Pear Drops
Half pink, half yellow, and slightly dangerous.
- CategoryHard Boiled
- First appeared1800s
- How it is madeBoiled
What it is
A hard boiled sweet shaped like a small pear, one half pink and one half yellow, with an intense flavour that most people describe as somewhere between pear, banana and nail varnish. Sharp, sweet and completely unlike anything else on the shelf.
Taste
Where it comes from
Pear drops date from the early nineteenth century, when cheap refined sugar and metal moulds made boiled sweets possible on a large scale, and northern English confectioners began producing them in volume. They are one of the first sweets built around an artificial flavour rather than a fruit. Roald Dahl wrote about them in Boy, describing them as exciting because they tasted dangerous.
What it's made of
Sugar and glucose syrup boiled to around 150 degrees, coloured in two batches, poured together and stamped into a pear shape. The flavour comes from two esters, one that reads as pear and one that reads as banana, which is why the taste is so hard to place.
Ingredients and allergens
Ingredients
Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Acid: Citric Acid, Flavourings, Colours: E102, E122
Warning: E102 and E122 may have an adverse effect on the activity and attention in children.
Allergens
No allergens in the ingredients
