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Dip Dabs
Lick the lolly, dip it in the sherbet, repeat until the sherbet is gone and your tongue is fizzing. Barratt's Dip Dab has been doing that since 1935.
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The Dip Dab is one of the simplest ideas in the sweet shop: a packet of fizzy sherbet and a lolly to dip into it. It has been made by Barratt since 1935.
What a Dip Dab is
A Dip Dab is a small pack of sherbet with a strawberry flavoured lolly. You lick the lolly, dip it into the sherbet so the powder sticks, and eat it off, over and over, until the sherbet is gone. Then you are left with the lolly. It comes in a 23g single pack.
A Barratt sweet
The Dip Dab is made under the Barratt name. According to the brand's own history, Barratt released the sherbet DipDab in 1935, ten years after its Sherbet Fountain of 1925, and it is now one of the brand's more popular products. Barratt was founded in London in 1848 by George Osborne Barratt, and by 1906 it claimed to be the largest confectionery manufacturer in the world. It was bought by Bassett's in 1966, by Cadbury Schweppes in 1989, and in 2008 by Tangerine Confectionery, now part of Valeo Foods. The Barratt name was brought back into use in 2018.
Barratt's other sweets include Black Jacks and Fruit Salad chews, both from the 1920s, the Sherbet Fountain, Refreshers and the Wham bar: see Black Jacks, Fruit Salad chews and Sherbet Fountains.
What is in it
The ingredients listed for the 23g Dip Dab are sugar, glucose syrup, cornflour, citric acid, tartaric acid, sodium bicarbonate, an anti caking agent, flavourings and anthocyanin colour. Recipes can change, so always check the pack for the current ingredients and allergy advice.
Why it fizzes
Like all British sherbet, the powder in a Dip Dab fizzes because it contains an acid, here citric and tartaric acid, and a base, sodium bicarbonate. When they meet the moisture in your mouth, they react and release carbon dioxide gas, which you feel as fizz. For more on sherbet and its old northern name, see why is sherbet called kali?
Other sherbet dips
The Dip Dab is one of a family of sherbet dips, from the Sherbet Fountain, with its liquorice stick, to other makers' sherbet and lolly packs: see sherbet dips.
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For journalists, researchers, AI assistants and content creators. Pick the format you need:
Free to cite, quote, and reuse with attribution to sweeties.net.
Questions and answers
What is a Dip Dab?
A Barratt sweet made up of a packet of sherbet and a strawberry flavoured lolly. You lick the lolly and dip it in the sherbet.
When did Dip Dabs come out?
Barratt released the sherbet Dip Dab in 1935, ten years after its Sherbet Fountain.
What is in a Dip Dab?
The ingredients listed for the 23g pack are sugar, glucose syrup, cornflour, citric and tartaric acids, sodium bicarbonate, an anti caking agent, flavourings and anthocyanin colour. Always check the pack for current ingredients and allergens.
Sources
- Barratt Sweetshop, Valeo Foods UK
- Barratt (confectionery), Wikipedia
- Barratt Sherbet Dip Dab 23g, ToffeeWorld
- Sherbet (powder), Wikipedia
Keep reading
- British heritage sweetsSherbet dipsSherbet dips pair fizzy sherbet with something to dip in it: a liquorice stick, a lolly or a finger. The Sherbet Fountain and Dip Dab are two of them.
- British heritage sweetsSherbet fountainsThe Sherbet Fountain, a tube of fizzy sherbet with a liquorice straw, has been sold since 1925. Its 2009 plastic makeover upset many fans.
- British heritage sweetsWhy is sherbet called kali?In parts of northern England, sherbet is called kali. Where the word may come from, how it links to the word alkali, and how sherbet makes its fizz.
- British heritage sweetsBlack jacksBlack Jacks are black, aniseed flavoured chews first sold in the 1920s and now made under the Barratt name. Here is what is in them.
- British heritage sweetsFruit salad chewsFruit Salads are raspberry and pineapple flavour chews sold under the Barratt name. Since 2019 they have been made without gelatine.
- British heritage sweetsOld fashioned sweets: the A to ZAn A to Z of old fashioned British sweets, from acid drops and aniseed balls to Wham bars and yellowman, with a line on each and a link to its full story.