Your country's candy!

[Hunef]

When I was a kid, my grandpa always brought us Soviet candy--he lived in Alaska and I guess it showed up there all the time or something? He always saved the wrappers because he thought Cyrillic was pretty

Candy was a luxury product behind the Iron Curtain, unlike here where it's ben a staple since the late 40's. Hence, that's why wrapping when extravagant there (and by tradition still is, I guess) while here we just buy candy in cheap bags like this:

A typical self-pick candy store in Sweden with a few hundred different candy types available.

At supermarkets it typically looks slobby like this, though:

Today a kg costs maybe 40-50 SEK (45 SEK = $6.70, 5.10€) which is less than half of the nominal price 20-25 years ago when I was a kid. Strange, but food has generally become cheaper here since the early 90's since nominal prices are more or less the same while there's been some monetary inflation.

[Varislintu]

Today a kg costs maybe 40-50 SEK (45 SEK = $6.70, 5.10€) which is less than half of the nominal price 20-25 years ago when I was a kid. Strange, but food has generally become cheaper here since the early 90's since nominal prices are more or less the same while there's been some monetary inflation.

Wow, here the typical price per kilo for loose candy is just a little under 10 euros, i.e. almost double. But then we recently introduced a sugar tax.

[JackFrost]

Are they in supermarkets? o,O

I usually don't find candy bins there. There's only one place I know of and it's in my home region. Only candy stores have those here.

[Car]

Same here, Jack, there are small shops specialised on sweets that sell them loose (which aren't terribly common), but supermarkets don't.

[Varislintu]

We don't have candy stores at all. Loose candy can be found in supermarkets, cinemas and movie rental places.

[Reinder]

Same here, Jack, there are small shops specialised on sweets that sell them loose (which aren't terribly common), but supermarkets don't.

Außer den kleinen Süßwarengeschäften kann man hier, in den Niederlanden, auch in fast jeder Drogerie Süßigkeiten kaufen, auf der gleichen Weise wie Hunef uns gezeigt hat.

[Hunef]

But then we recently introduced a sugar tax.

Better than fat tax, at least. But I hate the idea that the government should "punish" and control certain types of food - and other substances that can't be immediately overdosed - that are legal.

[Goldstein]

I found this unbelievable when I came to Europe. Chocolate icing treated as breakfast food?

I found it unbelievable that it's an Italian invention, of all things. It just seems so American to me to spread chocolate on toast.

Of course not--why would you eat yummy chocolate-hazelnut icing when you could have that weird salty licorice instead? First time I ate that I thought it was something medicinal.

Try the liqueur next time!

[Sol Invictus]

Oh yes, Serenade (+ missing macron, sorry)

Missing macron just makes it a translation of the name

Candy was a luxury product behind the Iron Curtain, unlike here where it's ben a staple since the late 40's.

Never ever heard such claim before.

We don't have candy stores at all.

I bought a pack of Liquorice candy today (my mom always goes on about how much she hates the taste so I was wondering what it is anyway), which turned out to have super strong menthol coating, now it says on packing that these are for fresh breath, but really - who on earth would find this combination acceptable?

[JackFrost]

who on earth would find this combination acceptable?

Acquired taste.

[hlysnan]

The real question is "who would find licorice acceptable".

[Sol Invictus]

I thought it is supposed to taste like anise; I like anise

[Naihonn]

Ok, time for me. By the way, I dont like liquorice. And now here it comes... Original Czech products...

hašlerky



I really dont like this hard candy.

hořické trubičky



Now this is tasty.

[linguoboy]

I thought it is supposed to taste like anise; I like anise

I love anise, but it's definitely a love-it or hate-it flavour. Growing up, my mom, my sister, and me loved black jelly beans; no one else in the family would touch them. My partner's family was similarly split in half.

Hey, has anyone mentioned jelly beans as a quintessential American candy yet? Of course, they do appear in Harry Potter, so perhaps the Brits aren't aware of their American origins.

[Sol Invictus]

I thought it is supposed to taste like anise; I like anise

I love anise, but it's definitely a love-it or hate-it flavour. Growing up, my mom, my sister, and me loved black jelly beans; no one else in the family would touch them. My partner's family was similarly split in half.

Maybe loving anise is a genetic trait like ability to smell cyanide, because it is strange that you either love it or hate it and there is nothing in-between apparently - maybe people who hate it are un/able to tase something about it.

[Hunef]

I thought it is supposed to taste like anise; I like anise

You mean you've never eaten liquorice before?

[Sol Invictus]

I don't know as you can imagine when I was little my candy diet was governed by my mom, who, as I said, hates it. However I recently discussed the taste with her and she thinks it is common taste and I ought to know it. I have vague memory of trying something like the ones mentioned in this thread few pages before. But what I bought was not it and indeed like nothing I've had before. The candy is named Läkerol supposed to be liquorice and catus flavoured, the packing says it is from Denmark and makes people talk (does it know? )

EDIT:Took up courage to taste another one. I actually managed to get a hint of what I expected. Assuming therefore that candy is faulty. It's not unlike trying to find traces of chocolate in vomit.

[Varislintu]

The candy is named Läkerol supposed to be liquorice and catus flavoured, the packing says it is from Denmark and makes people talk (does it know? )

Oh, funny I'm actually eating Läkerol right now . The "Kumquat licorice" flavour. It's nice . I didn't know there's a cactus & licorice Läkerol. Are they black? I've had the just cactus one, actually it's a favourite in my family (i.e. my parents like it and buy it regularly, and I eat it when offered ).

We don't have candy stores at all.

Well, who would want to go to a separate store and pay more than in supermarkets just to get candy? They just can't survive the competition.

I bought a pack of Liquorice candy today (my mom always goes on about how much she hates the taste so I was wondering what it is anyway), which turned out to have super strong menthol coating, now it says on packing that these are for fresh breath, but really - who on earth would find this combination acceptable?

Peppermint and licorice? That's common here in Finland . We have several candies like that, for example liitulaku (chalk stick licorice):

http://www.hky-palvelut.fi/karkit/fini/ ... aku7kg.jpg

[Sol Invictus]

Are they black?

No, transparent white with a tiny bit of black filling inside. I suspect they've made overkill with winterfreshness.

We don't have candy stores at all.

Well, who would want to go to a separate store and pay more than in supermarkets just to get candy? They just can't survive the competition.

I suspect that since they're mostly owned by producers they might actually be cheaper (but I don't know for sure). But for one in Riga many candy shops are located in shopping malls, so you don't really have to go out of your way. Some double as cafes, so you don't get just candy. And the atmosphere is usually nicer than in grocery chain.

[Varislintu]

No, transparent white with a tiny bit of black filling inside. I suspect they've made overkill with winterfreshness.

I see, I don't know those.

I suspect that since they're mostly owned by producers they might actually be cheaper (but I don't know for sure). But for one in Riga many candy shops are located in shopping malls, so you don't really have to go out of your way. Some double as cafes, so you don't get just candy. And the atmosphere is usually nicer than in grocery chain.

Your last sentence must be true, yes. Well, Fazer, our biggest chocolate and candy (and major bread and pastry) brand, does have a chain of cafés, where they also sell their chocolates, but they're the fancy kind of café and really expensive. And rare, besides. I don't know, candy stores just don't seem to be a working concept in Finland. That is, except for film rental places, which apparently make most their money from their loose candy sales nowadays. People go to them just for the candy. They compete with selection, as they can have hundreds of kinds, and you can pick and choose a precise mixture yourself. Often the candy section is as big as the movie section .