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[1] Lollipops, which date to the Middle Ages, were boiled sugar on sticks (photo © Insung Yoon | Unsplash).
[2] Head to the nearest candy store, or supermarket, to satisfy your lollipop jones (photo © Insung Yoon | Unsplash).
[3] Artisan candy makers create beautiful lollipop designs (photos © Molasses Candy | Blogspot).
[4] Homemade lemon lollipops (photos #4 and #5 © The Nibble).
[5] Once you get into it, you can get a stand to display your craft. Bring it to the table with after-dinner coffee.
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Updated July 2026
It’s National Lollipop Day. Read this history of the lollipop as you enjoy one or two.
Below:
> The history of lollipops.
> The origin of the word “lollipop.”
> Easy-to-make lollipop recipe.
> More lollipop recipes.
> Why are lollipop sticks hollow?
Elsewhere on The Nibble:
> The history of candy.
> The year’s 60+ candy holidays.
THE HISTORY OF LOLLIPOPS
The history of lollipops begins with prehistoric man eating honey off the sticks they used to scrape it from the beehive and culminates in a competitive industrial legal battle in early 20th-century America.
The ancient Arabs, Chinese, and Egyptians made fruit and nut confections candied in honey, often serving these sticky confections on sticks to keep fingers clean.
But what we think of as a lollipop likely dates to Europe in the Middle Ages when sugar was boiled and formed onto sticks as treats for the wealthy—who were the only people who could afford sugar.
By the 17th century, sugar was plentiful and affordable. In England, boiled sugar treats (hard candy) were popular.
Beginning in the later part of the 18th century, industry, including confectionery, became mechanized.
Horehound drops, lemon drops, peppermints, and wintergreen lozenges became everyday candies.
The Modern Lollipop
While we don’t know the inventor of the modern lollipop, the first automated lollipop machine was invented in Racine, Wisconsin in 1908.
The Racine Confectionery Machine Company’s machine put hard candy discs on the end of sticks, producing 2,400 lollipops per hour, 57,000 per day.
Other claimants for the same year:
Bradley Smith Company. George Smith of New Haven, Connecticut, claimed he began making hard candies on sticks in 1908. He allegedly named them “Lolly Pop” after a famous racehorse of the era and successfully trademarked the name in 1931.
McAviney Candy Company: Also in 1908, this Connecticut company reportedly began selling ‘used candy sticks”—wooden sticks that had been used to stir hard candy vats. Kids licked the hard candy from the stick.
Beyond placing hard candy on a stick, the most significant advancement came in 1912 when Samuel Born invented the “Born Sucker Machine,” which automated the insertion of sticks into candy on a massive scale.
Far from producing a few dozen lollipops a minute by hand in the begining, modern machines are capable of churning out up to 750 lollipops per minute—3 million lollipops daily.
Lollipops have evolved into diverse forms, from the classic Tootsie Pop (introduced in 1931 with a chocolate center) to medicinal lollipops used for delivering pain relief or supplements, to CBD pops. =
Today’s lollipops come in all shapes and sizes, from hand-crafted works of sugar art to caffeinated Java Pops and bacon lollipops.
And beyond the original boiled sugar/hard candy, there are:
Caramel lollipops, such as Sugar Daddy and See’s, that can be chewed.
Chocolate lollipops, often decorated and/or molded into special shapes
Gummy/jelly lollipops with a soft, gummy-bear-like consistency, often coated in coarse sanding sugar.
Maple toffee lollipops, a regional specialty in New England and Canada, made by boiling pure maple syrup to a high temperature and distinctive because it uses the natural invert sugars of the tree sap rather than refined white sugar or corn syrup.
Marshmallow lollipops, often molded into seasonal shapes and coated with chocolate.
Marzipan lollipops, popular in European markets, often hand-sculpted into intricate shapes like fruits or animals before being placed on a stick, and occasionally glazed with sugar.
Pressed dextrose (tablet candy) lollipops like Smarties Pops, made by compressing powdered dextrose and citric acid under high pressure into a solid tablet with a crunchy texture that dissolves quickly compared to boiled sugar.
Not to mention the adaptation of the concept to:
Ice pops/ice cream pops.
Brownie pops, cake pops, cheesecake pops, and pie pops.
Candy and caramel apple pops.
Breakfast pops: donut hole, pancakes, and waffles on a stick.
THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD “LOLLIPOP”
The word “lollipop” (originally spelled lollypop) first appears in print in 1784, roughly coinciding with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. English lexicographer Francis Grose recorded the term in one of his dictionary editions, defining the “lollypop” as “a hard sweetmeat, sometimes on a stick.”*
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There are two main theories regarding the etymological roots:
Northern English slang: The name may “lolly” (meaning tongue) and “pop” (meaning slap) seem to be spot on, slapping that confection on the tongue.
Romani influence: Another theory says that the Roma people allegedly sold candy apples on a stick; the treat was known as loli phaba (red apple). This connection is unproven and linguistically doubtful. In fact, candy apples were not widely known until more than a century later. The red-coated candy apple is credited to confectioner William Kolb of Newark, New Jersey in 1908 (the history of candy apples).
Now that you know, don’t be a sucker: Enjoy a lollipop today!
RECIPE: OLD-FASHIONED LOLLIPOPS
Nothing fancy: It’s just the basic lolly you got from the doctor. But it’s your homemade version.
If you want to get fancy, add edible glitter (photo #3) or confetti halfway thorough pouring the candy into the mold.
Prep time is 5 minutes and cook time is 30 minutes.
Ingredients For 12 Lollipops
1 cup light corn syrup
2/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons lemon, apple or cherry flavoring
1/8 teaspoon yellow, green or red liquid food coloring
Plus
Lollipop molds
Candy thermometer
Preparation
1. PLACE the lollipop sticks in hard candy molds. If you don’t have molds, arrange the sticks 3 inches apart on greased foil-lined baking sheets. Set aside.
2. COMBINE the corn syrup and sugar in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
3. COVER and cook for 3 minutes to dissolve the sugar crystals. Then uncover and cook over medium-high heat, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 300° (hard-crack stage).
4. REMOVE from the heat; stir in the and food coloring, keeping your face away from the mixture as the odor is very strong.
5. IMMEDIATELY POUR into the prepared molds, or pour free-form over the ends of the lollipop sticks on baking sheets.
6. COOL before removing.
[6] Ready to make lollipops? The ingredients: corn syrup, sugar, flavor extract, food coloring, lollipop mold and sticks, and a candy thermometer (photo © The Nibble).
MORE LOLLIPOP RECIPES
Lollipops don’t have to be sugary or hard. Check out these “lollipops”:
Bacon Lollipops
Cake Pops
Chocolate Marshmallow Lollipops
Hot Dog Lollipops & Chicken Lollipops
Macaron Lollipops
Maple Taffy Lollipops
Sushi Lollipops
WHY ARE LOLLIPOP STICKS HOLLOW?
It has to do with how the lollipops are manufactured. Candy manufacturers actually pour the liquid candy into the top of the stick so the head of the lollipop stays attached to the stick.
Otherwise, it could come loose and fall off—which we opine is what happened enough times to create a solution to the problem.
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*The original recording of “lollypop” in Grose’s dictionary “A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,” was in the 1785 first edition or the 1788 second edition. The third edition in 1796, published five years after his death, is often cited as the source, perhaps because it became one of the most widely circulated and cited versions. But it’s not the first citation.
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