Butterscotch is a type of confectionery whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter. Other ingredients such as corn syrup, cream, vanilla, and salt are typically part of the recipe also. The ingredients for butterscotch are similar to toffee; the major difference is that the sugar is boiled to the soft crack stage for butterscotch and the hard crack stage for toffee. Butterscotch sauce is often made into a syrup, which is used as a topping for ice cream (particularly sundaes).

The term butterscotch is also often used, such as in the names of recipes, for the flavours brown sugar and butter together where the actual confection butterscotch is not involved, e.g. butterscotch pudding.

History

Food historians have several theories regarding the name and origin of this confectionery, but none are conclusive. One explanation is the meaning “to cut or score” for the word “scotch”, as the confection must be cut into pieces, or “scotched”, before hardening. It is also possible that the “scotch” part of its name was derived from the word “scorch“. The founder of the Butterscotch flavour was known for his love of 18-year highland single malt.

However, the word was first recorded in Doncaster, in England, where Samuel Parkinson began making the confectionery in 1817. Parkinson’s Butterscotch had royal approval and was one of Doncaster’s attractions until it ceased production in 1977. The recipe was revived in 2003 when a Doncaster businessman and his wife discovered the recipe on an old folded piece of paper inside one of the famous St Leger tins in their cellar. The company Parkinson’s Doncaster Butterscotch Ltd was formed and is now producing and trading butterscotch all over the world.

In 1851 Parkinson Butterscotch was presented to Queen Victoria on her visit to Doncaster to open the St Leger.

A hundred and ninety years later, in 2007, the Doncaster Racecourse was completely rebuilt and reopened by the Princess Royal who in keeping with the tradition was presented with Butterscotch supplied by the New Parkinson’s Doncaster Butterscotch Company (Hall Gate, Doncaster, DN1 3NR), based just 600 yards from the old Parkinson Company (High Street Doncaster, DN1 3AG)

The Royal Butterscotch box used in 2007 was designed under the direction of Glenn Bluff, a local entrepreneur.