Parma Violets facts for kids
Parma Violets are popular British sweets. They taste like violets, a type of flower. These small, hard, disc-shaped candies are made by a company called Swizzels Matlow in Derbyshire, England. They are named after a specific kind of flower, the Parma violet.
You might notice that Parma Violets look a bit like Fizzers, another sweet from the same company. However, Parma Violets are not fizzy at all. Swizzels Matlow also makes bigger versions called Giant Parma Violets. These sweets are mostly made from sugar and other ingredients like modified starch and glucose syrup.
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A Sweet History: Before Parma Violets
For a very long time, people have used violet flowers in different ways. Ancient texts even mention violets being used for their helpful properties. Long before Parma Violets existed, people were making sugary treats flavored with violets.
Imagine sweets called "violet tables" that were like small, sugary lozenges. These were made even before the year 1620! Later, in the 1700s, people mixed crushed violet petals with rosewater and sugar. They used this mix to make an early kind of candy called "flower pastry." This pastry could flavor cakes or be shaped into small sweets to eat.
What Are Parma Violets Like?
Parma Violets were first created in 1946 by the Swizzels Matlow company. They are small, hard, and round, with a slight dip in the middle. Their unique taste is often described as sweet, with a hint of floral or even a slightly "soapy" flavor. This special taste is what makes them so well-known!
The idea for these sweets came from similar candies traditionally eaten in India. Those candies were often flavored with aniseed and eaten after a spicy meal.
Fun Facts About Parma Violet Flavor
The unique flavor of Parma Violets has inspired many other products! In 2016, to celebrate their 70th birthday, Swizzels Matlow teamed up with the Cheshire Cheese Company. Together, they released a special Parma Violets flavored cheese!
You can also find drinks that taste like Parma Violets. Some bars in the UK offer cocktails that copy the sweet's flavor. In 2019, a company called Brothers Cider even launched a Parma Violet-flavored cider. If you really love Parma Violets, you can buy large bags of them, sometimes up to 3 kilograms, from online stores!
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