I think it has something to do with living on hills in the British isles.

In Scotland they make Tablet. It's like hard fudge and consists of a 2lb bag of sugar, large can of Nestles condensed milk and a few drops of vanilla essence, boiled till a spoonful dropped in cold water goes hard. It's an enduring picture from my childhood of my mother sitting on the work top next to the stove, whilst she stirred the boiling mixture (usually for about 20 minutes). I'm always amazed that I have any teeth left!

TTFN Lady P.