Musk sticks are a popular

confection Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categorie ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, available from many different suppliers. They consist of a semi-soft stick of

fondant Fondant is a mixture of sugar and water used as a confection, filling, or icing. Sometimes gelatin and glycerine are used as softeners or stabilizers. There are numerous varieties of fondant, with the most basic being poured fondant. Others in ...

, usually

pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

, and often extruded with a ridged cross-section in the shape of a star. Their flavour and aroma is quite floral, reminiscent of

musk Musk (Persian: مشک, ''Mushk'') is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial sub ...

perfume. They are also called "musk sweets" and "musk lollies". The origin of musk sticks is uncertain, probably dating to the early 1900s or a little earlier. The earliest known written reference is 1927 in the ''Australian Worker'', which talks about the "pink curly musk sticks" from 25 years earlier, which were still available. Musk sticks 10

Total sales are not tracked centrally, but supermarket chain Woolworths is reported as selling about 24 million musk sticks per year. Opinion about the confection is strongly polarised.

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

said that "musk sticks manage to disgust tourists as much as they delight Australians", and in October 2018, the Disgusting Food Museum in Malmo, Sweden included musk sticks. Also available is a fruit-flavoured variant called "Fruit sticks", which look like coloured musk sticks. Musk-flavoured mints are produced by companies such as the Dollar Sweets Company. They are sold through supermarkets under the Dollar Sweets brand and also through Lion Clubs Australia under the Lion Mints brand.

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline Australian confectionery