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Thursday 19 August 2010

Aniseed Balls

Aniseed Balls
Aniseed balls are traditional aniseed oil coated hard round sweets, a bit like gobstoppers or jawbreakers, and are usually sold in the UK. They are also found in New Zealand and Australia. These hard balls last in the mouth for a long time and they have an anise seed core that can be crushed. The core is used for forming layers of candy around it, although other methods exist, for example using a sugar grain.
The whole seed is then surrounded with layers of hardened candy. They can be bought by weight in traditional sweet shops in the UK and Ireland.  They are dark brown in colour and they have a strong liquorish flavour.
In a recent poll of confectionery fans, aniseed balls were voted the best childhood memory of confectionery in the UK. As a result they are making a resurgence in popularity in British sweet shops, along with chocolate mice and sherbet pips.
The recent Waitrose Great Sweet Revival campaign captured the votes of more than 2,000 people and the results made it clear that aniseed balls are as popular as ever. Waitrose confectionery buyer Matthew Jones said: "We received a fantastic response to our campaign so I think our new retro sweets will be as popular with children today as those who remember tucking into them in decades past."
It seems that longevity is the key to picking a favourite treat as 'sucky sweets' made up more than half of the top 10 which also included bonbons and liquorice torpedoes.

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