Aniseed ball

Aniseed balls (next to a metric ruler for scale).

Aniseed balls are a comfit type of hard round sweet sold in the UK, Ireland, Malta, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. They are shiny and dark reddish brown, and hard like Gobstoppers, but generally only 1 cm across.

They were a staple traditional sweet in the 1950s and 1960s in Australia and New Zealand but have become rare in recent years.

They are flavoured by aniseed oil, have a very strong aniseed flavour, and last for a long time in the mouth before dissolving. In the centre of the ball is normally a whole rapeseed, which is used for forming layers of sugar around, although other nuclei are sometimes used, for example a sugar crystal.