{"id":8428,"date":"2026-10-19T23:31:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8428"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:26","slug":"hokey-pokey","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/hokey-pokey\/","title":{"rendered":"Hokey Pokey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Break open an amber chunk, and holes large and small appear between thin walls of sugar. New Zealand\u2019s hokey pokey is made by boiling sugar and golden syrup, then adding baking soda at the end so the mixture puffs up all at once. Because its cross-section looks like a honeycomb, it is also called honeycomb toffee. Pieces of this sweet are also mixed into vanilla ice cream. Further back in the name\u2019s history, however, the words referred to ice cream sold on the street and to the people who sold it.<\/p>\n

\"Cross-section<\/p>\n

Cross-section of aerated candy, also called cinder toffee. Location unknown, 2009, Londonsista (photo source<\/a> \/ public domain)<\/em><\/p>\n

Adding baking soda to hot sugar syrup to create bubbles<\/h2>\n

Sugar and golden syrup are warmed gently and stirred until dissolved, then brought to the boil. The mixture starts not as a flour dough or an egg foam, but as a thick sugar syrup. Boiling reduces its water content until it will harden once cooled. If it is not boiled long enough, it is slow to set; if it is overheated, the burnt flavour becomes strong.<\/p>\n

The pan is taken off the heat and baking soda is stirred in quickly. In the hot syrup, the sodium hydrogen carbonate produces carbon dioxide, and the mixture foams up all at once. Because the reduced syrup is very viscous, it holds the bubbles, but if stirring continues, the bubbles escape or collapse. The mixture is poured straight into a tin and left to cool without being moved. As the sugar sets, the bubbles are trapped inside thin walls. Some sweets rise slowly in an oven, but hokey pokey puffs up in the pan in a short time. The state of the syrup, the moment the baking soda goes in, and how quickly the mixture is poured and set determine the holes and texture that these three ingredients produce.<\/p>\n

The cooled block is broken into irregular pieces rather than cut neatly. Even large-looking pieces bite easily at first, because the thin walls between the holes shatter into fine bits of candy. A coating of melted chocolate adds a contrast between the smooth outer layer and the candy full of holes inside.<\/p>\n

An 1896 patent application and a 1929 recipe for home cooks<\/h2>\n

In the 1890s, a sweet sold in chunks under the name hokey pokey was available in New Zealand. According to historical material from an industry association, William Hatton filed a patent application on March 14, 1896, for a method of making a sweet with sugar, glucose, water and baking soda.<\/p>\n

In 1929, a column in the Otago Witness printed a method for making this sweet in response to a reader\u2019s request. Sugar and syrup are brought to the boil, baking soda is stirred in, and the mixture is poured into a greased tin. The column also advises using a large pan because the foam rises a great deal. A method related to today\u2019s three-ingredient candy was recorded as part of an exchange of household tips.<\/p>\n

\"Cross-section<\/p>\n

A chocolate-coated Crunchie bar. Location unknown, 2007, Adambro (photo source<\/a> \/ CC BY 3.0<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\"Hokey\n
Hokey pokey ice cream in a shop container (October 9, 2021; location unknown). The ice cream is shown in bulk before being scooped into portions, with pieces of candy visible. Photo: Finbar.concaig \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. We did not alter or crop the content.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The candy that became pieces in ice cream<\/h2>\n

Te Ara, the encyclopedia of New Zealand, describes the ice cream with the same name as vanilla with pieces of honeycomb toffee added. Brown pieces are scattered through the cold, white vanilla ice cream and add a crunchy texture. Accounts differ on who first made it.<\/p>\n

The industry association gives weight to the memories of Brian Simon. He says that in 1953, at the Newjoy company in Dunedin, he put broken pieces of Crunchie bars into vanilla ice cream. In this account, no special candy pieces were made for the ice cream at first. Instead, broken chocolate-coated honeycomb toffee was used. Other claims say it began with Meadow Gold in the 1940s or with Tip Top during the war. The association doubts the first claim because of when that company was founded, and it also doubts the second because sugar was rationed during the war. Another story says Peter Pan made it in the mid-1950s. Who made it first remains unclear.<\/p>\n

\"Honeycomb<\/p>\n

An example of honeycomb ice cream served with toffee sauce. Location unknown, 2011, Ben Sutherland (photo source<\/a> \/ CC BY 2.0<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

Some products use a chocolate ice cream base instead. Eiger, a Japanese importer, sells the New Zealand\u2013made \u201cEmerald Chocolate Hokey Pokey,\u201d which mixes caramel pieces made from sugar, butter and other ingredients into ice cream flavoured with cocoa. Products with the same name are made with either a white vanilla base or a chocolate-flavoured base.<\/p>\n

The biscuit with the same name is made with flour and butter<\/h2>\n

Hokey pokey biscuits do not always contain crushed candy in the dough. In Chelsea\u2019s recipe (the proportions of ingredients and the method), butter, sugar, golden syrup and milk are warmed and cooled slightly before flour and baking soda are added. The dough is rolled into balls, pressed with a fork and baked in the oven. The syrup and baking soda are the same, but they behave differently in a dough of flour and fat than in candy that is poured from a pan and broken.<\/p>\n

Two theories on the origin of the ice cream sellers\u2019 name<\/h2>\n

In Britain and the United States from the 19th to the early 20th century, the word also named cheap street ice cream and the people who sold it. Sellers cut ice cream from a block and wrapped it in paper, or had customers hand back the small dish after eating. A history of New Zealand\u2019s ice cream industry mentions a possible link to the Italian cry Gelati, ecco un poco!<\/em>, meaning \u201cHere is a little ice cream!\u201d<\/p>\n

The etymologist Michael Quinion suggests a different origin. He explains that hokey-pokey<\/em> was used in English in 1847 to mean \u201cdeception, trickery,\u201d and that this use is related to the magician\u2019s phrase hocus-pocus<\/em>. One theory holds that this word was applied to cheap ice cream; another holds that it comes from the Italian cry. It is also unclear how the name came to be used for an aerated candy in New Zealand. Street ice cream, bubbly candy and ice cream with candy pieces share the same name, but each has its own history, both of the word and of how it is made.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

\u2022 Michael Quinion<\/strong>: A writer who researched the history and etymology of English words. He compared several meanings and recorded uses of hokey pokey.<\/p>

\u2022 Baking soda<\/strong>: Sodium hydrogen carbonate. It produces carbon dioxide in hot sugar syrup and creates holes in the sugar.<\/p>

\u2022 Honeycomb<\/strong>: The English word for the wax structure that bees build. It is also used to describe the cross-section of candy full of holes.<\/p>

\u2022 Golden syrup<\/strong>: A thick, amber-coloured sugar syrup.<\/p>

\u2022 Brian Simon<\/strong>: A man who worked in ice cream manufacturing in New Zealand. In a later interview, he recalled making it in 1953.<\/p>

\u2022 Crunchie bar<\/strong>: A sweet made of honeycomb candy coated in chocolate. Simon recalled mixing it into ice cream.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n

  1. \u2022 Yale National Initiative \u201cThe Chemistry of Honeycomb Candy\u201d<\/a> \u2014 pp.3\u20134: carbon dioxide produced by hot sugar syrup and baking soda, and bubbles left in the sugar walls. Explains the chemical reaction; does not guarantee bubble size for any particular recipe.\n\u2022 NZ Ice Cream Association \u201c1951\u20131960\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Describes an 1892 advertisement, Hatton\u2019s 1896 patent application and Simon\u2019s memory of Newjoy in 1953, and expresses doubts about claims involving other companies. The patent images and the original advertisement have not been checked.<\/p><\/li>

  2. \u2022 Chelsea Sugar \u201cHokey Pokey\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Three ingredients; baking soda added off the heat; poured straight into a tin; chocolate coating.\n\u2022 Te Ara \u201cHokey pokey ice cream\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Pieces of honeycomb toffee in vanilla ice cream.\n\u2022 Chelsea Sugar \u201cHokey Pokey Biscuits\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Milk, butter, sugar and syrup warmed; flour and baking soda added; dough rolled into balls, pressed with a fork and baked.\n\u2022 Otago Witness, June 11, 1929, p52, \u201cNotes and Queries\u201d<\/a> \u2014 A reader signing as Scotia replies with a recipe using sugar, syrup and baking soda and advises using a large pan.\n\u2022 New Zealand Ice Cream Association \u201c1951\u20131960\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Several theories on the invention; in a 2010 interview, Brian Simon recalled Newjoy in 1953 and broken pieces of Crunchie.<\/p><\/li>

  3. \u2022 NZ Ice Cream Association \u201cIce Cream Technology \u2014 The Hokey Pokey Man\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The name for street ice cream and its sellers in Britain and the United States; the Italian cry as a possible origin.<\/p><\/li>

  4. Michael Quinion, World Wide Words : Hokey-pokey<\/a> \u2014 The 1847 meaning of trickery, the link to hocus-pocus, the competing Italian-cry theory, an 1899 New Zealand use for a sweet, and the unclear path between these. Based on the etymologist\u2019s own research into recorded uses. The original 1847 dictionary and 1899 newspaper were not read directly for this article. A single origin for the candy\u2019s name has not been established<\/li>

  5. \u2022 Editorial check: The 1896 application is treated as a record of a production method, not as proof of when the sweet was invented or by whom.<\/p><\/li>

  6. Eiger \u201cEmerald Chocolate Hokey Pokey\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Ingredients and place of processing read directly from product description 4\u201328. The product described above: chocolate ice cream with caramel pieces.<\/li>

  7. Editorial note (Japanese re-edit)<\/h3><\/li>

  8. Product records from the time are not available from every company for the ice cream with the same name containing candy pieces. No account, including Simon\u2019s memory of 1953, is treated as a record that settles who invented it.<\/p><\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Hokey pokey is a popular New Zealand sugar sweet full of air bubbles. Sugar and golden syrup are heated, and baking soda is added so the mixture puffs up all at once. Once it has cooled and is broken, holes large and small appear between thin amber walls. Because its cross-section looks like a honeycomb, it is also called honeycomb toffee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7438,"menu_order":199,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Hokey pokey","subtitle":"Honeycomb bubbles trapped in sugar syrup","topics":"Baking soda added at the end changes its shape \/ Air fills the holes; the walls are candy \/ It goes into ice cream too","country":"New Zealand","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["egg"],"texture":["smooth"],"occasion":[],"method":["chilled","cooked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[159],"class_list":["post-8428","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t