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May 28

History of sugar confectionery

I'm trying to track down info about "Tavernier's Drup". John Tavernier, the British father of Jules Tavernier was apparently successful with this product as a candy maker, although it isn't clear if he made it in Britain or France, as they lived in both countries. The product is described as "a lump of sugar dyed pink and flavored with banana essence, which proved popular and led to a series of other creative, colorful confections." This is interesting, because apparently banana flavoring in candy had never been done before up to that point, but it isn't clear if Tavernier's father was an innovator or an early adopter of the new flavor.[1] That's about the only info I can find. Artificial banana flavoring was said to have been introduced in the 1850s, which was around the time Tavernier was supposedly making his candy. Anyone know anything else? Viriditas (talk) 10:15, 28 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Not much yet, I thought an advert would turn up easily, but no. The following is from a scientific yearbook for 1854: The various artificial extracts of fruit have been applied to the flavoring of an agreeable species of confectionary known as the “acidulated fruit drops.’ These have been denounced as poisonous by some persons, on the ground that fusel oil is known to produce deleterious effects; and as a natural consequence the confectionary referred to has been discarded. There is, however, no foundation for such statements or belief, and if the confectionary flavored with these extracts has in any case produced injurious effects, it is undoubtedly to be referred to an injudicious consumption of it, and not to any inherent deleterious property. Card Zero (talk) 12:04, 28 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Google shews lots of antique tins, jars, boxes, and adverts for Bonbons John Tavernier, 1 Rue du Cloitre St Merri, Paris. DuncanHill (talk) 12:10, 28 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"Drup" is perhaps a slip for "Drop", I've seen him described as "Cet anglais a importé en France les bonbons anglais appelés drops, en forme de quartiers de fruits, de coquillages colorés et parfumés aux essences de fruits" Do we have an article on fruit drops, or pear drops, or acid drops? DuncanHill (talk) 12:24, 28 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Bonbons anglais.— C'est vers 1830 que ce bonbon a été importé en France par un Anglais nommé John Tavernier; plus tard, on a perfectionné les machines qui permettent d'obtenir économiquement ce produit. Card Zero (talk) 12:49, 28 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In order to really understand where artificial banana flavor comes from, you have to start with artificial pear. Because amyl acetate — produced from fusel oil, a waste product of alcohol distilling, and one of the very first synthetic chemicals used as an artificial flavor -- initially came to prominence as a pear flavoring. Pear drops — barley sugar flavored with amyl acetate diluted in alcohol — were one of the new confections available at the 1851 Crystal Palace exhibition in London. The drops and the chemical used to flavor them drew the attention of August Hofmann, the distinguished chemist who was one of the judges of the exhibition. In a letter to Justus Liebig, his teacher, he noted the "remarkably fruity odor" of amyl acetate ... if you scroll up in my previous link, before "various artificial extracts of fruit", there is a section that ends "Hofmann's letter to Liebig". pear oil is an alcoholic solution of acetate of oxide of amyle, and acetate of oxide of ethyle, prepared from potato fusel oil, (the hydrate of oxide of amyle.) Card Zero (talk) 13:30, 28 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, everyone. Based on the above, it looks like the pear drop is a type of Tavernier drop. Also, it’s interesting to see The Crystal Palace come up again as the focal point for the Great Exhibition. No matter what topic I work on, I am inevitably drawn back to those two like a black hole. Viriditas (talk) 20:13, 28 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There is a British company called Tavener, but I don't think they are connected. DuncanHill (talk) 20:26, 28 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That was the original spelling of his name before he changed it, I think. Might be a coincidence. Viriditas (talk) 20:40, 28 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, I'm wrong (and slightly blind) . The original spelling was "Taverner", which somehow morphed into "Tavernier". This information is also suspect because apparently Jules was the source for all of it, so nobody knows what was really true. But some of his obituaries (which were for the most part written by his friends) seemed to suggest that some of it was true. One other interesting thing I recently discovered was how much his friends left out of his obituary and their memoirs. That's where the real "fun" begins. Of course, this isn't the first time I've found some pretty shocking things once you go looking for it. Viriditas (talk) 23:53, 28 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]