Sweet coal

Sweet coal is a sugar confection, black and rocky in appearance, associated with Christmas in Spain. It is traditionally given on 6 January as a playful stand-in for coal to children who have misbehaved during the year.

History

In Spain, the custom is linked to the figure of Carbonilla, the charcoal burner or woodcutter who, in the Three Kings tradition, brings coal to children who have behaved badly. Over time, this candy appeared as an alternative to real coal, sparing children a dirty lump of mineral.

It is made from sugar and water. A cold glaze of icing sugar and water is combined with a syrup cooked to the soft-crack caramel stage, around 128 °C. Once off the heat and stirred in circles, the mixture puffs into a foam that, when cooled, resembles coal; black colouring or smoke is added beforehand.

Culture

Today it is also given to children who have behaved well or only moderately, as a reminder of what may happen if they do not improve in the coming year. People distinguish between sweet coal, for mixed behaviour, and real coal, reserved for serious misbehaviour. It belongs mainly to the Epiphany celebrations and to family teasing rather than everyday life.