From the mighty Swizzels Matlow empire, ‘Swizzels Double Dip’ consisted of two sachets of sherbet powder (one orange flavoured and one cherry flavoured) and a patented “Swizzelstick” for dipping.
The product proved popular in the UK, Australia and Germany and gave rise to the Swizzade drinkie offshoot.
Towards the end of the 1980s, Double Dip hit its peak of popularity when the sherbet based confection became the best selling sweet in Ireland.
A free packet was given away with Buster comic on the occasion of its merger with Jackpot in 1982.
Since the release of Double Dip, a cola flavour has been added. It started as a one-off in a few packets, and then a special edition, and has since become a normal sachet in the packets.
Swizzels Matlow began in the early 1920s at a market stall in Hackney, London, with Maurice and Alfred Matlow selling jellied sweets. They built a small factory in east London in 1928 and became known as Matlow Brothers, producing jellies and chews.
In 1933 the firm merged with a rival factory owner, David Dee, who specialised in fizzy compressed tablet sweets (although the company officially became Swizzels Matlow Ltd only in 1975).
During WWII, the Blitz forced their business to relocate northwards to a disused wick factory in New Mills, Derbyshire, where it remains.
The Ferrara Candy Company make a similar product in North America, called ‘Fun Dip’ ( originally called ‘Lik-M-Aid’).
