Confectionery vs. Candy — What's the Difference?

A category of sweet treats that includes a variety of desserts and candies.

Items that are easily portable and have a long shelf life.

Items intended for consumption during celebrations or as dessert.

Often mass-produced, focusing on uniformity and wide appeal.

Products that may require intricate preparation methods.

Products typically made with sugar, syrup, and flavoring.

Sweet food items made primarily from sugar and often decorated or flavored.

Sweet, sugary treats often eaten as a snack or quick dessert.

A term encompassing both mass-produced and artisanal sweet foods.

Can be categorized into types such as hard, soft, gummies, and chocolates.

Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult.

Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called sugar confectionery, encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum, and sugar candy.

Sweets and chocolates considered collectively

A rich sweet confection made with sugar and often flavored or combined with fruits or nuts.

Candies and other confections considered as a group.

A piece of such a confection.

The skill or occupation of a confectioner.

(Slang) An illicit drug, especially one, such as cocaine, that has a sugary appearance or a drug in pill form, such as MDMA.

A confectioner's shop.

To cook, preserve, saturate, or coat with sugar or syrup

(uncountable) Foodstuffs that taste very sweet, taken as a group; candies, sweetmeats and confections collectively.

Edible, sweet-tasting confectionery containing sugar, or sometimes artificial sweeteners, and often flavored with fruit, chocolate, nuts, herbs and spices, or artificial flavors.

(uncountable) The business or occupation of manufacturing confectionery; the skill or work of a confectioner.

A piece of confectionery of this kind.

A store where confectionery is sold; a confectioner's shop.

Crack cocaine.

Sweetmeats, in general; things prepared and sold by a confectioner; confections; candies.

(uncountable) An accessory (bracelet, etc.) made from pony beads, associated with the rave scene.

A place where candies, sweetmeats, and similar things are made or sold.

(obsolete) A unit of mass used in southern India, equal to twenty maunds, roughly equal to 500 pounds avoirdupois but varying locally.

A food rich in sugar

(cooking) To cook in, or coat with, sugar syrup.

A confectioner's shop

(intransitive) To have sugar crystals form in or on.

(intransitive) To be formed into candy; to solidify in a candylike form or mass.

To conserve or boil in sugar; as, to candy fruits; to candy ginger.

To make sugar crystals of or in; to form into a mass resembling candy; as, to candy sirup.

To incrust with sugar or with candy, or with that which resembles sugar or candy.

To have sugar crystals form in or on; as, fruits preserved in sugar candy after a time.

To be formed into candy; to solidify in a candylike form or mass.

Any sweet, more or less solid article of confectionery, especially those prepared in small bite-sized pieces or small bars, having a wide variety of shapes, consistencies, and flavors, and manufactured in a variety of ways. It is often flavored or colored, or covered with chocolate, and sometimes contains fruit, nuts, etc.; it is often made by boiling sugar or molasses to the desired consistency, and than crystallizing, molding, or working in the required shape. Other types may consist primarily of chocolate or a sweetened gelatin. The term may be applied to a single piece of such confection or to the substance of which it is composed.

Cocaine.

A weight, at Madras 500 pounds, at Bombay 560 pounds.

A rich sweet made of flavored sugar and often combined with fruit or nuts

Coat with something sweet, such as a hard sugar glaze

Confectionery refers to a broad category of sweet treats, including candies, chocolates, cakes, and pastries.

While confectioneries can be enjoyed as part of a balanced diet, their high sugar and calorie content means they should be consumed in moderation.

Confectioneries are often featured in celebrations and holidays, serving as treats or gifts, and vary widely across different cultures.

Candy specifically focuses on sugar-based treats, whereas other confectioneries might include baked goods or chocolate items with a wider range of ingredients.

Candy is a type of confectionery primarily made from sugar, often flavored or combined with other ingredients like nuts, chocolate, or fruit.

Some confectioneries, especially those with nuts, fruits, or dark chocolate, can offer nutritional benefits, but they are generally consumed for pleasure rather than health.

Yes, confectionery is a popular gift choice for many occasions, symbolizing thoughtfulness and celebration.

Yes, chocolate can be considered a type of candy, especially when it is used as the main ingredient in bars or pieces.

Candy is popular due to its sweet taste, variety, and the pleasure associated with its consumption, appealing to people of all ages.

Popular types include chocolate bars, gummy candies, hard candies, and chewy sweets.

Yes, candy is enjoyed worldwide, though the types and preferences can vary by culture.

Artisanal confectionery is often handcrafted with attention to detail and unique flavors, while mass-produced items focus on consistency and wide availability.

Candy generally has a long shelf life due to its high sugar content, which acts as a preservative.

Confectionery can be made using a variety of techniques, from baking to candy making, often involving sugar, chocolate, and other sweet ingredients.

Yes, there are sugar-free options available for those looking to reduce sugar intake, using alternative sweeteners to achieve a similar taste.