{{Short description|Type of hard candy}} {{Redirect|Jawbreakers|the music duo|Jawbreakers (duo)|other uses|Jawbreaker (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox food | name = Gobstopper | image = Jawbreaker plate.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = Gobstoppers of various sizes and colors. The largest one is 3 inches (~7.5 cm) in diameter | alternate_name = Jawbreaker, jawbuster | country = United Kingdom | region = | creator = | course = | type = Confectionery | served = | main_ingredient = Sugar | variations = | calories = | other = }}
A '''gobstopper''', also known as a '''jawbreaker''' in Canada and the United States, is a type of [[boiled sweet]]. It is usually round, and usually ranges from {{convert|1|to|3|cm|1|abbr=on}} across; though gobstoppers billed as having a diameter as large as {{convert|3.25|inch|abbr=on}} have been marketed.<ref name="Stone">{{cite web|last=Stone|first=Lillian|title= Tackling an Ed, Edd n Eddy–sized jawbreaker is a fool's errand|url=https://thetakeout.com/how-to-eat-a-giant-jawbreaker-like-ed-edd-eddy-1847613883 |access-date=June 25, 2023 |website=The Takeout|date=September 8, 2021|language=en}}</ref>
The term ''gobstopper'' derives from "gob", which is slang in the United Kingdom and Ireland for mouth. The sweet was a favourite among British schoolboys in the first half of the twentieth century; author [[Roald Dahl]], who wrote about a jar of gobstoppers featuring in the [[11 High Street, Llandaff#The Great Mouse Plot of 1924|prank he played in his local sweet shop in 1924]], also referred to them in his fictional [[Everlasting Gobstopper]] which was featured in his 1964 children's novel ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]''.<ref name="Gobstopper popularity">{{cite book|last=Ayto|first=John|title=The Diner's Dictionary: Word Origins of Food and Drink|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NoicAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA154|year=2012|publisher=University Press|location=Oxford|page=154|isbn=978-0-19-964024-9 }}</ref>
Gobstoppers have been sold in traditional [[Confectionery store|sweet shop]]s for at least a century, often 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 popularity.
==Manufacturing== [[Image:JawbreakerRainbow.jpg|thumb|A cross section of a rainbow gobstopper with multicoloured sugar layers, allowing the gobstopper to change colour as it is gradually consumed.]]
{{Further|Sugar panning}}
Gobstoppers are made by slowly depositing layers onto a core, such as a pressed ball of sugar, a single seed of [[anise]] or a [[Chewing gum|gumball]].<ref>How it's Made Season 7 Episode 02</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Walter |first1=Eugene |title=Hints & pinches |date=2001 |publisher=Hill Street Press |location=Athens, GA |isbn=9781892514981 |page=18}}</ref> Gobstoppers are made in large, rotating, heated pans in a process known as "[[Panning (food)|hot panning]]". The sweets take several weeks to manufacture, as the process of adding liquid sugar is repeated multiple times. Natural and artificial colours and flavours are also added during the panning process.
==Everlasting Gobstoppers== {{Main|Everlasting Gobstopper}} The '''Everlasting Gobstoppers''', sold under Nestlé's [[The Willy Wonka Candy Company|Willy Wonka Candy Company]] brand, were first introduced in 1976 by Breaker Confections,<ref name="zeldes">{{Cite web | last = Zeldes | first = Leah A. | title = Willy Wonka lives in Chicagoland | work = Dining Chicago | publisher = Chicago's Restaurant & Entertainment Guide, Inc. | date = October 30, 2009 | url = http://blog.diningchicago.com/2009/10/30/willy-wonka-lives-in-chicagoland/ | access-date = November 4, 2009 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091104102643/http://blog.diningchicago.com/2009/10/30/willy-wonka-lives-in-chicagoland/ | archive-date = November 4, 2009 }}</ref> and are named after the [[Everlasting Gobstopper]]s in [[Roald Dahl]]'s children's book ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]''. In Dahl's story, Everlasting Gobstoppers are purported to last forever. Dahl named the sweet after gobstoppers, which were a favourite among British schoolboys between the two World Wars.<ref name="Gobstopper popularity"/> A jar of gobstoppers featured in the [[11 High Street, Llandaff#The Great Mouse Plot of 1924|prank Dahl played on the owner of his local sweet shop in 1924]], which he recorded in his autobiography ''[[Boy (autobiography)|Boy: Tales of Childhood]]''.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_east/8253467.stm "Blue plaque marks Dahl sweet shop"]. BBC. Retrieved 24 December 2014.</ref>
==In popular culture== ===''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory''=== In the 1964 children's book ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]'', [[Roald Dahl]] described "[[Everlasting Gobstopper]]s," a fictional gobstopper that could never get smaller or be finished.
===''Ed, Edd n Eddy''=== The animated series ''[[Ed, Edd n Eddy]]'' revolves around jawbreakers. Most episodes feature the titular characters running a variety of [[scam]]s to earn money to buy the confections.<ref>{{Cite web |title=It's 20 Years Since 'Ed, Edd n Eddy' Was First Released |url=http://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/film-and-tv-its-20-years-since-ed-edd-n-eddy-was-first-released-20190105 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808170032/http://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/film-and-tv-its-20-years-since-ed-edd-n-eddy-was-first-released-20190105 |archive-date=August 8, 2019 |access-date=June 25, 2023 |website=LadBible.com |date=January 5, 2019 |language=en}}</ref> The jawbreakers themselves are depicted as comically oversized, often with a circumference larger than that of the heads of the characters;<ref name="Stone" /> a character's cheeks would swell to the same size when the jawbreakers are placed in their mouths. Jawbreakers are also the main subject of one of the series' tie-in video games, ''[[Ed, Edd n Eddy: Jawbreakers!]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harris |first=Craig |date=April 9, 2003 |title=Ed, Edd n Eddy: Jawbreakers |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/04/09/ed-edd-n-eddy-jawbreakers |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103123400/http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/04/09/ed-edd-n-eddy-jawbreakers |archive-date=November 3, 2012 |access-date=June 25, 2023 |website=[[IGN]] |publisher=[[News Corporation]]}}</ref>
===''Jawbreaker''=== The 1999 American teen comedy ''[[Jawbreaker (film)|Jawbreaker]]'' centers around the main characters accidentally killing their friend after gagging her with a jawbreaker.
==Lawsuit== [[image:Giant jawbreakers.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Large gobstoppers sold in a children's store]] In 2003, Taquandra Diggs, a nine-year-old girl in [[Starke, Florida|Starke]], Florida, US suffered severe [[burn (injury)|burns]], allegedly from biting on an exploding [[The Willy Wonka Candy Company|Wonka]] [[Everlasting Gobstopper]] that had been refrigerated, left out in the sun, then refrigerated again. Diggs and several other alleged 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/florida-girl-injured-bizarre-candy-episode |title=Florida Girl Injured In Bizarre Candy Episode |work=The Smoking Gun |year=2011 |access-date=February 21, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110213034146/http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/florida-girl-injured-bizarre-candy-episode |archive-date=February 13, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clickorlando.com/news/2491417/detail.html |title=Jawbreaker Candy Explodes, Burns Fla. Girl's Face |publisher=WKMG Orlando |year=2011 |access-date=February 21, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811232442/http://www.clickorlando.com/news/2491417/detail.html |archive-date=August 11, 2011 }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=July 2025}}
==See also== * [[Everlasting Gobstopper]] * [[Aniseed ball]] * [[Atomic Fireball]] * [[Benne ball]] * [[Humbug (sweet)|Humbug]] * [[Hard candy]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline|Gobstoppers}}
[[Category:British confectionery]] [[Category:British inventions]] [[Category:Candy]]