 Gobstoppers of various sizes and colors. The largest one is 3 inches (~7.5 cm) in diameter | |
| Alternative names | Jawbreaker, Jawbuster |
|---|---|
| Type | Confectionery |
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Main ingredients | Sugar |
Gobstoppers, also known as jawbreakers in the United States and Canada, are a type of hard candy. They are usually round, and usually range from 1 to 3 cm (0.4 to 1.2 in) across; though gobstoppers billed as having a diameter as large as 3.25 in (83 mm) have been marketed.[1]
The term gobstopper derives from "gob", which is slang in the United Kingdom and Ireland for mouth. The sweet was a favourite among British schoolboys in the first half of the twentieth century—author Roald Dahl, who wrote about a jar of gobstoppers featuring in the prank he played in his local sweet shop in 1924, also referred to them in his fictional Everlasting Gobstopper which was featured in his 1964 children's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.[2]
Gobstoppers usually consist of a number of layers, each layer dissolving to reveal a differently colored (and sometimes differently flavored) layer, before dissolving completely. Gobstoppers are too hard to bite without risking dental damage (hence the name "jawbreaker").[citation needed]
Gobstoppers have been sold in traditional sweet shops for at least a century, often sold by weight from jars. As gobstoppers dissolve very slowly, they last a very long time in the mouth, which is a major factor in their popularity.
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What's inside a Giant Jawbreaker?
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Gobstopper Candy Science - Sick Science! #135
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Do Everlasting Gobstoppers Really Last Forever?
Transcription
- Welcome back to "What's Inside?" Today, we are at a candy store called "It'Sugar," and we are looking for a giant gobstopper, or Jawbreaker, I guess you wanna call it. We've had some requests for it, so we figured we'll go to this candy store that has awesome candy stuff. Come inside and let's check out what we have. Look at this stuff in here, got crazy. Look at the Gummy Bears, they're huge! Pick one of those up. - It's heavy. - That is gigantic. We've got Twizzlers and Nerds that are gigantic. I mean, look at these SweetTarts. That is huge! A big old box of Nerds. How about this? A giant lollypop that would take forever to eat. Here's some small Jawbreakers, some large Jawbreakers, and some giant Jawbreakers. So let's go ahead and get one of these. - It's like as heavy as a baseball. It feels like a baseball. It's just huge. - We're back at the house. Here is this jawbreaker, it has all kinds of colors. We chose this one because it had the most colors on it and we're gonna crack it open. Before we do that, mmm. Wanna lick it? Not in the same spot I did. Pretty good! - That's good. - The question is, how many licks would it take to get this thing to dissolve. Maybe one of our subscribers can take the next year of their life licking that. Just kidding, don't do that. So I'm gonna take this chisel and this hammer, and just hit it, and hopefully it cracks wide, right open. Sound good? - Yeah, let's do this. It's pretty wobbly. - It is wobbly, it's really wobbly. Ready? (candy pieces scatter) (laughter) - Whoa! - Well, we're in it a little bit. We made a dent. Hopefully, it keeps going. I don't wanna use a saw for it. Let's keep going here. Okay, well there's the outer layer. Alright, I'm changing things up, my strategy is gonna change. First, I'm gonna eat this piece. It's really good. I'm gonna go get a saw. I wanna make this more of a clean cut, so... - Than just a big hole. - Yup, let's go get the saw. It smells yummy! - It does. All the stuff, it looks like it's starting to turn pink. - I am a sugary mess, I can feel it all over my face and my arm. - I can feel it on my shirt. - It just smells and tastes like sugar. Mmm, it's actually really good. This Jawbreaker has not been as easy as I thought it would be. I guess I should've known, it's called a Jawbreaker. But we're going, we're upgrading our tool a little bit. We're gonna use this giant grinder, and see if we can cut around it. This is pretty funny. Never thought I'd be cutting open a Jawbreaker with an electric saw grinder with a metal cut-off blade. It looks similar to a shotput ball. At least there's one thing about me and cutting things, I'm very consistent. That means I don't cut things in a straight line. So let's break it open! - Yes! Yes! Whoa! It's like rainbow the whole way in! - [Voiceover] Look at that! - That is cool. - Look, it doesn't have anything in the middle. There's no ball or anything that dropped out, it's just hollow in the very, very middle. But look at all the different colors. What we found, as we were cutting it, is all these different colors are different flavors, Wet paper towel, see if I can clean it off. Here we go, see the difference there? You can really see the colors, it's very bright. And in the middle it's just a white candy core. But yeah, that's beautiful. - That is awesome. I did not think it was gonna be like that inside. I thought it was just gonna be white Jawbreaker the whole way through. That was a bit different. - It looks like the white and the paint colors that are on the top is just this outer shell, and then it gets into the different colors that coat the ball. - Mystery solved: that's what's inside of a giant Jawbreaker. - Thank you to our subscribers to recommend cutting open a giant Jawbreaker. I never would've thought to do this. But it was more fun than I thought it would be. It was more difficult than I thought it would be. And it was more sugary, inside of our house, than I thought it would be. But we had a good time, if you liked this video, like it below and watch some of our other videos and thank you for subscribing and thanks for watching.
Manufacturing
Gobstoppers are made by slowly depositing layers onto a core (such as a pressed ball of sugar, a single seed of anise or a gumball).[3][4] Gobstoppers are made in large, rotating, heated pans in a process known as "hot panning". The candies take several weeks to manufacture, as the process of adding liquid sugar is repeated multiple times. Natural and artificial colors and flavors are also added during the panning process.
Everlasting Gobstoppers
The Everlasting Gobstoppers, sold under Nestlé's Willy Wonka Candy Company brand, were first introduced in 1976 by Breaker Confections,[5] and are named after the Everlasting Gobstoppers in Roald Dahl's children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In Dahl's story, Everlasting Gobstoppers are purported to last forever. Dahl named the sweet after gobstoppers, which were a favourite among British schoolboys between the two World Wars.[2] A jar of gobstoppers featured in the prank Dahl played on the owner of his local sweet shop in 1924, which he recorded in his autobiography Boy: Tales of Childhood.[6]
In popular culture
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
In the 1964 children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, British author Roald Dahl described "Everlasting Gobstoppers," a fictional gobstopper that could never get smaller or be finished.
Ed, Edd n Eddy
The animated series Ed, Edd n Eddy revolves around jawbreakers. Most episodes feature the title characters running a variety of scams to earn money to buy the confections.[7] The jawbreakers in the show are depicted as comically oversized, often with a circumference larger than that of the heads of the characters;[1] characters' cheeks would balloon to the same size when these jawbreakers were placed in their mouths. Jawbreakers are also the main subject of one of the show's tie-in video games, Ed, Edd n Eddy: Jawbreakers![8]
Jawbreaker
The 1999 American teen comedy Jawbreaker centers around the main characters accidentally killing their friend after gagging her with a jawbreaker.
Notable incidents
In 2003, Taquandra Diggs, a nine-year-old girl in Starke, Florida, suffered severe burns, allegedly from biting on an exploding Wonka Everlasting Gobstopper that had been refrigerated, left out in the sun, then refrigerated again. Diggs and several other alleged victims' families filed lawsuits against Nestlé for medical bills resulting from plastic surgery as well as pain and suffering; the matters were later settled outside of court for an undisclosed amount.[9][10]
See also
References
- ^ a b Stone, Lillian (September 8, 2021). "Tackling an Ed, Edd n Eddy–sized jawbreaker is a fool's errand". The Takeout. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
- ^ a b Ayto, John (2012). The Diner's Dictionary: Word Origins of Food and Drink. Oxford: University Press. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-19-964024-9.
- ^ How it's Made Season 7 Episode 02
- ^ Walter, Eugene (2001). Hints & pinches. Athens, GA: Hill Street Press. p. 18. ISBN 9781892514981.
- ^ Zeldes, Leah A. (October 30, 2009). "Willy Wonka lives in Chicagoland". Dining Chicago. Chicago's Restaurant & Entertainment Guide, Inc. Archived from the original on November 4, 2009. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
- ^ "Blue plaque marks Dahl sweet shop". BBC. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
- ^ "It's 20 Years Since 'Ed, Edd n Eddy' Was First Released". LadBible.com. January 5, 2019. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
- ^ Harris, Craig (April 9, 2003). "Ed, Edd n Eddy: Jawbreakers". IGN. News Corporation. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
- ^ "Florida Girl Injured In Bizarre Candy Episode". The Smoking Gun. 2011. Archived from the original on February 13, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
- ^ "Jawbreaker Candy Explodes, Burns Fla. Girl's Face". WKMG Orlando. 2011. Archived from the original on August 11, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
External links
Media related to Gobstoppers at Wikimedia Commons
This page was last edited on 26 April 2024, at 15:32