Peppermint Humbugs

‘Humbug’, meaning a ‘hoax or hypocrite’, was a term used frequently in the 18th and 19th centuries, most famously by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol. The sweet was developed in England around the same time, and was perhaps given the name because of the unexpected intensity of the peppermint flavour, which belies the appearance of the sweet. Traditionally a hard brown or black and white confection with a chewy centre, humbugs can