Gyori Negro Honey, Gyori Mezes Negro 79g

Gyori Negro Honey, Gyori Mezes Negro 79g

Hard Candy filled with honey.

Ingredients: sugar, glucose syrup, honey (6.5%), flavor, natural colors (beta carotene, paprika extract)

The Negro

The Negro (“NAY-GROW”) is Hungary’s leading brand of hard candy and throat lozenge, and is among the country’s best known consumer products. Despite the name, it is not believed that the name refers to black people, or even to the color black. Instead, according to factory lore, it is named for an Italian confectioner named P. Negro who in the early 1920s invented a new type of hard candy while looking for ways to use leftovers from the production of sour candies.

First produced by the precursors of today’s Dreher beer company, in 1980, the Győr Biscuit and Wafer Factory (Győri Keksz- és Ostyagyár) began production the Negro. More recently, Győri Keksz was bought by France’s Danone group, and now has the sole right to produce and market the famed “chimneysweeper of the throat.” The Negro comes in several flavors, and while the recipes are a closely-held secret, the popular original variety contains mint and anis.

The Negro‘s iconic status was confirmed several years ago when a popular cocktail bar in Budapest was named Negro, where one can often find bowls of complementary Negrók. The candy is also said to be helpful in confusing police breathalyzer tests.