A gobstopper, also known as a jawbreaker in Canada and the United States, is a type of boiled sweet. It is usually round, and usually ranges from across; though gobstoppers billed as having a diameter as large as have been marketed. The term ''gobstopper'' derives from "gob", which is

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

in the United Kingdom and Ireland for

mouth A mouth also referred to as the oral is the body orifice through which many animals ingest food and animal communication#Auditory, vocalize. The body cavity immediately behind the mouth opening, known as the oral cavity (or in Latin), is also t ...

. The sweet was a favourite among British schoolboys in the first half of the twentieth century; author

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

, who wrote about a jar of gobstoppers featuring in the prank he played in his local sweet shop in 1924, also referred to them in his fictional Everlasting Gobstopper which was featured in his 1964 children's novel ''

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' is a 1964 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka. The story was origina ...

''. Gobstoppers have been sold in traditional

sweet shop A confectionery store or confectionery shop (more commonly referred to as a sweet shop in the United Kingdom, a candy shop or candy store in North America, or a lolly shop in Australia and New Zealand) is a store that sell confectionery, whose i ...

s for at least a century, often 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 popularity.

Manufacturing

Gobstoppers are made by slowly depositing layers onto a core, such as a pressed ball of sugar, a single seed of

anise Anise (; '), also called aniseed or rarely anix, is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia. The flavor and aroma of its seeds have similarities with some other spices and herbs, ...

or a gumball. Gobstoppers are made in large, rotating, heated pans in a process known as " hot panning". The sweets take several weeks to manufacture, as the process of adding liquid sugar is repeated multiple times. Natural and artificial colours and flavours 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

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

''. In Dahl's story, Everlasting Gobstoppers are purported to last forever. Dahl named the sweet after gobstoppers, which were a favourite among British schoolboys between the two World Wars. A jar of gobstoppers featured in the prank Dahl played on the owner of his local sweet shop in 1924, which he recorded in his autobiography '' Boy: Tales of Childhood''.

In popular culture

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

In the 1964 children's book ''

'',

described " Everlasting Gobstoppers," a fictional gobstopper that could never get smaller or be finished.

Ed, Edd n Eddy

The animated series ''

Ed, Edd n Eddy '' Ed, Edd n Eddy'' is an animated television series created by Danny Antonucci for Cartoon Network. The series revolves around three friends named Ed, Edd (nicknamed "Double D" to avoid confusion with Ed), and Eddy—collectively known as "th ...

'' revolves around jawbreakers. Most episodes feature the title characters running a variety of

scam A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their Trust (emotion), trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence ...

s to earn money to buy the confections. The jawbreakers in the show are depicted as comically oversized, often with a circumference larger than that of the heads of the characters; characters' cheeks would balloon to the same size when these jawbreakers were placed in their mouths. Jawbreakers are also the main subject of one of the show's tie-in video games, '' Ed, Edd n Eddy: Jawbreakers!''.

Jawbreaker

The 1999 American teen comedy '' Jawbreaker'' centres around the main characters accidentally killing their friend after gagging her with a jawbreaker.

Lawsuit

250px, Large gobstoppers sold in a children's store In 2003, Taquandra Diggs, a nine-year-old girl in Starke,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, US suffered severe

burns Burns may refer to: Astronomy * 2708 Burns, an asteroid * Burns (crater), on Mercury People * Burns (surname), list of people and characters named Burns ** Burns (musician), Scottish record producer Places in the United States * Burns, ...

, allegedly from biting on an exploding Wonka Everlasting Gobstopper that had been refrigerated, left out in the sun, then refrigerated again. Diggs and several other alleged victims' families filed lawsuits against

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

for medical bills resulting from plastic surgery as well as pain and suffering; the matters were later settled outside of court for an undisclosed amount.

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Gobstoppers British confectionery British inventions Candy