Rock (confectionery)

Rock

A traditional "Stick Of Rock"
Type	Confectionery
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Main ingredients	Sugar, flavouring (peppermint or spearmint)

Rock (often known by its place of origin, for instance Blackpool rock or Brighton rock) is a type of hard stick-shaped boiled sugar confectionery most usually flavoured with peppermint or spearmint. It is commonly sold at tourist (usually seaside) resorts in the United Kingdom (such as Brighton, Southend-on-Sea, Tenby or Blackpool) and Ireland (e.g. Bray and Strandhill); in Gibraltar; in Denmark in towns such as Løkken and Ebeltoft; and in Sydney and Tasmania, Australia.

It usually takes the form of a cylindrical stick ("a stick of rock", or, in Scotland, "a stalk of rock"), normally 1–2.5 cm (0.39–0.98 in) in diameter and 20–25 cm (7.9–9.8 in) long. Blackpool rock is usually at least 2.5 cm (0.98 in) in diameter, and can be as thick as 17 cm (6.7 in) across and up to 2 m (6.6 ft) long when made for special retail displays. 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.

Traditional seaside rock is made using granulated sugar and glucose syrup. The mix is approximately 3:1, i.e. three parts sugar to one part glucose syrup. This is mixed together in a pan with enough water to dissolve the sugar (not enough water will result in burning the sugar or the end product being sugary and possibly "graining off"). This is then boiled to approximately 147 °C or "hard crack" before being poured onto water-cooled steel plates. Once poured, food colourings for the casing and lettering are added and mixed in by hand using a spoon or small palette knife. Once the toffee mixture is poured onto a water-cooled plate, it begins to form a skin underneath, this makes it possible to cut out the colourings, using a pair of shears. The casings and lettering is constantly "turned in" to prevent "chill" (unsightly lumps in the finished product). The remainder of the toffee is stiffened up before going onto a "pulling" machine, a machine that has a fixed arm, and two moving arms, one rotating clockwise, the other counter-clockwise. The pulling machine aerates the toffee, turning it from a solid golden mass into the soft white that forms the centre of the stick of rock. Whilst on the pulling machine, flavourings are added by pouring in measured amounts. A small amount of now white toffee is taken from the pulling machine, this is used to keep the form of the letters which are made from the coloured toffee.