Jaffas (candy)
Encyclopedia
Jaffas is the registered trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
for a small round sweet consisting of a soft chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
centre with a hard covering of orange flavoured, red coloured confectionery
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
. The name derives from the Jaffa orange
Jaffa orange
The Jaffa orange, also Shamouti orange, is a sweet, almost seedless orange variety. Originally developed by Palestinian farmers in the mid-19th century, it takes its name from the city of Jaffa where it was first produced for export. It became a primary citrus export of the State of Israel...
. The sweet is part of Australian and New Zealand cultural folklore. Jaffas have often been sold in movie theatres and have gained iconic status because of the noise made when they are dropped (accidentally or deliberately) and rolled down sloping wooden floors. Through association with this sweet, Jaffa is sometimes used to describe a chocolate-orange flavour.
James Stedman-Henderson's Sweets Ltd released Jaffas onto the Australian and New Zealand markets in 1931. The confectionery is currently made in Australia by Allen's Sweets, a division of Nestle
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...
and in New Zealand by Cadbury. The Cadbury Jaffas are also exported to Australia.
The orange coating on Jaffas was developed by a Sweetacres food chemist, Tom Colston Coggan. He experimented with many syrups before settling on the flavour that is unique to Jaffas. His original experimental syrups were stored in his home refrigerator and used as topping on icecream up till the death of his wife in 1985.
A number of Australian and New Zealand amateur sporting groups use Jaffas as a team name. In Dunedin
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
every year a vast sum of Jaffas are raced down Baldwin Street
Baldwin Street, Dunedin
Baldwin Street in a suburban part of New Zealand's southern city of Dunedin, is considered the world's steepest residential street. It is located in the suburb of North East Valley, northeast of Dunedin's city centre....
—the World's Steepest Street, as part of the Cadbury Chocolate carnival, which is held in conjunction with the New Zealand International Science Festival
New Zealand International Science Festival
The New Zealand International Science Festival is a science festival which takes place for six days and involves participation of international keynote speakers; NZISF-staff produce events, external event organisers, and a range of local and national sponsors and funders...
. The initial number of 20,000 Jaffas has now been increased to 30,000 Jaffas.
The Australian supermarket business Coles
Coles Supermarkets
Coles Supermarkets is an Australian supermarket chain owned by Wesfarmers. It has 741 stores nationally Coles Supermarkets is an Australian supermarket chain owned by Wesfarmers. It has 741 stores nationally Coles Supermarkets is an Australian supermarket chain owned by Wesfarmers. It has 741...
has a generic version called "Choc Orange Balls"; similar products are made by other manufacturers.
The word 'Jaffa' is also used in cricket to describe a very well bowled or unplayable delivery that often beats the batsman. With the word already in the New Zealand lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
allowed for Jafa
Jafa
Jafa is a slang term for a resident of Auckland, New Zealand. It is the acronym for Just Another Fucking Aucklander or used as a insult to Aucklanders...
, (occasionally "Jaffa"), a derogatory term in New Zealand for an Aucklander, to become popular.