In a Dudley workshop, boiled sugar still gets broken apart with a hammer, the same way it was in the 1800s, because that's the only method that produces a genuine Teddy Gray's herbal tablet.
A Black Country sweet-making tradition
Dudley and the wider Black Country were, through the Victorian era, home to a cluster of small boiled-sweet manufacturers, a trade that grew alongside the region's heavy industry. Teddy Gray's is one of the survivors of that era, tracing its history back to William "Teddy" Gray, who began producing traditional boiled sweets in the area in the 19th century using methods that have barely changed since.
The herbal tablet, hammered by hand
The herbal tablet is Teddy Gray's signature product: a boiled sugar slab flavoured with a herbal extract, then broken apart into irregular, sharp-edged pieces rather than cut or moulded into a uniform shape. This "hammered" style is a deliberate point of difference from mass-produced boiled sweets, which are moulded into identical pieces on high-speed production lines.
Aniseed balls and other traditional lines
Aniseed balls are built up through a panning process, where a small seed core is rotated repeatedly in a drum while layers of aniseed-flavoured sugar syrup are added and dried, building up the familiar round sweet gradually rather than all at once. It's a slow process that can take days from start to finish, which is part of why traditional producers like Teddy Gray's remain relatively rare.
Still in production
Teddy Gray's remains a family-connected operation making sweets the traditional way, and its products are a staple of old-fashioned sweet shop counters. You'll find the same hammered and panned styles across our retro sweets collection.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Teddy Gray's based?
Teddy Gray's is based in Dudley, in the Black Country region of the West Midlands, England, where the company has manufactured traditional boiled sweets for generations.
What is Teddy Gray's best known for?
Teddy Gray's is best known for its herbal tablets and aniseed balls, made using traditional methods that include hand-hammering slabs of boiled sugar into rough-edged tablets rather than moulding them into uniform shapes.
How old is Teddy Gray's?
The company's history traces back to the 19th century, when William "Teddy" Gray began producing traditional boiled sweets in the Black Country using recipes and processes the company still follows closely today.