Gobstopper

Gobstopper

Gobstoppers, known as jawbreakers in Canada and the United States, are a type of hard candy. They are usually round, usually range from about 1 cm across to 3 cm across (though much bigger gobstoppers can sometimes be found in US candy stores, up to 8 cm in diameter) and are traditionally very hard.

The term "gobstopper" derives from 'gob', which is United Kingdom slang for mouth.

Gobstoppers usually consist of several layers, each layer dissolving to reveal a different coloured (and sometimes different flavoured) layer, before dissolving completely. Gobstoppers are sucked or licked, being too hard to bite without risking dental damage (hence the US title).

Gobstoppers have been sold in traditional sweet shops for at least a century, often sold by weight from jars. As gobstoppers dissolve very slowly, they last a very long time in the mouth, which is a major factor in their enduring popularity with children.

Manufacture

Gobstoppers are made by slowly depositing layers onto a core (such as a single sugar grain or anise seed). Gobstoppers are made in large, rotating, heated pans. The candies take several weeks to manufacture, as the process of adding liquid sugar is repeated multiple times (more than 100 times over two weeks to make a one inch ball)Fact|date=October 2008. Colour and flavour are also added during the panning process.

Everlasting Gobstoppers

The Everlasting Gobstoppers sold under Nestlé's Willy Wonka Candy Company brand were first introduced in 1976 by Breaker Confections, and are named after the Everlasting Gobstoppers in Roald Dahl's children's book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (and the movie "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory", which was based on the book). In Dahl's story, Everlasting Gobstoppers are purported to last forever.

Exploding jawbreakers

In 2003, a nine year old girl in Starke, Florida, Taquandra Diggs, suffered severe burns, allegedly from an exploding jawbreaker. [ [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/jawbreaker1.html The Smoking Gun] ] [ [http://www.local6.com/news/2491417/detail.html Jawbreaker Candy Explodes, Burns Fla. Girl's Face - Orlando News Story - WKMG Orlando] ]

A 2004 episode of the Discovery Channel television program "MythBusters" then demonstrated that heating a jawbreaker in a microwave oven can cause the different layers inside to heat at different rates, yielding an explosive spray of very hot candy when compressed; "MythBusters" crew members Adam Savage and Christine Chamberlain received light burns after a jawbreaker exploded.

See also

* Aniseed ball
* Atomic Fireball
* Lemonheads
* Ed, Edd n Eddy

External links

* [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/jawbreaker1.html Police report on Taquandra Diggs' exploding jawbreaker] (thesmokinggun.com)
* [http://www.britishcandy.com Worlds Biggest Gobstopper]


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Gobstopper — verschiedener Größen Der Gobstopper, in den USA als Jawbreaker (von engl. jaw = Kiefer, breaker von to break = brechen, also etwa Kieferbrecher) bekannt, ist eine sehr harte Süßigkeit. Gewöhnlich ist er rund mit einem Durchmesser von einem bis… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • gobstopper — ► NOUN chiefly Brit. ▪ a large, hard spherical sweet …   English terms dictionary

  • gobstopper — UK [ˈɡɒbˌstɒpə(r)] / US [ˈɡɑbˌstɑpər] noun [countable] Word forms gobstopper : singular gobstopper plural gobstoppers a large hard round sweet …   English dictionary

  • gobstopper — n (BrE infml) a large hard round sweet. Many gobstoppers change colour as they are sucked. They are popular with children. The name comes from gob, a British slang word for ‘mouth’. * * * …   Universalium

  • gobstopper — noun /ˈɡɒbˌstɒp.ə(ɹ)/ A type of hard long lasting candy, usually spherical in shape. Syn: jawbreaker …   Wiktionary

  • gobstopper — Cockney Rhyming Slang Chopper (Penis) …   English dialects glossary

  • gobstopper — gob|stop|per [ gab,stapər ] noun count MAINLY BRITISH a JAWBREAKER …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • gobstopper — n. (British) large and hard candy …   English contemporary dictionary

  • gobstopper — noun chiefly Brit. a large, hard spherical sweet …   English new terms dictionary

  • gobstopper — noun (C) BrE a large round hard sweet; jawbreaker AmE …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

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