Gobstopper
Gobstoppers, known as jawbreakers in Canada and the United States, are a type of hard confectionery. They are usually round, usually range from about 1 cm across to 3 cm across (though much bigger gobstoppers can sometimes be found in Canadian/US candy stores, some stores or stands in Europe and many theme parks, up to 8 cm in diameter) and are traditionally very hard.
The term gobstopper derives from 'gob', which is United Kingdom/Ireland slang for mouth.
Gobstoppers usually consist of a number of layers, each layer dissolving to reveal a different colored (and sometimes differently flavoured) layer, before dissolving completely. Gobstoppers are sucked or licked, being too hard to bite without risking dental damage (hence the US title).
Gobstoppers have been sold in traditional sweet shops for at least a century, often sold 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 enduring popularity with children. Larger ones can take days or even weeks to fully dissolve.
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[edit] Manufacture
Gobstoppers are made by slowly depositing layers onto a core (such as a single sugar grain or anise seed). Gobstoppers are made in large, rotating, heated pans. The candies take several weeks to manufacture, as the process of adding liquid sugar is repeated multiple times (more than 100 times over two weeks to make a one inch ball)[citation needed]. Colour and flavour are also added during the panning process.
[edit] Everlasting Gobstoppers
The Everlasting Gobstoppers, sold under Nestlé's Willy Wonka Candy Company brand, were first introduced in 1976 by Breaker Confections,[1] and are named after the Everlasting Gobstoppers in Roald Dahl's children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (and the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, which was based on the book). In Dahl's story, Everlasting Gobstoppers are purported to last forever.
[edit] Exploding gobstoppers
In 2003, Taquandra Diggs, a nine-year-old girl in Starke, Florida, suffered severe burns, allegedly from biting down on a Wonka Everlasting Gobstopper that had been left out in the sun. Diggs and several other victims' families filed lawsuits against Nestlé 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.[2][3]
A 2004 episode of the Discovery Channel television program MythBusters, in an episode subsection named Exploding Jawbreakers, then demonstrated that heating a gobstopper in a microwave oven can cause the different layers inside to heat at different rates, yielding an explosive spray of very hot candy when compressed; MythBusters crew members Adam Savage and Christine Chamberlain received light burns after a gobstopper exploded. The explosion effect was not replicated without the use of a microwave.[4]
[edit] In popular culture
In the Seinfeld episode "The Pez Dispenser", Jerry Seinfeld closes the episode with a riff on jawbreakers, asking why anyone would buy something that could hurt them.
Ed, Edd n Eddy are perennially in search of jawbreakers, which in their world are about as big as their heads, and their cheeks can stretch to fit them in their mouths.[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Zeldes, Leah A. (October 30, 2009). "Willy Wonka lives in Chicagoland". Dining Chicago. Chicago's Restaurant & Entertainment Guide, Inc.. http://blog.diningchicago.com/2009/10/30/willy-wonka-lives-in-chicagoland/. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
- ^ "Florida Girl Injured In Bizarre Candy Episode | The Smoking Gun". thesmokinggun.com. 2011 [last update]. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/florida-girl-injured-bizarre-candy-episode. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
- ^ "Jawbreaker Candy Explodes, Burns Fla. Girl's Face - Orlando News Story - WKMG Orlando". clickorlando.com. 2011 [last update]. http://www.clickorlando.com/news/2491417/detail.html. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
- ^ "Mythbusters : Will Heating a Jawbreaker Make It Explode?". dsc.discovery.com. 2011 [last update]. http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/db/food/exploding-jawbreaker.html. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
- ^ "Ed, Edd n Eddy: Jawbreakers! - Qwiki". qwiki.com. 2011 [last update]. http://www.qwiki.com/q/?_escaped_fragment_=/Ed,_Edd_n_Eddy:_Jawbreakers!#!/Ed,_Edd_n_Eddy:_Jawbreakers!. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
[edit] External links
- Police report on Taquandra Diggs' exploding jawbreaker (thesmokinggun.com)
