What is Butterscotch?

For years, people assumed butterscotch was from Scotland. Actually, the word “butterscotch” refers to the process of “scorching” the candy as it’s made and not that it’s of Scotch descent. That being said, butterscotch, no matter who’s making it, contains butter, sugar, water and maybe vanilla and has since the 1800s. One ad in 1888 tells customers: “Get some old-fashioned butterscotch candy at the New Candy Factory. YUM! YUM!”. 

 

So, if butterscotch was old-fashioned in 1888, when was it new? One theory states that butterscotch was “invented” in England in the 1700s, but that’s hard to prove. What isn’t hard to prove is that butterscotch was not a mere hard candy. It was a type of candy with an impressive array of iterations. One ad in 1890 tells us that “Butterscotch is attracting the attention of ladies. These candies are made with granulated sugar and chews like gum.” Was that a Taffy? Toffee? The ad doesn’t say.

 

In 1925, one St. Louis candy shop, aptly named the “Candy Shop,” offered customers a “butterscotch box” including butterscotch caramels, butterscotch wafers, butterscotch nuts, butterscotch marshmallows, not to mention cream butterscotch and chocolate butterscotch candies. The variety was common for decades or, if you believe the English origin story, centuries. Regardless, the butterscotch hard candies we know and love today weren’t on the list. Iterations appeared, such as one in the 1940s, but this was hard candy sticks filled with a butter cream fondant.

 

Then, in the 1950s and ‘60s, butterscotch hard candies appeared nationwide, rising up from the mire of increasingly tacky modern candies. And the beauty – the real beauty of it all – was this newer version of butterscotch candy, was called “old-fashioned.”