Rock (confectionery)

Rock (confectionery)

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 (like Brighton, Tenby or Blackpool); in Ireland in seaside towns such as 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"), normally 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) to 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter and 8 inches (20 cm) to 10 inches (25 cm) long. Blackpool rock is usually at least an inch in diameter, and can be as thick as six inches across and up to six feet 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.