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| Sherbet dips, flying saucers and the British retro sweet revival | Sherbet dips, flying saucers and the British retro sweet revival |
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| Sherbet lemons and parma violets, sugar mice and coconut ice: who doesn't have a place in their heart for old-fashioned sweets? Not many of us, if the interest in everything from pear drops to pineapple cubes is anything to go by. It has been bubbling like cinder toffee in a pan for the last decade, and is only going to get bigger with Sweets Made Simple, the new BBC cookery show from confectioners Hope and Greenwood. | Sherbet lemons and parma violets, sugar mice and coconut ice: who doesn't have a place in their heart for old-fashioned sweets? Not many of us, if the interest in everything from pear drops to pineapple cubes is anything to go by. It has been bubbling like cinder toffee in a pan for the last decade, and is only going to get bigger with Sweets Made Simple, the new BBC cookery show from confectioners Hope and Greenwood. |
| This is largely a trend for grownups. It is nostalgic adults who remember magic emporiums lined with jars, who hanker for goodies that hit a sentimental sweet-spot Haribo Starmix can't. The "ye olde" chain Mr Simms now has 90 stores and is expanding further, there are sweet-making magazines, books, and flying saucers by the tills in Topshop. | This is largely a trend for grownups. It is nostalgic adults who remember magic emporiums lined with jars, who hanker for goodies that hit a sentimental sweet-spot Haribo Starmix can't. The "ye olde" chain Mr Simms now has 90 stores and is expanding further, there are sweet-making magazines, books, and flying saucers by the tills in Topshop. |
| So why do we love sweeties so much, and can the revival survive the anti-sugar movement and the lure of the supermarket confectionery aisle? Many of the answers can be found at Hope and Greenwood's in central London – a shop from a storybook. The red exterior and stripy awning lead into a parlour lined with sweetie jars and cut-glass dishes piled with violet creams. There is, inevitably, 1940s music playing. | So why do we love sweeties so much, and can the revival survive the anti-sugar movement and the lure of the supermarket confectionery aisle? Many of the answers can be found at Hope and Greenwood's in central London – a shop from a storybook. The red exterior and stripy awning lead into a parlour lined with sweetie jars and cut-glass dishes piled with violet creams. There is, inevitably, 1940s music playing. |
| Its owners, Kitty Hope and Mark Greenwood, are doing very nicely out of old-fashioned sweets. "Hope and Greenwood have tapped effectively into the retro-nostalgia vein," says Kate Waddell, director of consumer brands at design and branding agency Dragon Rouge. | Its owners, Kitty Hope and Mark Greenwood, are doing very nicely out of old-fashioned sweets. "Hope and Greenwood have tapped effectively into the retro-nostalgia vein," says Kate Waddell, director of consumer brands at design and branding agency Dragon Rouge. |
| The opening of H&G's first store in 2004 helped spark the retro sweet revival and led to a raft of spotty-packaged imitators (the owners claim to be "flattered" when I ask them about this). Since then, there have been cookbooks, sweets in Waitrose, homeware in John Lewis, and they are big in Japan, with 33 stores there. But a TV series will take them to getting-stopped-in-the-street level. "Bring it on," says Kitty as she tips sugar into a pan. Today, the husband and wife team are showing me how to make sherbet dippers, their take on Sherbet Dip Dabs. Kitty hands me a cut Sicilian lemon to sniff: "See, it already smells like sherbet." The lemon peel is baked, then blitzed in a blender with sugar and citric acid (get it online) to make the sherbet. The result is intensely lemony – sharp but not too sour. | The opening of H&G's first store in 2004 helped spark the retro sweet revival and led to a raft of spotty-packaged imitators (the owners claim to be "flattered" when I ask them about this). Since then, there have been cookbooks, sweets in Waitrose, homeware in John Lewis, and they are big in Japan, with 33 stores there. But a TV series will take them to getting-stopped-in-the-street level. "Bring it on," says Kitty as she tips sugar into a pan. Today, the husband and wife team are showing me how to make sherbet dippers, their take on Sherbet Dip Dabs. Kitty hands me a cut Sicilian lemon to sniff: "See, it already smells like sherbet." The lemon peel is baked, then blitzed in a blender with sugar and citric acid (get it online) to make the sherbet. The result is intensely lemony – sharp but not too sour. |
| Mark is heating sugar, water and liquid glucose to make the caramel-lemon "dippers". "Do it nice and slowly and don't crank the heat up," he advises. There's a trace of an Aussie accent – Mark moved from Australia to London at the age of eight. He was working in antiques when he met Kitty at a dinner party. She was a children's book designer and illustrator who had worked on The Gruffalo. But as a Sunderland schoolgirl, she dreamed of opening a sweetshop. "I'd always played sweetshops in the garden with my little sister," she says. | Mark is heating sugar, water and liquid glucose to make the caramel-lemon "dippers". "Do it nice and slowly and don't crank the heat up," he advises. There's a trace of an Aussie accent – Mark moved from Australia to London at the age of eight. He was working in antiques when he met Kitty at a dinner party. She was a children's book designer and illustrator who had worked on The Gruffalo. But as a Sunderland schoolgirl, she dreamed of opening a sweetshop. "I'd always played sweetshops in the garden with my little sister," she says. |
| Hope and Greenwood is not a carbon copy of the sweetshops of old. "Most sweetshops were quite austere, and mostly run by grumpy old men," says Mark. Instead of the "twee Victoriana" and dark wood favoured by many "ye olde" sweetshops, H&G have gone for something lighter and brighter. | Hope and Greenwood is not a carbon copy of the sweetshops of old. "Most sweetshops were quite austere, and mostly run by grumpy old men," says Mark. Instead of the "twee Victoriana" and dark wood favoured by many "ye olde" sweetshops, H&G have gone for something lighter and brighter. |
| Kitty, who designs all the packaging, says their look is "1920s-1930s-ish". Those spotty packages and stripy bags are much imitated, so how important has design been to their success? "When you see lovely packaging, you're already drawn in," says Kitty. "It's the unwrapping and the joy of the fulfilment … it's fabulous on the outside but doesn't disappoint when it gets to the end." The packaging, too, is prettier than that of the era it evokes. "Sweets were usually not pre-packed," says Robert Opie of the Museum of Brands. "They were weighed on the scale and then poured into a relatively plain paper bag." | Kitty, who designs all the packaging, says their look is "1920s-1930s-ish". Those spotty packages and stripy bags are much imitated, so how important has design been to their success? "When you see lovely packaging, you're already drawn in," says Kitty. "It's the unwrapping and the joy of the fulfilment … it's fabulous on the outside but doesn't disappoint when it gets to the end." The packaging, too, is prettier than that of the era it evokes. "Sweets were usually not pre-packed," says Robert Opie of the Museum of Brands. "They were weighed on the scale and then poured into a relatively plain paper bag." |
| Retro sweets are now winning young fans who didn't grow up with midget gems and Parma Violets. "They tap into the 'food as accessory' trend – hence them sitting in Topshop and other high-style retailers. Suddenly, a pack of bonbons or a candy cane becomes a cute way to 'finish the look'," says Kate Waddell. Adele Nozedar, author of forthcoming book Great British Sweets, says the manufacturer Swizzels Matlow has been particularly canny with its Love Hearts mugs, pencil tins and special packaging – think One Direction-themed Love Hearts – "all available in shops that aren't just sweetshops". | Retro sweets are now winning young fans who didn't grow up with midget gems and Parma Violets. "They tap into the 'food as accessory' trend – hence them sitting in Topshop and other high-style retailers. Suddenly, a pack of bonbons or a candy cane becomes a cute way to 'finish the look'," says Kate Waddell. Adele Nozedar, author of forthcoming book Great British Sweets, says the manufacturer Swizzels Matlow has been particularly canny with its Love Hearts mugs, pencil tins and special packaging – think One Direction-themed Love Hearts – "all available in shops that aren't just sweetshops". |
| So if everyone from 1D-loving tweens to nostalgic nonagenarians loves traditional sweets, should we all abandon the day job to set up a sweetshop? "When we started researching our shop, the only sweetshops we could find were in seaside towns," says Kitty. "Sweetshops declined as the power of the supermarkets grew in the 1970s and 80s," says Opie. Adele Nozedar is more optimistic: "Sweets are cheap to stock, easy to buy and have a good shelf-life." Yet only 2% of the £3.4bn worth of confectionery bought annually in the UK is sold by independent shops, according to data consultants Kantar. | |
| Then there's the elephant in the room: sugar. How will confectioners deal with the growing anti-sugar movement? "Sweets are for high days and holidays; it's not an everyday food group," says Greenwood. "We do sugar-free sweets," says Kitty. "I don't approve of them." The sugar-free options are "fine" for diabetics, "but people shouldn't buy sugar-free sweets because they're dieting. I find that really annoying. Just say have a sensible amount of a really good sweet with real sugar in it." | Then there's the elephant in the room: sugar. How will confectioners deal with the growing anti-sugar movement? "Sweets are for high days and holidays; it's not an everyday food group," says Greenwood. "We do sugar-free sweets," says Kitty. "I don't approve of them." The sugar-free options are "fine" for diabetics, "but people shouldn't buy sugar-free sweets because they're dieting. I find that really annoying. Just say have a sensible amount of a really good sweet with real sugar in it." |
| As they pour caramel on to greased parchment paper to make lollies, Hope and Greenwood seem utterly unconcerned about the anti-sugar brigade. While we talk, a German schoolchild stares at Kitty in wonderment and a softly spoken businessman orders a bag of liquorice wands. "Sweets give you joy," says Kitty. "You don't have to eat loads. You can have something really small and lovely." | As they pour caramel on to greased parchment paper to make lollies, Hope and Greenwood seem utterly unconcerned about the anti-sugar brigade. While we talk, a German schoolchild stares at Kitty in wonderment and a softly spoken businessman orders a bag of liquorice wands. "Sweets give you joy," says Kitty. "You don't have to eat loads. You can have something really small and lovely." |
| • Sweets Made Simple is on BBC2 on 8 August at 8.30pm. All recipes are from the accompanying book, which is out now. | • Sweets Made Simple is on BBC2 on 8 August at 8.30pm. All recipes are from the accompanying book, which is out now. |