Tags: Food.
Gibraltar rock Gibraltars or Gibralters are an old-fashioned candy associated with Salem Massachusetts in the United States.An 1893 book about Salem calls Gibraltars together with molasses black-jacks two Salem institutions and says She says the lemon flavor is preferred by youth and the peppermint by the elderly and quotes a charming old Salem dame as saying I know I must be growing old because a peppermint Gibraltar is so comforting to me.In Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables written in 1851 and set at about that time Hepzibah Pyncheon’s little cent-shop containedHis story The Old Apple-Dealer in Mosses from an Old Manse similarly mentions that delectable condiment known by children as Gibraltar rock.According to a 1947 cookbook Hawthorne wrote in his notebook of their having The cookbook gives a recipe using sugar water vinegar and either vanilla peppermint or cloves for flavoring; it is boiled until hard then pulled like taffy and becomes soft and creamy in several days.A modern candy company offers Gibralters[sic] and lists sugar water cream of tartar cornstarch and oil of lemon as ingredients.