Tam's Tall Tales
- Edinburgh Rocks On
Box of Edinburgh Rock
Edinburgh Rocks On
The future of Edinburgh Rock looked distinctly shaky when the owner of the confectionery business announced his retiral and prepared to shut up shop.
Edinburgh rock (also known as Edinburgh Castle rock) is a traditional Scottish confection. It is made of sugar, water, cream of tartar, colourings and flavourings, which are formed into sticks. It has a soft and crumbly texture and is very sweet.
Now Ross's of Edinburgh, which has churned out the iconic sweetie for more than a century, has been bought by James Anderson from Edinburgh and the distinctive rock is rolling off the conveyors belts and into the shops again.
Production had been halted after Graham Ross - the great-grandson of the founder, James Ross - retired in April after more than 40 years of producing rock and boiled sweets.
The plant, which houses the only machinery in the world capable of producing sticks of Edinburgh rock, restarted last month and is now at full capacity.
Mr Anderson, who is continuing to trade under the name Ross's of Edinburgh, said: "We've kept on all 12 staff and recruited another.
"The response has been fantastic and people have been thrilled when they've heard that production is going to continue."
As well as creating its trademark product, the reopened factory is also making traditional sweet shop staples, including pan drops, soor plooms (the green ones - pictured on the left), rhubarb rock, Berwick cockles (red and white stripes - pictured on the right) and barley sugar.
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Tam O'Ranter
July 2015Return to Tam O'Ranter Index
