Today is National Something on a Stick Day, so here are 10 facts about lollipops:
The concept of something sweet on a stick goes back to prehistoric times when people used sticks to scrape Honey out of beehives. Ancient African and Asian societies had fruit and nut treats candied in honey, which is a natural preservative. They inserted a stick into the treats to make them easier to eat.
Lollipops as we know them began to emerge in the 17th century when Sugar became more available.
Other words for a lollipop include lolly, sticky-pop and sucker.
The word was first recorded by English lexicographer Francis Grose in 1796. It may have derived from "lolly" (tongue) and "pop" (slap); or it might be of Romani origin, related to the Roma tradition of selling candy Apples on a stick. Red apple in the Romani language is loli phaba.
All that said, lollipops were allegedly invented by a man called George Smith from Connecticut who made hard candy treats on a stick back in 1908 and trademarked the name lollipop in 1913. He got the name from a famous racehorse of the time, Lolly Pop.
National Lollipop Day is on 20 July.
Lollipops can help save lives. Putting medicine in lollipops makes it easier for children to take.
A famous company making lollipops is the Dum Dum company, which started in 1923. Its founder thought that name would be easy for children to remember and say. One of the things the company is famous for it its “mystery flavour” which is actually created when one flavour is running out so they add a new one to the same vat, so it’s actually a combination of two random flavours.
The largest lollipop in the world was created in California in 2012. It was Chocolate flavour, 4 feet long, 6.5 feet wide and 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighing 3176.5 kg (7003 lb). The stick didn’t count towards the record but was 11 feet and 10 inches tall.
Other lollipop related world records are the most people licking lollipops together, 12,831, at a lollipop licking event in Valladolid, Spain in 2008; and the longest line of lollipops, 11,602, on Durban Beachfront Promenade, South Africa, in 2022, in aid of the National Sea Rescue Institute.
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