Sherbet Lemons
Hard on the outside, fizzing in the middle.
- CategoryHard Boiled
- First appeared1800s
- CountryBritain
- How it is madeBoiled
- DietaryVeganVegetarian
What it is
A boiled lemon sweet, yellow and faintly ridged, with a pocket of fizzing sherbet inside. You suck through the shell until it gives way and the sherbet goes off in your mouth. Sharp, then sweet, then sharp again.
Taste
Where it comes from
Sherbet itself came to Britain from the Middle East, where sharbat was a sweet cooled drink, and by the Victorian period British confectioners had turned it into a fizzing powder of sugar and acid. Filling a boiled sweet with it was a natural next step, and the sherbet lemon became one of the great Victorian sweet shop inventions, sitting on shelves in glass jars ever since.
What it's made of
Sugar and glucose syrup boiled to a hard crack, flavoured with lemon oil, formed around a centre of sherbet made from sugar, citric acid and bicarbonate of soda. The bicarbonate and the acid react with moisture, which is where the fizz comes from.
Ingredients and allergens
Ingredients
Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Dextrose, Water, Acid (Citric Acid), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Carbonates), Flavouring, Colour (Curcumin).
Allergens
No allergens in the ingredients
