sweets-and-toffee

Small hard boiled sugar sweets, approximately spherical, flavoured with acidic fruit and acid, usually tartaric.

Mint sweets intended to be eaten after a meal.

Spherical (c1/2ins) hard, glazed, bright red sugar sweet flavoured with aniseed.

Boiled sugar caramel sweet with a banana flavouring. Offered in small rounds or as a breaking bar.

Barberries pulp with sugar, dried-out on paper (Moxon 1764, Eaton 1822).

Boiled sugar, usually coloured orange or yellow, formed into small strips, c3ins long by ½in wide, and twisted as they set, or moulded in imitation of this. Kno...

Spherical, c3/4 ins diameter, boiled sugar sweets, of a very dark brown colour, strongly flavoured with mint.

Treacle toffee sweet on a stick.

Dark sugar boiled with butter, syrup, a little water and vinegar and set in a slab. Associated with Bonfire Night, 5th November. Sometimes called 'Plot Toffee'.

A hard white candy seaside rock stick with 'BRIGHTON' lettering through, distinguished in that it is more usual for Brighton Rock to have a multi-coloured outer...

Spherical mint-flavoured sugar sweets usually with a brown-and-white or black-and-white stripe (Carter 1851, etc)

Hard crack sugar sweets made with milk solids and mint. Known fron newspaper advertisements since about 1900.

Individual hard caramel toffee, usually of a rounded form, made with a high proportion of butter.

Hard toffee made by caramelising sugar with butter. Set into thin slabs, or formed into tablets.

Carrot boiled in sugar. Occasionally encountered in old cook books, but "they will look very finely, and are good to set forth Banquets, but have no pleasant ta...

Lemon pulp boiled with sugar to a hard set. (Bradley 1728)

Individual grapes dipped in caramel toffee (British Food Trust, etc)

Hard sweets made by boiling sugar, milk, often with a little starch, to the firm-ball stage. Set in slabs or formed into individual sweets. Known in England at ...

Fudge with chopped glace cherries mixed-in.

Semi-hard jelly sweets of vaguely lip-shaped crescent form, bright red, with a taste reminiscent of cherries.

Xocolatl, a drink processed from cacao bean of Central and South America, was brought to Europe by the conquistadors, probably arriving in England about 1530. I...

Large, hollow, chocolate casings, in the shape of an egg, usually filled with sweets, given as gifts at Easter. The tradition probably began in Germany around 1...

Small, suckable, hard caramel shells filled with chocolate.

Fudge made with a chocolate flavouring and, sometimes, with chocolate chips mixed-in.

c1in soft chocolate fondant spheres coated in chocolate powder, scrapings or sprinkles.

Fudge made with a proportion of clotted cream.

Hard or semi-hard sugar sweet strongly flavoured with clove. Always red and white, clove rock is made as a white-coated red stick which is cut to short lengths ...

Set sugar fondant with coconut flakes, most commonly made in a slab of two layers, pink and white.

Soft white candy mushroom shapes, the cap coated with coconut flakes, sometimes with coloured, flavoured, sugar crystals.

Slab fudge flavoured strongly with coffee.

Small, fluted or octagonal, sticks of semi-hard candy, coloured mid-brown and flavoured with coltsfoot.

Comfits are spices, dried fruits, or nuts, coated with sugar candy. Fennel seed comfits are used to decorate trifles and cakes while liquorice stick comfits are...

Any of various hard boiled sugar sweets, commonly with a sugar powder coating, strongly flavoured with traditional treatments for coughs, such as camphor, menth...

The Cadbury Brothers introduced their fondant-filled chocolate egg in 1923, which now sells some 200 million per year. They assure us that it has not got smalle...

A blown egg shell filled with a paste confection of almonds and sugar, the centre part being yellowed with saffron to imitate a yolk, for eating in Lent (Austin...

Almonds boiled in sugar, rolled in coloured comfits. "They are pretty to put in glasses, or to set in a desert." (Moxon 1764)

Mixture of tiny assorted sweets, commonly including a large proportion of multi-coloured soft fondant cubes (c3/8ins) and rounded jellies.

A hard toffee made from butter, brown sugar and cream of tartar.

The roots of Eringus or Eyringo, the Sea Holly (Eryngium maritimum), used as a food ingredient, as a vegetable, or, commonly candied as a, reputedly aphrodisiac...

Black-and-white striped hard sugar shell with a soft chewy mint sugar centre.

Hard, brown, oval, extremely strong menthol and eucalyptus lozenges produced since 1865 by Lofthouse's of Fleetwood, Lancashire.

Flattened spheres, about 1¼ins diameter and ½ins deep of thin rice paper or similar edible board, filled with dry sherbet.

Image: Evan-Amos

A richly-flavoured fondant slab confection made by boiling sugar with milk to the soft-ball stage so that the sugar is partly caramelised, and then beating the ...

Spherical hard sugar sweets, c1in diameter, with a bright glaze.

Hard slab toffee made with golden syrup and dark sugar.

A hard brittle toffee, similar to both Butterscotch & Barley Sugar, slightly flavoured with lemon.

Alternative name for Cinder Toffee. A frothed hard caramel made by boiling sugar syrup, often with a little fat, until partly caramelised, baking powder added a...

Semi-hard boiled sugar slab toffee made with condensed milk.

Strongly mint-flavoured, plain, hard boiled sugar sweets. Usually with brown and pale stripes, often with a softer centre.

Soft fruit-flavoured coloured jelly sweets in the shape of plump babies, approx 1 in high.

Hard, semi-crystallised sugar-and-glucose slab sweet strongly flavoured with peppermint. White, brown and chocolate-covered variants. Mint cake is currently pro...

Old name for perfumed sugar sweets, to freshen the breath (Murrell 1617, etc). May 1671 makes them as thin lozenges of sugar with musk, civet, ambergris and whi...

Lettuce stalks, peeled, boiled, dried and candied, as a sweet (Plat 1609, Digby 1669, etc).

Allsorts were supposedly created in 1899, when Charlie Thompson, a salesman for Bassett's confectionery, accidentally tipped over his samples of liquorice and c...

Small (c1ins x 3/8ins) liquorice sticks coated as hard, brightly coloured, comfits.

The chewable raw, dried, rhizome (known as Liquorice-Root, Liquorice Wood or Stickali) of the plant Glycyrrhiza glabra, usually about 1/4ins diameter, 6 ins log...

Strips of light and dark treacle toffee rolled, pulled and twisted together and sliced into chunks (British Food Trust, etc)

Any type of sweet or water-ice which is supplied on a stick.

Compressed lozenge sweets bearing mottoes. Known at least since advertisements by Capsey, Wheen & Co in the 'Sheffield Daily Telegraph' of Saturday 17 July 1869

Thin sheets of white peppermint rock candy with dark brown bonfire toffee on top, rolled into sticks to give a spiral-effect cross-section and sliced into mouth...

A chocolate-covered bar of soft fudge topped with caramel.

Spongy, round sweets of foamed sugar with gelatine. Most traditionally, marshmallows were made with an extract from the mucilaginous root of the marshmallow pla...

Stoned dates stuffed with marzipan and presented in tiny paper cases. A Christmas treat.

Small, round, mint-flavoured sweet typically with a white, matt, hard coating and a softer centre. Often supplied dusted with confectioner's sugar.

Musk flavoured sweets, to freshen the breath (Murrell 1617, etc). A form of Kissing Comfit (qv).

Spherical sweetmeats, known from advertisements throughout the 19th Century. It is possible that they are named after Admiral Horatio Nelson. (See also: Nelson ...

A semi-hard boiled sugar slab mixed with nuts (usually almonds) or fruit pieces and slightly aerated, traditionally by the addition of beaten egg white but, in ...

Slab of small, or chopped, nuts set in semi-hard caramel.

Small, round, soft-sugar pastilles, bright lilac in colour, strongly scented and flavoured with flower essences.

Semi-hard slab candy with a high proportion of roasted peanuts.

c¾" long, approximately pear-shaped hard sugar sweets coated in sugar crystals and flavoured with a pear essence. Commonly of pale yellow colour, a two-colour y...

Rich wine in which white pepper has been boiled, sugar added, boiled and dropped in shapes and allowed to dry (Glasse 1747).

Most traditionally frothed egg-white with icing sugar and peppermint flavouring formed into small flattened balls and dried out rather than baked, but now appli...

Hard sugar sweets of cube form and yellow colour, c 3/8ins across. Coated with sugar crystals and strongly pineapple flavoured.

A form of dark Bonfire Toffee.

Soft, black, liquorice sweets approximately 1in diameter, ¼in thick, made in the form of an old-fashioned wax seal, most traditionally carrying an impression of...

Small aniseed and liquorice gums, round and black with distinctive grooves on the upper surface.

Fruit, nut etc. pieces dipped in hard caramel.

Several colours of fruit flavoured sherbet crystals, so filled into the dispensing jar as to give a rainbow appearance.

A cold, sweet soup served as a dessert, often with ice cream. Sometimes referred to as 'Yorkshire Rhubarb Soup'

Bright glazed semi-translucent red barley-twist sugar sticks flavoured with Sarsaparilla or a similar herb.

Boiled sugar and glucose candy, repeatedly worked while semi-set to aerate and so soften it, creating a milky-white appearance. Provided in sticks c1in diameter...

Now an effervescent powder made from an alkali (typically sodium carbonate or bicarbonate) with an acid (typically tartaric acid) plus sugar and fruit flavourin...

Hard fruit candy lolly supplied with a small bag of sherbert. The lolly is licked and dipped in the sherbert.

Hard boiled sugar shell, often in the shape of a tiny lemon, strongly lemon flavoured, filled with dry lemon sherbert. Usually coated with sugar crystals.

Small fruit-falvoured boiled sweets produced by Mars from 1949 to 1984.

Ornamental forms, often of sugar or moulded paste, either as table decorations, or to be eaten.

Fruit or vegetable pieces candied in syrup, as a sweet.

Soft sugar paste in the form of stylized mice, often with string tails, typically 1 ½ ins long.

Individual almonds coated with a smooth, matt, sugar shell. Typically made in an assortment of pale colours- white, pink, blue.

Coin-sized soft toffee discs decorated with desiccated coconut, about 3/8ins thick, toasted, or coloured, brown on each side.

Whole apples on wooden skewers dipped in soft crack caramel mixture. Cooled and served on the stick.

Soft crack slab toffee made with black treacle and other sugars. A Bonfire Night treat, but available at other times.

Proprietary dark, spherical, hard crack sugar sweets flavoured with mint. Made since 1898 By William Santus's Toffee Works of Wigan, who assert that from the ti...

Very hard-paste, very strong-tasting, brown cough lozenge of distinctive rectangular shape with cut-off corners. Devised by Thomas Fryer and Dr Edward Smith of ...

c1ins diameter chocolate shells filled with violet-flavoured fondant and usually topped with a small chip of violet-coloured candy. Known from trade advertiseme...

Fondant or white chocolate formed into a moderately realistic mouse shape, sometimes with a string tail.

Soft fruit-flavoured, coloured jelly sweets in geometric shapes, marked with the names of the types of wine they purport to imitate.