Moffat toffee

Moffat toffee is a Scottish local sweet. Despite its name, it is not a chewy toffee but a boiled sweet, with a tangy yet sweet centre that gives it its unusual flavour. It has been made in the town of Moffat, in Dumfriesshire, for well over a century.

A family recipe

The Moffat toffee recipe is an old family one. It is thought to have first been used commercially by Janet Cook Johnstone, the great grandmother of the present owner, Blair Blacklock, in the late 19th century.

In those days the sweets were made by hand in batches of about 7 lb, around 3 kg, and sold mostly as uncut flat rounds of different sizes. Today it is still made in Moffat, and more than 300 kg of it are made every week.

Why call a boiled sweet toffee?

Across Britain the word toffee has been used loosely for all sorts of sweets, and older local names often stuck long after recipes changed. In Scotland, as in other parts of the country, a sweet's name is often more about tradition than a strict definition. See what people call sweets around Britain.

Where to buy it

Moffat toffee is sold in sweet shops, garden centres and other shops across Scotland, and at the Moffat Toffee Shop in the town itself.

Scotland's boiled sweet traditions

Scotland has a rich tradition of local boiled sweets, many tied to a single town. Galashiels has its soor plooms, sharp green sweets whose name means sour plums. Hawick has Hawick balls, peppermint boiled sweets. Just over the Border, Berwick upon Tweed gave its name to the striped Berwick cockles. And for something softer, there is Scotland's great sugar sweet, tablet.

Like all boiled sweets, Moffat toffee is almost entirely sugar, cooked until very hot and left to set hard, so keep it sealed and dry to stop it going sticky.

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