'Rock' comes in various guises and follows various recipes to achieve the different textures and   types once available in tuck shops and traditional sweet shops across the land. Some combine gelatine with the sugar and others glucose and citric acid but the common denominator is that these sweets are 'pulled' to create long stick like sweets and this process encourages the sugar to granulate thus resulting in softer, more easily dissolvable sweet.. 

Seaside rock is possibly the epitome of this form of confectionery art with over sized letter canes placed around a core candy made soft and white by an aeration process.  Robed in a coloured, or even multiple striped, outside sheath of hard candy the over sized sausage is pulled and rolled out into long lengths which are chopped and cellophane wrapped to produce the brittle, often mint flavoured, memento of many a holiday.  The skills of the sugar boiler can be used to produce not just geographical mementos but also for corporate gifts, to mark celebrations or even be individualised gifts, so long as your name is popular enough to feature in a range justifying the large run needed to make any individual design worth making.

Sweet rock however is a different beast. Edinburgh Rock, little truncated cylinders of pastel coloured confectionery with a chalky texture may not initially seem to have much in common with garish, unashamedly brashly coloured seaside rock. Edinburgh has a reputation as being a city that metaphorically hitches it's skirts away from the seamier side of it's denizens, with manners and appearance being of supreme importance – certainly a million miles away from the Kiss me Quick Hats and saucy post cards of a seaside rock shop.  This is also a pulled sweet, albeit one that is cut into mouth size chunks before being left  24 hours to granulate. It is this granulation time that results in the dulce dissolving sweet so beloved by many both north and south of the border. Flavoured with a subtle hint of ginger these sweets have just enough of a bite and warmth to cheer up a cold winters day. Edinburgh Rock was invented by 'Sweety Sandy', a Perthshire gentleman who learnt his trade making confectionary in Glasgow but returned to Edinburgh to found Ferguson's, one of the première sweet manufacturers of the times. Edinburgh Rock with it's melt in the mouth consistency contrasts with the equally famous Edinburgh Castle Rock, the large granite outcrop rearing up in the middle of this city.

Also in the range of herbal flavoured sweet rock candies are the wonderfully old fashioned Coltsfoot and Liquorice rock.  Coltsfoot rock has a slightly aniseedy taste, and is named for the flavouring derived from the Coltsfoot plant which in turn was named for it's leaves looking like the hoof print a a young horse! The alternative folk name of 'Coughwort' gives a clue to the medicinal properties of Coltsfoot – used a soother for sore throats.  Whilst Coltsfoot Rock is a delicate tan colour, Liquorice Rock comes in an equally subtle slate colour.  Flavoured with real liquorice extract this is an unusually crunchy way in which to enjoy liquorice.  Unlike Edinburgh Rock, this pulled sweet rock is left in longer, but finer, lengths producing more of a stick like form that can be crunched, sucked or licked depending on the preferences of each individual consumer.  Clove rock, in contrast, is more like Edinburgh rock in shape but in it's colour scheme is essentially a complete inversion of traditional style Seaside Rock.  Clove Rock has a ruby red centre swaddled in a chalky white over coat and is presented in bite sized chunks.  The unmistakeable clove aroma wafting up from the oil of cloves used in the manufacture of this warming sweet is redolent of times gone by.

In contrast to all these herbal and spiced sweet rocks is the Fruit Candy Rock.  As you might have guessed from the name, these candy sticks, similar in form to the Coltsfoot and Liquorice rock mentioned above, come in a selection of tangy fruit flavours.  Each bag contains a variety of lengths of this candy, it is clearly visible how the original long rolled and pulled lengths are nipped into shorter pieces.  Stronger in colour than the delicately pastel Edinburgh Rock, Fruit Candy Rock is a cheerful, heart lightening sweet equally at home on a beach holiday or a chilly wind swept walk.