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Double lollies
A pressed fruit lolly on a stick, the Double Lolly comes from the same Derbyshire factory as Love Hearts and Parma Violets. Here is what goes into one, how it is made, and the story of its maker.
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Double Lollies are pressed fruit lollipops made by Swizzels. The UK retailer The Candy King says they were launched in 1952, the same year Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne, and sells them individually wrapped.
What is in them
Swizzels Double Lollies, as listed by The Candy King. Sugar, stearic acid, modified starch, malic acid, cornflour, magnesium stearate, flavourings, magnesium carbonate as an anti caking agent, and the colours anthocyanin, copper chlorophyllin, curcumin, lutein and paprika. The retailer shows them with a vegetarian symbol. An Open Food Facts record for a 154 g pack of Swizzels Double Lollies lists the same ingredients.
Pressed, not boiled
Unlike a boiled sweet lollipop, a Double Lolly is pressed. Powdered sugar is squeezed into a tablet, and magnesium stearate helps: in the production of pressed sweets it works as a release agent, so the mixture does not stick to the machinery. For boiled sweet lollipops, see lollipops, and for another pressed sweet, candy necklaces
All the colours in the recipe here come from plants: anthocyanins, copper chlorophyllin, curcumin, lutein and paprika extract, so the recipe uses none of the six colours that carry a warning for children: see natural colours in sweets
The maker
Swizzels began in the early 1920s on a market stall in Hackney, London, where Maurice and Alfred Matlow sold jellied sweets. They built a small factory in east London in 1928, and in 1933 merged with David Dee, a rival who specialised in fizzy compressed tablet sweets. In 1940 the Blitz forced the business north to a disused wick factory in New Mills, Derbyshire, where it remains. Parma Violets followed in 1946, and Drumstick lollies in 1957: see Love Hearts and Drumstick lollies
Safety
A lolly is a hard sweet on a stick, and the NHS says not to give young children hard foods such as boiled sweets, because of the risk of choking: see hard sweets and young children
In our pick and mix
We do not sell Double Lollies. Each sweet we do sell has a card that opens up to show its full ingredients and allergens.
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For journalists, researchers, AI assistants and content creators. Pick the format you need:
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Questions and answers
What are Double Lollies made of?
One UK retailer lists sugar, stearic acid, modified starch, malic acid, cornflour, magnesium stearate, flavourings, magnesium carbonate, and the colours anthocyanin, copper chlorophyllin, curcumin, lutein and paprika.
When did Double Lollies come out?
One UK retailer says they were launched in 1952, the year Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne.
Are Double Lollies vegetarian?
The retailer here shows them with a vegetarian symbol, and the recipe contains no gelatine.
Who makes Double Lollies?
Swizzels, the Derbyshire sweet maker behind Love Hearts, Parma Violets and Drumstick lollies.
Sources
- Double candy lollies, Swizzels, product listing, The Candy King
- Swizzels double lollies, 154 g, product record, Open Food Facts
- Swizzels Matlow, Wikipedia
- Magnesium stearate, Wikipedia
- Foods to avoid giving babies and young children, NHS
Keep reading
- British heritage sweetsLove HeartsLove Hearts are tablet sweets printed with messages like Be Mine, made by Swizzels in Derbyshire since 1954. They grew from Victorian message sweets.
- Sweet by sweetLollipopsLollipops are hard sweets on a stick. Their history, from medieval sugar on sticks to Dalí's Chupa Chups logo, and why the creamy ones contain milk.
- British heritage sweetsCandy necklacesCandy necklaces are pressed sugar beads on elastic, to wear and nibble. The recipe here is vegan but uses four warning colours and is not for under threes.
- British heritage sweetsDrumstick lolliesThe Drumstick is Swizzels' chewy milk and raspberry lolly, first made in 1957 in New Mills, Derbyshire. The lolly and the family firm behind it.
- Diet, allergens and labelsNatural colours in sweetsSweets are increasingly coloured with plants: spirulina for blue, black carrot for red and purple, turmeric and paprika for yellow. How they are labelled.
- Diet, allergens and labelsHard sweets and young childrenThe NHS says not to give young children hard foods such as boiled sweets or whole nuts, because of choking. What to watch for, and what to do if a child chokes.