Everlasting Gobstopper

Everlasting Gobstoppers

The Everlasting Gobstopper is both a fictional brand of gobstopper, and a real-life confection named after the fictional product.

In fiction

While jawbreakers have been known as "gobstoppers" in the United Kingdom for at least eighty years, the fictional Everlasting Gobstoppers first appeared in Roald Dahl's 1964 children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and later in its two movie adaptations (the 1971 musical Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and the 2005 Tim Burton adaptation Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). In Dahl's story, Everlasting Gobstoppers were designed by Willy Wonka, the owner of a massive chocolate factory, for children with "very little pocket-money," and were purported to last forever, as the name suggests. If someone were to bite into an Everlasting Gobstopper, the person would break their teeth. It's also mentioned in the book that it is like a gum in that it never loses its flavor or texture.

In the original novel, the Everlasting Gobstopper looked like a normal round jawbreaker which flashed with a variety of colors. In the 1971 film, it had a defined core with small colored bursts traversing the outside of the core, similar to kompeito or a bumble ball. The 2005 film showed Everlasting Gobstoppers as they were in the novel, as round jawbreaker-like candies. The 1971 gobstopper was used as a device to determine which of the children had integrity and were not prepared to betray Willy Wonka.

Nestlé Everlasting Gobstoppers

Everlasting Gobstoppers

A product called Everlasting Gobstoppers was introduced in 1976 by the Chicago candy company Breaker Confections, which had licensed the "Willy Wonka" name in 1971 so that it could be used as a merchandising tie-in for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.^[1] The Willy Wonka Candy Company brand is now owned by Nestlé, and made in Itasca, Illinois.^[1]

The jawbreaker is composed of several discrete layers to mirror the color-changing effect from the book. The standard type has a chalky center somewhat like a SweeTart. A version with a chewy center is also available.

They resemble the gobstoppers from the book and the 2005 film far more than the ones in the 1971 film, as the 1971 version is a multi-colored, bumpy/spiky candy, and the ones in the book and 2005 film are round, single-colored spheres. Unlike the ones from the book and 2005, they are chewable once sucked long enough (Wonka says you would break your teeth if you tried to chew a gobstopper), and, unlike all versions, they are far from "everlasting," lasting only about a half-hour at absolute longest.

See also

• Wonka Bar

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Zeldes, Leah A. (October 30, 2009). "Willy Wonka lives in Chicagoland". Dining Chicago. Chicago's Restaurant & Entertainment Guide, Inc.. http://blog.diningchicago.com/2009/10/30/willy-wonka-lives-in-chicagoland/. Retrieved November 4, 2009.