What is English toffee, exactly? What makes it so unique compared to other varieties? Here’s what you need to know about the history of this delicious and quintessentially British candy.
What Is Toffee?
Before we discuss what makes English toffee stand out compared to other varieties, let’s start with the basics: toffee is a relatively simple hard candy constructed from butter and some sort of sugar. While that may sound easy, toffee is temperamental and can be affected by temperature, altitude, and humidity, to name a few.Toffee is delicious on its own, but most artisanal toffee recipes include wrappings of chocolate, nuts, and a host of other ingredients.
Understanding English Toffee History
Now, let’s dive into the past to understand the history behind this classic candy. Toffee didn’t appear in dictionaries until after 1825, making it something of a newcomer to the world of candy.Most food historians agree that the sweet treat likely originated in Wales and then rose to prominence across Britain and Europe where supplies of butter and eventually imported sugar were plentiful. English toffee maintains its extreme popularity due to its unique flavor profile and regional variations.
What Makes English Toffee Special?
Technically speaking, there are two main types of toffee that we Americans consume. One, which sometimes gets misnamed as “English toffee,” is actually called “buttercrunch.” The other is the genuine sort of English toffee.What’s the main difference between the two? What gives real English toffee its unique flavor? As you might expect, it’s a difference of ingredients.Buttercrunch, the Americanized version of toffee, uses granulated white sugar or high fructose corn syrup in its creation. Americanized toffee may include nuts, while a completely traditional British toffee will not. On the other hand, English toffee uses pure cane sugar, brown sugar, or molasses as its sweet base and always involves chocolate.
