# Drumstick lollies

**Canonical URL:** https://sweeties.net/wiki/drumstick-lollies/
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## Summary

The Drumstick is Swizzels' chewy milk and raspberry lolly, first made in 1957 in New Mills, Derbyshire. The lolly and the family firm behind it.

## Description

The Drumstick is a lolly with a difference: instead of a hard boiled sweet, it is chewy, and it comes in two flavours, milk and raspberry. It has been made by Swizzels in Derbyshire since 1957.
What a Drumstick is
A Drumstick is a chewy lolly about 5 centimetres long, on a stick, with two flavours, milk and raspberry. There have been many special editions over the years, including a lime and orange version that is still made. Drumsticks are now vegan.
The Swizzels story
The Drumstick's maker, Swizzels, began in the early 1920s on a market stall in Hackney, London, where two brothers, Maurice and Alfred Matlow, sold jellied sweets. In 1928 they built a small factory in east London and became known as Matlow Brothers, making jellies and chews. In 1933 they merged with a rival factory owner, David Dee, who specialised in fizzy compressed tablet sweets, though the company only officially became Swizzels Matlow in 1975.
In 1940 the Blitz forced the business to move north, to a disused wick factory in New Mills, Derbyshire, where it still is today. Parma Violets arrived in 1946, Love Hearts in 1954 and Drumsticks in 1957. See Love Hearts and Parma Violets.
More Drumsticks
The Drumstick has grown into a family. In 2012 Swizzels launched Drumstick Squashies, soft foam like chewy sweets with the same flavour as the lolly, followed by many other Squashies flavours. In 2020 came a Drumstick chocolate bar: milk chocolate with a raspberry and milk flavoured filling and pieces of freeze dried raspberry.
A changing recipe
Swizzels has changed its recipes over the years. It phased out hydrogenated fats in 2004 and stopped using artificial flavourings in 2009. The company employs around 600 people, exports about a fifth of what it makes to more than 20 countries, mostly in Europe, and its busiest time of year is Halloween.
Lollies in Britain
The Drumstick is one of a long line of British lollies. For the story of the lolly itself, see lollipops and how are lollipops made?.

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