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I have a compost barrel, and it is currently staffed by black soldier fly larvae. They eat pretty much anything, which is very satisfying to observe. I put a handful of the candy known as "circus peanuts" in there, and they haven't touched them so far. As you can see following the link, the ingredients are:

sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, pectin, soy protein, food coloring, and artificial flavor

I assume these things are biodegradable, being "food", but if my star decomposers won't eat them, then what will? What can I expect to happen to these items in the compost heap?

As a follow-up question, was this a bad idea? Should I take them out and throw them away, so they can rot in a landfill instead?

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  • $\begingroup$ The lack of moisture in them is probably the main difficulty. You might try crushing one so that moisture from the rest of the compost can enter it. $\endgroup$
    – mgkrebbs
    Commented Sep 10, 2017 at 6:40

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Time answered this question. I didn't do anything to the candies, but moisture eventually worked its way in. After a week or so, they were showing definite signs of breaking down. After two weeks, I couldn't see a trace of them!

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