barley sugar a simple, old type of English boiled syrup sweet, with a distinctive twisted shape. Originally, in the 17th century, the sugar syrup was made with barley water, an infusion of boiled barley which gave it an agreeable, mild flavour. Now the most usual flavouring is lemon juice, whose acidity favours the making of a clear, uncrystallized sweet. The syrup is cooked to the hard crack stage (see sugar boiling), poured out onto a slab in a sheet, and quickly cut into strips which are twisted before they harden.
