It’s almost Halloween, and that means one thing: Candy. And lots of it.

Needless to say, the candy bloggers are all atwitter. After all, Halloween is the Christmas of candy. Cybele at the aptly named Candy Blog is doing all Halloween candy, all week, kicking it off with Brachs Autumn Mix, a veritable cornucopia of candy corn, Indian corn and candy pumpkins. She’s a tad tepid on these sweets; Rebecca at Sugarhog favors them somewhat more . But for the final word on candy corn connoisseurship, Sugar Savvy stacks up the kernels in a confectionary smackdown. A candy corn better than Brach’s? You might be surprised … (And be sure to read the quote from Louis Black for a good chuckle, too.)

Gross-themed candy is the motif over at Candy Addict, with gruesome goodies such as Barf Bags, Blood Bags and Flesh Fries. Appetizing. CandyFavorites.com’s blog offers up a more benign mix of munchables, though the eyeball lollipops and chocolate wrapped body parts still inspire an uneasy feeling. If you’re looking for something a little more … grown up, check out these groovy marzipan ghoulies — Skull Boy, Pumpkinhead and Nosferatu, as picked by Julie Maitra of The Style Page. “Simply too cute to eat,” she says. “These deserve the Peeps treatment of keeping them for a least a year to see how hard they become.” Looking a little farther ahead, John Polinsky also goes for the too-cute-to-eat with marzipan turkeys, “the perfect decorations for Thanksgiving.”

John’s something of a candy afficionado himself, having picked quite a number of sweet treats on ThisNext, like Violet Crumble. Its milk chocolate coating over a crunchy honeycomb center may sound strange at first pale, but it’s good enough to inspire endorsements from two other ThisNexters. In other chocolate-covered news, Julie Maitra once again flexes her sophisticated taste buds with a recommendation for Anthon Berg Marzipan in Fruit — marzipan and fruit marmalade spiked with liquor, coated with chocolate. We’ll take that in our trick or treat bags any day.

But perhaps the ultimate queen of candy on ThisNext is Maki Itoh, who has selected a remarkable list of Japanese snacks, many of which are exotic candies. Take, for example, these wagashi sweets with their sushi-like appearance. “The one in the bottom right corner is my favorite, made to resemble a sweet potato, and vaguely tasting like one!” Or tantalize your tongue with Kasugai Jiwa Jiwa Fizzling Soda Candy, which effervesces as you eat it. Or savor the old-school pleasures of Morinaga Okinawa Black Sugar Caramel which, owing to its scarcity out of Japan, Maki has to order by the caseload. Has to! But Maki hasn’t cornered the market on Japanese sweets. ThisNext überpicker oOo opts for Pinky Fruity Candy and its monkey mascot.

And if reading about all this candy is giving you insulin shock, Joanne Eglash has just the thing for you: Jelly Belly sugar free jelly beans. “Sugary without sugar, plus so many flavors!” But be careful who you dole these out to this Halloween. Some little critters might think them more trick than treat.