Sugar Confections

part of: Sugarcane

Hard lollies — boiled sweets, barley sugar, fruit drops, humbugs, and the like — are one of the oldest forms of confectionery. They’re made from little more than sugar, water, and flavouring, cooked to a high temperature that sets into a glassy, transparent solid.

In Australia, hard lollies are a staple of the mixed lolly bag and the corner-shop jar. Classics include fruit drops, butterscotch, and those twisted barley sugar sticks that have been around for generations. They dissolve slowly in the mouth, making them a long-lasting treat.

Hard confections can range from simple clear drops flavoured with fruit essences to more complex layered or filled varieties. Some are dusted with icing sugar or citric acid for a sour kick. Despite the huge variety of commercial sweets available today, the basic recipe hasn’t changed much in centuries.

Farmed
photograph to come — from twenty years of markets, farms and kitchens

How it's made

Hard lollies are made by dissolving sugar (and often glucose syrup) in water and boiling the mixture to the “hard crack” stage — around 150°C. At this temperature, nearly all the water has evaporated, leaving a concentrated sugar syrup that sets solid when cooled. Flavourings, colours, and citric acid are stirred in just before the syrup is poured into moulds or onto a slab to be shaped, pulled, or cut into individual pieces.

Nutrition (per 100g)

Energy 394kcal
Protein 0g
Carbs 98g
Fat 0.2g
Fibre 0g Sugar 62.9g
Mass Distribution

1 piece is about 6 g — roughly 20 kcal of this.

What it costs the planet (per kilo)

Carbon 4.01kg
Freshwater 729.66L
Land 2.6m²

Where it comes from

In the kitchen

Used as

standalone boiled sweet

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Where this data comes from

Nutrition data from

USDA

How it was calculated

SR Legacy

Full credits, licences, and methods: the sources page →

Where to next

made fromSugarcane, product shares a sourceBrown Sugar shares a sourceMolasses & Syrups shares a sourceMonosodium Glutamate (MSG) shares a sourcePowdered & Icing Sugar shares a sourceRaw & Unrefined Sugar shares a sourceRum shares a sourceSucralose shares a sourceSugarcane
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