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Toffee apples
A crack of glassy red toffee, then a crunch of apple. Toffee apples arrive every autumn with the apple harvest, just in time for Halloween and Bonfire Night.
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A toffee apple is one of the simplest and most seasonal of British treats: a whole apple on a stick, dipped in a hard, shiny sugar coating. They appear every autumn at fairs, fireworks nights and Halloween parties.
What a toffee apple is
Toffee apples, called candy apples in American English, are whole apples covered in a sugar coating, with a stick pushed in as a handle. The coating is sugar heated to the hard crack stage, so that it sets hard and glassy around the fruit. In the United States the most common coating is made from sugar, corn syrup, water, cinnamon and red food colouring, which is why candy apples are usually bright red. In the UK the coating is traditionally toffee.
Toffee apples are not the same as caramel apples, which have a soft, chewy caramel coating and are made by a different process.
Where they came from
Toffee apples were sold in London in the 1890s. In America, the invention of the red candy apple is often credited to William W. Kolb, a sweet maker in Newark, New Jersey. In 1908, while experimenting with red cinnamon candy for the Christmas trade, he dipped some apples in the mixture and put them in his shop window. He sold the whole batch at 5 cents each, and went on to sell thousands a year.
Bonfire Night and Halloween
Toffee apples are an autumn treat because they come just after the apple harvest. In the UK they are eaten at Halloween, especially in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and on Bonfire Night in England, Scotland and Wales. They sit alongside treacle toffee as fireworks night sweets: see Bonfire Night sweets and treacle toffee.
Around the world
The toffee apple travels well. In France they are pommes d'amour, apples of love, and in Brazil maçã do amor, eaten at festivals for Saint John the Baptist. In Germany they are most often linked with Christmas, in Australia the Granny Smith is thought the ideal apple for them, and in China a similar treat called tanghulu coats small fruits such as hawthorns in hard sugar.
Making them at home
Toffee apples are fun to make, but the sugar must reach the hard crack stage, and it is extremely hot, so children should only help under close supervision. Damp, humid weather can stop the coating from setting hard. See how to make toffee apples.
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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
When are toffee apples eaten?
In the UK they are eaten around Halloween, especially in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and on Bonfire Night in England, Scotland and Wales. Both come just after the apple harvest.
Why won't my toffee apples set?
The sugar coating must reach the hard crack stage to set hard and glassy. Humid weather can also stop the coating from hardening.
What is the difference between a toffee apple and a candy apple?
Mostly the name. Candy apple is the American term and toffee apple the British one. A caramel apple, with a soft caramel coating, is a different thing, made a different way.
Sources
- Candy apple, Wikipedia
- Toffee, Wikipedia
Keep reading
- Sweet tips and how toHow to make toffee applesToffee apples need sugar syrup boiled to the hard crack stage, about 150°C. A traditional method, the safety rules, and why damp weather can spoil them.
- Parties, gifts and occasionsBonfire Night sweetsBonfire Night sweets: toffee apples, bonfire toffee, also called Plot toffee or claggum, and parkin. Where they came from, and how to make them safely.
- Parties, gifts and occasionsHalloween sweet ideasHalloween sweets, from soul cakes and Scottish guising to toffee apples and a spooky pick and mix, plus the truth about the poisoned sweets myth.
- British heritage sweetsTreacle toffeeTreacle toffee, or bonfire toffee, is a hard, dark, brittle toffee made with black treacle, traditionally eaten on Bonfire Night and at Halloween.
- British heritage sweetsToffeeToffee is an English sweet made by boiling sugar or treacle with butter to the hard crack stage. What it is, where the word came from, and its British forms.
- 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.