lollypops – all kinds of candies can be used to decorate Christmas gingerbread houses.

Any red candies can be saved for Valentine’s Day.

Any chocolate candies that can melt down completely can be stirred into hot chocolate or coffee.