Yellowman
Northern Ireland's chewy-crisp honeycomb toffee, famously sold at the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle.
AI assistance: the introduction, ingredient list, method, tips and FAQ on this page were drafted with an AI writing tool, working from long-established traditional methods. Named editor who reviewed it: owner to supply How we work
- Prep
- 5 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Total
- 1 hr 25 min
- Makes
- 20 servings
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Course
- Snack
- Cuisine
- Northern Irish
Yellowman is a golden honeycomb toffee from County Antrim. It is the sweet of the Ould Lammas Fair in Ballycastle, held at the end of August, where it is broken off huge slabs with a hammer and sold by the bag. An old song asks: "Did you treat your Mary Ann to some dulse and yellowman?"
Fair-sellers pull the warm toffee by hand until it turns pale, a skilled and hot job. At home, you can simply pour it into a tin and break it up once set.
Ingredients
- 450 g golden syrup
- 225 g light soft brown sugar
- 25 g butter, plus extra for the tin
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar or malt vinegar
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, sifted
Equipment
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- Small saucepanHow to chooseShop on Amazon(affiliate link, opens in a new tab)
- 20 cm square cake tinHow to chooseShop on Amazon(affiliate link, opens in a new tab)
Method
- 1
Butter a 20 cm square tin well. Have the bicarbonate of soda measured and ready.
- 2
Put the syrup, sugar, butter and vinegar in a large, deep, heavy saucepan. Heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved.
- 3
Bring to the boil and boil without stirring until it reaches the "hard crack" stage, 150°C on a sugar thermometer. A drop in cold water should set hard and snap cleanly. This takes about 10–15 minutes.
- 4
Take the pan off the heat and quickly stir in the bicarbonate of soda. The mixture will foam up dramatically.
- 5
Pour at once into the tin and leave to set completely, about 1 hour. Break into pieces with the end of a rolling pin.
Tips
Safety: sugar at 150°C causes serious burns. Use a large pan so the foam has room to rise, keep children away and never taste it from the pan.
Store in an airtight tin; yellowman goes sticky in damp air. For a softer Scottish sweet, try Scottish tablet.
If it goes wrong
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Chewy and sticky, not crisp | Not boiled hot enough | Boil to 150°C; test a drop in cold water |
| Flat, no bubbles | Bicarbonate old, or stirred in too long | Use fresh bicarb, stir briefly and pour at once |
| Bitter, burnt taste | Overheated | Take it off the heat as soon as it reaches temperature |
Guides for this recipe
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Card photos: A round, deep cake tin, Douglas P Perkins via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Small cakes cooling on a wire rack, James Petts from London, England via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Mince pies baked in a bun tray, Jeremy Keith via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, cropped; A strawberry pie in a springform tin, W.carter via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped; Copper pans and a kettle on an old kitchen range, Silar via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; A small stainless steel saucepan with a lid, Cooks & Kitchens from Darlington, UK via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Champ: mashed potato with chopped spring onions, in a pan, Glane23 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped; Slices of fifteens with marshmallows and cherries, rolled in coconut, Keithawilliamson via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Golden, griddle-cooked potato bread farls, Gunk 78 via en.wikipedia.org (talk) Derivative work: Ubcule (talk) via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain. All credits: image credits.