Rock (confectionery)
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Rock is a type of stick-shaped boiled sugar confectionery most usually flavoured with peppermint. It is commonly sold at tourist (usually seaside) resorts in the UK (like Brighton or Blackpool), and in Sydney and Tasmania, Australia.
It usually takes the form of a cylindrical stick ("a stick of rock"), normally up to 1/2 inch (12 mm) in diameter and 12 inches (300 mm) long. These cylinders usually have a pattern embedded throughout the length, which is often the name of the resort where the rock is sold, so that the name can be read on both ends of the stick (reversed at one end) and remains legible even after pieces are bitten off. Rock is also manufactured as a promotional item, for example with a company name running through it.
It is sometimes found in the form of individual sweets, with writing or a pattern in the centre; these are, in effect, 'slices' of rock. (See illustration.)
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[edit] Making rock
Rock starts as a sugar water syrup which is boiled and glucose or corn syrup is added. It is taken to hard crack stage (146-158 degrees celcius) and an oil (such as peppermint or orange) is added for flavouring. From there it is a matter of cooling the sugar syrup until it is a workable consistency like clay. From this stage it is possible to construct the designs and words that will form in the centre.
[edit] Literary and other references
In Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock, the character Ida says, "It's like those sticks of rock: bite it all the way down, you'll still read Brighton."
[edit] Other forms of rock
Rock is a different product from American rock candy; it more closely resembles a harder candy cane.
Edinburgh rock is an unrelated confection based on sugar and cream of tartar, having in common only that it is made into sticks. It is friable and flavoured, for example, with ginger.
[edit] External links
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