# Bon Bons - Chocolates or Hard Candies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357 "2020-06-10T12:37:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/21 "2020-06-10T19:17:10Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Bon bons are filled chocolates taken from a frilly box and savored one by one by a plumpish kept woman in a negligee, propped up in her lavish double bed, whilst reading a movie magazine. [Like Jean Harlow.](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/YYZYKfT75mXdEev-6Nvi2vjSa_owWejgnFsTMbs21QQT5PeG5A6wlWHILtC2FvyWrNpt7rwY05tmdDbWXGvoZTtExkXWvgvRo9EiiLQUbxNbhH3kv7WrXJ-eC6rbjQJJ) In the US they are small chocolate covered candies with a variety of fillings. It appears in France it many refer to [chewy caramels.](https://www.amazon.com/EIFFEL-bonbons-French-Confection-Caramel/dp/B07FYSYC2P) ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/22 "2020-06-10T19:21:40Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Quick, if someone mentions bon bons, what do you picture? Soul Coughing. [Super Bon Bon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xlkla4Jrbk). ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/23 "2020-06-10T19:31:56Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I thought “chewy sweets covered in flavoured powdered sugar” was Turkish Delight. That’s what I learned from C.S. Lewis, anyway. I always imagined Turkish Delight as being chocolate, with some kind of marshmallow component. I’m aware of the tragic reality, but prefer to picture my Edmund selling out his siblings for something _good_. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/24 "2020-06-10T19:35:23Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I thought they were the things women eat while sitting on the couch all day watching Oprah. It’s true. My wife’s favorite metaphor for Sloth. “What do you think I’ve been DOING all day? EATING BON BONS?” My wife really needs to up her metaphor game. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/25 "2020-06-10T19:41:25Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Like Jean Harlow.](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/YYZYKfT75mXdEev-6Nvi2vjSa_owWejgnFsTMbs21QQT5PeG5A6wlWHILtC2FvyWrNpt7rwY05tmdDbWXGvoZTtExkXWvgvRo9EiiLQUbxNbhH3kv7WrXJ-eC6rbjQJJ) Good find. Although in my mind’s eye, the bon bon consumer is a bit more _zaftig._ Ms. Harlow’s figure does not betoken a heavy eater of bon bons. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/26 "2020-06-11T07:53:03Z")
[Bonbons](https://www.neogaf.com/threads/candy-from-your-childhood-sweet-jesus-edition.469550/post-36770472) from my childhood. I think we bought them in Vancouver. All the hard candies here are called bonbons, and the fancy chocolates are called [pralines](https://www.chocolate.lindt.com/shop/lindt-praline-ballotin-1) or [truffles](https://www.spruengli.ch/en/shop/chocolates-truffes/). ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/27 "2020-06-11T12:28:50Z")
Huh. Around these parts, a praline is basically a sugar patty with nuts, like [this](https://www.thespruceeats.com/new-orleans-pralines-521172). No chocolate involved. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/28 "2020-06-11T13:33:14Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > All the hard candies here are called bonbons, and the fancy chocolates are called [pralines](https://www.chocolate.lindt.com/shop/lindt-praline-ballotin-1) or [truffles](https://www.spruengli.ch/en/shop/chocolates-truffes/). This for me too. Well, any hard or chewy non-chocolate fancy small candy would be a bon-bon. Except mints, those would be humbugs. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/29 "2020-06-11T17:14:31Z")
Yeah, definitely something chocolatey here. (I think the word looks wrong without the E.) Though, in my mind, the term is quite vague, referring to a lot of different sweets, they’re all chocolate. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/30 "2020-06-11T18:36:10Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Turkish Delight has more of a jelly texture and are square, with a light sugar dusting, bonbons are more like a kind of fruit flavoured toffee in a ball shape, with a thick layer of brightly coloured sugar, like [this](https://www.oldestsweetshop.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/1800x/d5624676985a8ebbacaf2f34c591c91a/s/t/straw_bon_bons_1.jpg). The powder on Turkish Delight is cornflour/corn starch. It’s there to stop the bits sticking together. The coating on Jelly Babies is the same. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/31 "2020-06-11T18:51:11Z")
Upon seeing the thread title, I said to myself “Pffft, they’re the opposite of hard candy. They’re soft candy.” (with assorted fillings). Two Seattle stories: we could never afford bonbons when I was a kid. Walked into my inlaws’ house, and there on the coffee table was an open box of See’s ([filled dark chocolate assortment](https://www.sees.com/dark-chocolate/assortment/200352.html)). Thought I’d gone to heaven. Next visit, it got more heavenly when they served [_Aplets & Cotlets_](https://www.epicurious.com/archive/blogs/editor/2011/09/aplets-and-cotlets.html). My wife made a face and said “Too sweet.” Me and our kids (who have never uttered those two words together) just loved them. Then someone said “You know, these are really close to Turkish Delight.” My eyes got wide and I said “Now I understand… I’d betray my family and a Messianic lion for these!” From the article: \*Aplets and Cotlets are a version of Turkish Delight, a confection that figures prominently in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Many contemporary readers of C.S. Lewis’ book wrongly believe the candy is as fantastical as Narnia, unaware that in 19th-century England, the gelatinous treat was as familiar as Tootsie Rolls are today. Although molded, fruit-flavored jellies date back to the Middle Ages, Turkish folklore holds Turkish Delight was the brainchild of a former prisoner who was promptly named confectioner to the court by a king who was tired of chipping his teeth on hard candies. Once enjoyed only by nobles and the very rich, the introduction of corn syrup and industrial gelatin in the 1800s helped make Turkish Delight an affordable indulgence. Children kept Turkish Delights in their pockets, and women tied them in their handkerchiefs.\* ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/32 "2020-06-11T21:48:29Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I think of those bite sized, chocolate covered balls of ice cream you used to be able to get at the movies. That’s what I think of too even though I know the term isn’t exclusive to the ice cream novelty. I also thought the one common denominator with bon bons is that they’re all dome-shaped but, after seeing some the linked examples in this thread, I find that’s not true either. ---
**Author:** ![BlueInfinity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BlueInfinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueInfinity)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/33 "2020-06-12T12:55:42Z")
Chocolates. Hence Minnesota calling “mint chocolate chip” ice cream “peppermint bon bon.” ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/34 "2020-06-12T13:05:58Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Neither- they’re a chewy sweet covered in flavoured powdered sugar this side of the pond. Yeah these are what I think of. And that’s not the casual name for them, these sweets are specifically labelled as bonbons. Old fashioned sweet shops often keep them in big jars behind the counter and sell them by weight. Though nowadays are much more typically sold in packets. > **[Bonbons - treasureislandsweets.co.uk](https://www.treasureislandsweets.co.uk/bonbons.html)** > > The Finest Traditional Sweets And Confectionery, Sweet Hampers And Gift Sweet Jars Make The Perfect Gift. Selling Sweets On-Line In The UK Since 2003. The Original British Sweet Shop With Fast Delivery And Over 800 Sweets To Choose From. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/35 "2020-06-12T14:42:43Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > The powder on Turkish Delight is cornflour/corn starch. It’s there to stop the bits sticking together. The coating on Jelly Babies is the same. The from-Turkey loucums I usually get have a mix of cornflour and icing sugar(which has a little bit of starch in already, anyway). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/36 "2020-06-12T14:51:06Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > The powder on Turkish Delight is cornflour/corn starch. It’s there to stop the bits sticking together. The coating on Jelly Babies is the same. The from-Turkey loucums I usually get have a mix of cornflour and icing sugar(which has a little bit of starch in already, anyway). ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/37 "2020-06-12T15:17:00Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Quick, if someone mentions bon bons, what do you picture? Peggy Bundy from Married With Children. Aside from that it is just a word for some type of candy I have never encountered. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/38 "2020-06-12T15:22:14Z")
Humph. Bon-bons are chocolate. Turkish Delight is nasty. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/39 "2020-06-12T15:36:18Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Quick, if someone mentions bon bons, what do you picture? Chocolates or hard candies? > > > [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > > > Soul Coughing. [Super Bon Bon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xlkla4Jrbk). Yes. That’s exactly what comes to my mind. I picture the singer standing at the top of that giant cut-out guy. Freaky-eerie, but a cool tune, nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2020, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357/40 "2020-06-13T22:36:07Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I thought “chewy sweets covered in flavoured powdered sugar” was Turkish Delight. That’s what I learned from C.S. Lewis, anyway. > [@Filbert](#): > > Turkish Delight has more of a jelly texture and are square, with a light sugar dusting… > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I always imagined Turkish Delight as being chocolate, with some kind of marshmallow component. I’m aware of the tragic reality, but prefer to picture my Edmund selling out his siblings for something _good_. Two things, for context. Firstly, at the time and place the words [Turkish Delight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fry%27s_Turkish_Delight)would have referred to the jelly-filled chocolate bar made by the Fry company. Secondly, this was England, during the WWII, at a time of heavy rationing. This was perhaps the first sweets Edmund had seen in a year. As for bonbons, [in British usage](https://www.cheekycharliessweetemporium.co.uk/product/royale-lemon-bon-bons-copy-2/)they are sugar balls with a toffee centre, usually strawberry or lemon flavour. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bon-bons-chocolates-or-hard-candies/855357.md?page=3)