boiled sweets a general term indicating confectionery made by the process of sugar boiling. The name is used especially with reference to hard, glassy ‘high boiled’ sweets such as drops, which are actually highly concentrated sugar solutions.

toffee, fudge, humbugs, bullseyes, and various items of pulled candy, such as rock, also count as boiled sweets. Small drops in different colours, plus striped balls and lengths of cut rock, are often sold as a mixture. Sweets made by sugar boiling are especially popular in W. Europe and N. America.