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Rhubarb and custard sweets
Sharp and creamy at once. Rhubarb and custard sweets turn a British pudding pairing into a two tone boiled sweet.
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Rhubarb and custard sweets are a boiled sweet of the British sweet shop: little two tone sweets, one side rhubarb, the other custard.
What they are
A rhubarb and custard sweet is a boiled sweet with two flavours and two colours. One half has a sharp, fruity rhubarb flavour; the other has a smooth, creamy custard flavour. The sweets we sell in our pick and mix are exactly that: two tone boiled sweets, sharp rhubarb and smooth custard.
Why rhubarb and custard?
The sweet is named after a British pairing. In Britain, rhubarb stalks are usually stewed with sugar and used in pies, tarts and crumbles, and rhubarb is also combined with custard or whipped cream to make a rhubarb fool. Rhubarb has a strong, tart taste.
Rhubarb is a vegetable, but it is often used like a fruit. Only the stalks are eaten: the large leaves contain high levels of oxalic acid, which makes them poisonous. In the United Kingdom, the first rhubarb of the year is harvested by candlelight in dark forcing sheds, which produces sweeter, more tender stalks, and many of these sheds are in the Rhubarb Triangle in Yorkshire, between Wakefield, Leeds and Morley.
Who makes them
Rhubarb and custard sweets are made by a number of traditional sweet makers. One of them is Stockley's, founded in Lancashire in 1918 by Malcolm Stockley on his return from the First World War. The firm is still privately owned, makes its sweets in small batches by hand, and lists rhubarb and custard among its traditional sweets, alongside pear drops, mint humbugs and chocolate limes.
The flavour has spread beyond the boiled sweet, too. Swizzels, the makers of Love Hearts, have made a rhubarb and custard version of their Drumstick Squashies: see Drumstick lollies.
More boiled sweets
Rhubarb and custard sit alongside other sweet shop boiled sweets such as pear drops, kola kubes and pineapple chunks, all of which we sell: see pear drops, kola kubes and pineapple chunks. For how boiled sweets are made, see how are boiled sweets made?
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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 do rhubarb and custard sweets taste like?
They combine two flavours in one boiled sweet: a sharp, fruity rhubarb half and a smooth, creamy custard half.
Who makes rhubarb and custard sweets?
Several traditional sweet makers. One is Stockley's, a privately owned firm founded in Lancashire in 1918 by Malcolm Stockley, which lists rhubarb and custard among its sweets.
Are rhubarb and custard sweets old fashioned?
Yes, they are a boiled sweet of the traditional British sweet shop, and they are still made today. We sell them loose in our pick and mix.
Sources
- Stockley's Sweets, Stockley's
- About us, Stockley's
- Rhubarb, Wikipedia
- Swizzels, Wikipedia
Keep reading
- British heritage sweetsPear dropsPear drops are pink and yellow British boiled sweets with a sharp, fruity flavour that comes from two esters, one tasting of pear and one of banana.
- British heritage sweetsKola kubesKola kubes, or cola cubes, are sugar dusted cola flavoured boiled sweets. Why they are spelled with a K, and where cola flavour comes from.
- British heritage sweetsPineapple chunksPineapple chunks are golden, sugar dusted boiled sweets with a tangy pineapple flavour, named after a fruit that was once a Georgian status symbol.
- 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 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.
- British heritage sweetsTraditional English sweetsA county by county guide to traditional English sweets, from Pontefract cakes and Kendal Mint Cake to Uncle Joe's Mint Balls and Love Hearts.