A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking.
Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker, sticky-pop, etc.
Lollipops are available in a number of colors and flavors, particularly fruit flavors.
The main ingredient in a standard lollipop is sugar.
With numerous companies producing lollipops, the candy now comes in dozens of flavors and many different shapes.
They range from small ones which can be bought by the hundred and are often given away for free at banks, barbershops, and other locations, to very large ones made out of candy canes twisted into a circle.
According to the National Confectioners Association, eating sugar from a stick likely dates to prehistoric man, who licked honey off the stick he used to scrape it from the beehive.
The ancient Arabs, Chinese and Egyptians made fruit and nut confections candied in honey, which may also have been eaten from sticks, owing to the stickiness of the confection.
The first confectioneries that closely resemble what we call lollipops date to the Middle Ages, when the nobility would often eat boiled sugar with the aid of sticks or handles.
The invention of the modern lollipop is still something of a mystery but a number of American companies in the early 20th century have laid claim to it.
According to some sources, the first lollipops are thought to have been invented during the Civil War. They where just hard candy on the tips of pencils for children to nibble on. Others believe some version of the lollipop has been around since the 1800.
According to the book Food for Thought: Extraordinary Little Chronicles of the World, they were invented by George Smith of New Haven, Connecticut, who started making large hard candies mounted on sticks in 1908. He named them after a racehorse of the time, Lolly Pop – and trademarked the lollipop name in 1931.
Tootsie Roll is a chocolate-flavored taffy-like candy that has been manufactured in the United States since 1907. The candy has qualities similar to both caramels and taffy without being exactly either confection. The manufacturer, Tootsie Roll Industries, is based in Chicago, Illinois. It was the first penny candy to be individually wrapped in America.
Modern production of lollipops introduced many innovations in their shape, recipes and production, and judging by the relentless rise in their popularity.
In modern times, multinational global companies have capability to create a truly staggering amount of lollipops every day. One of the most notable producers of lollipops today is Spangler Candy Company can produce three million units per day, which is not enough to satisfy consumption of lollipops in United States.
Chupa Chups are the most popular lollipops in the world. It is a Spanish brand of lollipop and other confectionery sold in over 150 countries around the world. The Chupa Chups logo was designed by famous artist Salvadore Dali.
Lollipops can be used to carry medicines. Flavored lollipops containing medicine are marketed for children, and are also used in the military due to the fast-acting ingredients.
The term ‘lollipop’ was recorded by English lexicographer Francis Grose in 1796. The term may have derived from the term “lolly” (tongue) and “pop” (slap). The first references to the lollipop in its modern context date to the 1920s. Alternatively, it may be a word of Romany origin being related to the Roma tradition of selling candy apples on a stick. Red apple in the Romany language is loli phaba.
The largest lollipop was 3176.5 kg (7,003 lb), and was created by See’s Candies (USA) at See’s Candies Lollypop Factory in Burlingame, California, USA, on 18 July 2012. The lollipop was chocolate-flavored and had the following measurements: 4 feet 8.75 inches in length, 3 feet 6 inches in width, and 5 feet 11 inches in height. The lollipop also included a stick which was 11 feet 10 inches tall, though the weight of the stick did not count towards the record.
The longest chain of lollipops consists of 9,999 lollipops and was achieved by Perfetti Van Melle Confectionery (China) Co., Ltd. (China) in Shanghai, China, on 19 January 2020. The chain measured 1,193.26 m (3,914 ft 10 in) long, and was laid out in a way to look like a heart.
The most people licking lollipops is 12,831 and was organized by the Coordinadora de Peñas de Valladolid, in Valladolid, Spain, on 7 September 2008. Justine Bourdariat adjudicated. The Coordinadora de Peñas are the current record holders for the “Largest water pistol fight” and previous record holders for the “Largest water balloon fight”. Fiesta company provided the lollipops.