Heading to the shops for a bag of penny sweets (that’s when they were actually a penny each!), getting your teeth stuck together because you ate too many fruit salads at once, whatever your memory, sweets are a massive part of our childhood memories.
I attended a golden ticket evening last week with Barratt to celebrate their 170th birthday and the brand behind so many iconic sweets. Founded in 1848 in east London by 21 year old entrepreneur George Osborne Barrett, the brand grew to produce some of the most iconic sweets around that so many of us have fond memories of; from Black Jacks to Fruit Salads oh and Refreshers! After a brief absence from for shelves since 2013, Barratt are back. To celebrate their return Barratt have reinvented one classics including a brand new sour apple flavour DipDab.
For many of us there is great nostalgia attached to a particular memory we have from our childhoods that involves sweets. For me it’s just before my fourth birthday: it was a hot summer’s day and my Mum was heavily pregnant with my sister – she was having an ultrasound at the hospital and I was sat on a chair swinging my legs eating a bag of Dolly Mixture. I can remember the lilac packaging and even how they tasted. Fast forward nearly 26 years later and just one Dolly Mixture is enough to transport me back. Sweets do really make sweet memories.
We were treated (see what I did there!) to sweetie inspired cocktails before kicking off the evening with a sneak peak on how Dolly Mixture sweets are made – did you know that all the flavourings and colours are 100% natural? A transition that Barratt’s say has been gradual and hasn’t affected on taste, which is great.
Now it was out turn to have a go at making our very own doll mixture. I paired up with the lovely Emma from The Joy of Five. We set to making these gorgeous marbled/ombre dolly mixture with a subtle raspberry flavouring.
Whilst dubious at the beginning as to how they would turn out, I have to admit to being pretty proud of our efforts…
Next up was a brilliantly fascinating talk by food historian, Seren Charrington-Hollins. I really enjoyed learning about our relationship with sweets. Take a look at this timeline that Barratt’s shared with me – it’s so interesting to see people’s relationship with sweet tastes which dates back to 8000BC
Whether you’re a Dip Dabber or a Refresher lover, it’s great to see Barratt sweets back on the shelves.
Disclosure: A fee was received for this post.
I want to make sweets too! It looks like you had such a great evening – and I now want fruit salad sweets! x
It really was a brilliant evening – it was so satisfying to have a bowl of sweets that I’d made x
This would be my dream event. Love Barratt sweets and i’m amazed how old some of the products are
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You did a great job! I’m partial to a fruit salad myself