Honeycomb toffee, honeycomb candy, sponge toffee, cinder toffee, seafoam, or hokey pokey is a sugary

toffee Toffee is an English confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of . While being prepar ...

with a light, rigid, sponge-like texture. Its main ingredients are typically

brown sugar Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by t ...

(or

corn syrup Corn syrup is a food syrup that is made from the starch of corn/maize and contains varying amounts of sugars: glucose, maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade. Corn syrup is used in foods to soften Mouthfeel, texture, add vol ...

molasses Molasses () is a viscous byproduct, principally obtained from the refining of sugarcane or sugar beet juice into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, the method of extraction, and the age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is usuall ...

golden syrup Golden syrup or light treacle is a thick, amber-coloured form of inverted sugar syrup made by the process of refining sugar cane or sugar beet juice into sugar. It is used in a variety of baking recipes and desserts. It has an appearance and co ...

) and

baking soda Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda (or simply “bicarb” especially in the UK) is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt (chemistry), salt compose ...

, sometimes with an acid such as

vinegar Vinegar () is an aqueous solution of diluted acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains from 5% to 18% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting ...

. The baking soda and acid react to form

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

which is trapped in the highly viscous mixture. When acid is not used,

thermal decomposition Thermal decomposition, or thermolysis, is a chemical decomposition of a substance caused by heat. The decomposition temperature of a substance is the temperature at which the substance chemically decomposes. The reaction is usually endothermic ...

of the baking soda releases carbon dioxide. The sponge-like structure is formed while the sugar is liquid, then the toffee sets hard. The candy goes by a variety of names and regional variants. Owing to its relatively simple recipe and quick preparation time, in some regions it is often made at home, and is a popular

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish (food), dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main r ...

for children. It is also made commercially and sold in small blocks, or covered in

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

, a popular example being the

Crunchie Crunchie is a brand of chocolate bar with a centre of honeycomb toffee (known as "sponge toffee" in Canada and "honeycomb" or "cinder toffee" in the United Kingdom as well as "hokey pokey" in New Zealand). It is made by Cadbury but was originally ...

bar of Britain and Canada, or the

Violet Crumble Violet Crumble is an Australian chocolate bar. The bar is a crumbly honeycomb toffee centre coated in a layer of compound chocolate. It was first made by Hoadley's Chocolates in South Melbourne around the year 1913; and is currently made in A ...

of Australia.

Regional names

Honeycomb toffee is known by a wide variety of names including: * cinder toffee in Britain * fairy food candy or angel food candy in

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

* hokey pokey in New Zealand * honeycomb in South Africa, Australia, Britain, Ireland,

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, United States * old fashioned puff in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

* puff candy in ScotlandS.W.R.I. (1977). ''S.W.R.I. Jubilee Cookery Book''. Edinburgh: Scottish Women's Rural Institutes; Reprint of 8th Edition (1968), p179 * sponge candy in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, St. Paul,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

Northwest Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania encompassing the western half of the state. Pittsburgh is the region's principal city, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its eco ...

, and

Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all so ...

* sponge toffee (''"tire éponge"'') in Canada * Turkish honey ("törökméz") in Hungary

In various cultures

China

In China, it is called ''fēngwōtáng'' (蜂窩糖; "honeycomb candy"). It is said to be a popular type of confectionery enjoyed during childhood of the

post-80s The Post-'80s or Post-1980s is a Chinese colloquial term referring to the generation in Mainland China born between 1980 and 1989, especially in urban cities, after the introduction of the one-child policy. It is the Chinese counterpart to the ea ...

Hungary

In Hungary, it is known as ''törökméz'' (Turkish honey) and is commonly sold at town fairs.

Japan

The same confection is a traditional sweet in Japan known as , a portmanteau of the Portuguese word ''caramelo'' (caramel) and the Japanese word ''yaki'' (to bake), and thus can be roughly translated into English as "baked caramel" or '"grilled caramel." It is typically hand-made, and often sold by street vendors. In Japan, raw egg whites are mixed with the baking soda to make the final product have a puffed up, dome shape.

South Korea

Dalgona ''Dalgona'' () or ''ppopgi'' () is a Korean candy made with melted sugar and baking soda originating from South Korea. It is a popular street snack from the 1960s, and is still eaten as a retro food. When a pinch of baking soda is mixed into mel ...

'' () is a Korean candy made with melted

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

and

. It was a popular street snack in the 1970s and 1980s, and is still eaten as a retro food.

New Zealand

Honeycomb toffee is known as hokey pokey (especially in the Kiwi classic Hokey Pokey ice cream) in New Zealand. A very popular ice-cream flavour consisting of plain vanilla ice cream with small, solid lumps of honeycomb toffee is also known as

hokey pokey The Hokey Pokey (also known as Hokey Cokey in the United Kingdom, Ireland, some parts of Australia, and the Caribbean) is a participation dance with a distinctive accompanying tune and lyric structure. It is well-known in English-speaking countr ...

. It is also used to make ''hokey pokey biscuits''.

Taiwan

In Taiwan, it is called ''swollen sugar'' (膨糖, péngtáng or 椪糖, pèngtáng).

Gallery

Karume-yaki stall by Another side of yukita in Asakusa.jpg, A street seller in

Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known for Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as . History The development of Asaku ...

Tokyo offering hand-made ''karumeyaki'' File:カルメ焼き Pcs34560 IMG8048.jpg, Packaged ''karumeyaki'' for sale in Japan File:Dalgona.jpg, ''

'' File:Cadbury-Crunchie-Split.jpg, A

chocolate bar A chocolate bar is a confection containing chocolate, which may also contain layerings or mixtures that include nut (fruit), nuts, fruit, caramel, nougat, and wafers. A flat, easily breakable, chocolate bar is also called a tablet. In some variet ...

split open to reveal the honeycomb toffee inside

References

{{Traditional British sweets Toffee Candy American confectionery British confectionery Canadian confectionery Hungarian confectionery Japanese confectionery Korean confectionery New Zealand confectionery Scottish confectionery South African confectionery Taiwanese confectionery