Humbug (sweet)
Peppermint-flavoured boiled sweet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Humbugs are a traditional boiled sweet (hard candy) available in the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Zimbabwe and New Zealand. They are usually flavoured with peppermint[1] and striped in two different colours (often black and white). In Australia, the black-and-white-striped humbugs may be aniseed flavoured. Humbugs may be cylinders with rounded ends wrapped in a twist of cellophane, or more traditionally tetrahedral, loose in a bag.[1] Records of humbugs exist from as early as the 1820s, and they are referred to in the 1863 book Sylvia's Lovers as being a food from the North.[2] The etymology is unknown.
- Glycerine
- colour
- flavouring (usually peppermint)
| |
| Type | Confectionery |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Main ingredients | Sugar |
| Ingredients generally used |
|
Manufacture
A mixture of sugar, glycerine, colour and flavouring is heated to 145 °C (293 °F). This mixture is then poured out, stretched and folded many times. The stripes originate from a smaller piece of coloured mixture which is folded into the main mixture. The mixture is finally rolled into a long, thin cylinder and sliced into segments.[3]
Bulls-eyes
A similar sweet is "bulls-eye" which has red-and-white or black-and-white stripes. These are peppermint-flavoured and are also known as Black Bullets in the UK as they are similar in size to smoothbore musket balls.[citation needed]
See also
- 1858 Bradford sweets poisoning
- Bêtise de Cambrai – French boiled caramel sweet
- Gobstopper