teas.co.uk
Tea and coffee from the brands you know
How are lollipops made?
People ate boiled sugar on sticks in the Middle Ages, but the modern lollipop is a factory product. Here is how a big lollipop maker turns a kettle of syrup into sweets on sticks, and why the finished lolly is glassy rather than grainy.
Citable formats
For journalists, researchers, AI assistants and content creators. Pick the format you need:
Free to cite, quote, and reuse with attribution to sweeties.net.
A lollipop is hard candy mounted on a stick, made for sucking or licking. The idea is simple and has probably been invented many times: as far back as the Middle Ages, the nobility ate boiled sugar with the help of sticks or handles. Big makers now turn them out by machine, at more than 1,000 a minute.
The recipe
The main ingredients of a standard lollipop are sugar and corn syrup, the American name for glucose syrup: see what is glucose syrup? Water is needed at the start to dissolve the sugar, but by the end of the process the moisture has fallen to less than 2 per cent. Everything else, from flavour and colour to a bubble gum centre, is optional.
The corn syrup does an important job. It is an inhibitor, which stops the sugar crystallising as it cools. Without one, crystals would form quickly and on their own, because the sugar is so concentrated. Cream of tartar, honey and butter are also used as inhibitors.
Inside a lollipop factory
Spangler Candy Company, which makes Dum Dums in Ohio, describes its process on its own website, and the reference book How Products Are Made describes a similar line:
- Mix. Sugar and corn syrup are measured and mixed into a big batch. In the line described in How Products Are Made, sugar is first dissolved in water at about 82°C, then mixed 55 per cent liquid sugar to 45 per cent corn syrup.
- Cook. The batch is heated to a high temperature to drive off moisture so the candy will harden. Spangler uses large copper kettles. The other account describes a pre cook to about 109°C, then about four minutes of vacuum cooking to about 143°C, in batches of up to 68 kg.
- Flavour. Colour, flavour and acids are added. Citric and malic acid help bring out the flavour and take the edge off the sweetness: see what is malic acid in sweets?
- Knead. A kneading table cools the batch and folds it over and over to mix in the colour and flavour.
- Rope. Rollers slowly form the candy into a rope, and sizing wheels bring it down to the right thickness.
- Form. A press shapes the rope into lollipop heads and inserts a paper stick, at more than 1,000 a minute.
- Cool. The lollipops are cooled until they harden. At Spangler they pass through large tumblers.
- Wrap. Spangler's wrapping machines each wrap about four lollipops every second, before they are bagged and boxed.
Why a lollipop is glassy
When sugar syrup is heated to a high temperature, almost all of the water is driven off. Instead of setting as crystals, the syrup cools into a glassy, amorphous solid. Its final moisture is about 1 to 2 per cent, compared with 8 to 12 per cent in crystalline sweets such as fudge. The key change as a lollipop cools is called the glass transition: see how are boiled sweets made?
British lollies
- Drumstick lollies were introduced in 1957 by Swizzels, whose factory is in New Mills, Derbyshire. They are chewy lollies about 5 cm long, flavoured milk and raspberry: see Drumstick lollies
- Chupa Chups, from Spain, are individually heat sealed in the factory and are best opened by twisting the base of the wrapper. Their logo was designed by Salvador Dalí in 1969: see Enric Bernat, Chupa Chups and Salvador Dalí
Hard sweets need care with young children, sticks or not: see hard sweets and young children.
Citable formats
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
How are lollipops made?
Sugar and corn syrup are mixed and cooked to drive off almost all the water. Colour, flavour and acids are added, and the batch is kneaded on a cooling table, rolled into a rope and fed to a press that shapes the heads and pushes in the sticks. The lollipops are then cooled until hard and wrapped.
Why are lollipops clear and not grainy?
The syrup is cooked until almost all the water is gone, and corn syrup in the recipe stops the sugar crystallising as it cools. The result is a glassy, amorphous solid rather than a mass of sugar crystals.
Where does the word lollipop come from?
Francis Grose recorded it in 1796. It may come from lolly, meaning tongue, and pop, meaning slap, or from the Romani words for red apple, loli phaba. The origin is not certain.
Sources
- Lollipop, Wikipedia
- How are Dum Dums made?, Spangler Candy Company
- Lollipop, How Products Are Made, Volume 6
- Swizzels, Wikipedia
- Chupa Chups, Wikipedia
Keep reading
- How it is madeHow are boiled sweets made?Boiled sweets are sugar syrup boiled to around 160°C, flavoured, coloured and shaped while warm, then set into a glassy solid about 98 per cent sugar.
- 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.
- The people behind the sweetsEnric Bernat, Chupa Chups and Salvador DalíEnric Bernat's investors walked out when he pitched a lollipop. He made it anyway, called it Chupa Chups, and got Salvador Dalí to design the logo in 1969.
- 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.
- Questions people askWhat is malic acid in sweets?Malic acid, E296, is the acid of apples and rhubarb. It is sourer than citric acid, so it goes into very sour sweets, some of which warn it can sting.
- How it is madeWhat is glucose syrup?Glucose syrup is a thick syrup made by breaking down starch, usually from maize or wheat. Sweet makers use it to sweeten, soften and stop sugar crystallising.