National Butterscotch Pudding Day is observed annually on September 19. The primary ingredients in the making of butterscotch are brown sugar and butter. However, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt are also sometimes used. In a 1848 newspaper, according to “Housewife’s Corner” and Masluk Cream Co., the real recipe for “making Doncaster butterscotch is one pound of butter, one pound of sugar and a quarter of a pound of treacle, boiled together.”
Butterscotch is often used as a flavor for items such as sauces, candies, and frostings.
- It is believed that confectioner Samuel Parkinson invented butterscotch in 1817, in Yorkshire’s Doncaster in England, and his company became famous for the product and supplied the British royal family with the confectionery.
- The term butterscotch is also often used more specifically of the flavor of brown sugar and butter together, even where actual confection butterscotch is not involved.
- The derivation of the name is disputed as to whether it denotes the candy’s origin in Scotland or an original ingredient of “scotched,” or scorched, butter.
- Butterscotch is often used as a flavor for items such as dessert sauce, icings, fudges, pudding, and cookies.
- The World’s Largest Butterscotch candy was made by Nidar in Trondheim, Norway, and weighed 3,527 pounds. The giant candy measured 5.02 feet by 5.02 feet by 17.7 inches and was a scaled-up version of the original product that is commercially available in Norway.
- In 1855 F. K. Robinson’s Glossary of Yorkshire Words, explained Butterscotch as “a treacle ball with an amalgamation of butter in it”.
- It was advertised as “Royal Doncaster Butterscotch”, or “The Queen’s Sweetmeat”, and said to be “the best emollient for the chest in the winter season”. Parkinson’s Butterscotch was by appointment to the Royal household and was presented to the Queen in 1948 and to Princess Anne, The Princess Royal in 2007. Doncaster Butterscotch is still sold today by Parkinson’s.
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