IT has provided a satisfying sugar rush to generations of sweet-toothed Scots.
But now Edinburgh Rock could be set to crumble away into the history books.
For the family firm - which has produced the pastel-coloured favourite for more than a century - is about to produce its final batch.
The owner of Ross's of Edinburgh announced last week that he is about to close his factory - the only one in the country currently making sticks of Edinburgh Rock.
The closure could also see treats like pan drops, soor plooms and rhubarb rock disappearing from traditional sweet shops.
The confectionary company has operated in the Scottish capital since 1880.
However, Graham Ross, the great-grandson of the founding owner, has announced he is planning to retire after more than 40 years of producing rock and boiled sweets.
With his children declining to take the helm Scotland's answer to Willy Wonka has reluctantly decided to close his factory.
Mr Ross explained: "I'm 64 and was made an offer for the factory building that, at my age, I'd be stupid to refuse.
"I've been in the business for 40 years and there is a certain amount of sadness in bowing out, but it can't go on forever.
"My family doesn't want to follow in my footsteps and we don't feel we want to turn it over to somebody just to manage it."
The chairman and managing director claimed the marketplace was now unrecognisable from the day he sold his first stick of rock.
He said: "Back in those days children didn't have a huge amount of options on what they were going to do with their pocket money.
"Now kids have a vast range of choices and would rather spend their money on mobile phones.
"The traditional corner shop has also all but disappeared.
"We used to supply a few overseas markets, but primary emigration to places to Canada stopped two generations ago and the kids there don't regard themselves as Scots living in Canada any more."
Mr Ross, who employs a dozen staff, admitted he was completely unprepared for the response that greeted his announcement that he was planning to close the factory.
He said: "We sent out letters by second class mail and the very next day I got a response from a sweet shop in Fort William.
"After that things went berserk.
"We got calls and messages from all over the place."
The clamour to get the last Edinburgh rock, violet creams and candy-striped Berwick Cockles was such that all the remaining stock has now been snapped up ahead of the planned closure at the end of March.
The owner, who is looking forward to taking his first summer holiday for a decade, said: "We have had people buying up to two years worth of stock of Edinburgh rock and other items.
"It has been quite incredible."
The soft, crumbly delicacy that is Edinburgh rock was invented in the 19th century by Alexander 'Sweetie Sandy' Ferguson.
His product was an instant hit and the delicious fruity smell of his creation used to draw crowds to his premises in the city's Melbourne Place.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article