Swedish Candy: Why Everyone's Obsessed and Where to Start

In Sweden, Saturday has a flavour.

It's called lördagsgodis: Saturday sweets. Once a week, families walk up to the pick and mix wall (nearly every supermarket has one), fill a paper bag and carry it home for the evening. The tradition started in the 1950s, and seventy years of weekly practice later, the Swedes are some of the biggest sweet eaters on the planet. Unsurprisingly, they are also some of the best at making them.

Now the rest of the world has caught on. A few viral videos later, shops as far away as New York were selling out, and the UK is every bit as obsessed. So are we. We stock 115 Swedish sweets in our Swedish range, and this is where to start.

What makes Swedish sweets different?

• The chew. This is the big one. Swedish foam sweets are soft and springy all at once, somewhere between a marshmallow and a gummy. You won't find that bounce in a traditional British sweet.
• The flavours. Pear. Pomegranate. Raspberry with liquorice. Banana with caramel. Sweden pairs flavours nobody here would think of, and somehow they work.
• The sour. Sharp, clean and fruity. Fruit first, sour second.
• What's left out. Many Swedish foam sweets use potato protein where others use gelatine, which is why so much of the range is vegan. Our guide to vegan sweets has the full story.

Start here: Bubs

If you've seen one Swedish sweet online, it was almost certainly a Bubs skull. Big, soft foam skulls in flavours from cola to sour bubblegum, and the one most people try first.

• Bubs Cola Skulls. The most famous sweet on the Scandi wall. Classic cola flavour, big soft chew.
• Bubs Big Sour Skulls. The same skull in a sharp sour coat. For when cola is too polite.
• Bubs Raspberry & Liquorice. Sweet raspberry on one side, salty liquorice on the other. The most Swedish flavour combination there is.
• Bubs Banana and Caramel. Pudding, reborn as pick and mix.

The salty liquorice question

We have to talk about it. Sweden loves salty liquorice the way Britain loves a cup of tea: completely, and with some suspicion of anyone who doesn't. It's dark, savoury and a shock the first time. Some people never get past the first piece. Others are converted for life.

If you're curious, Nordic Noir is the gentle way in. It puts salty liquorice alongside dark raspberry and blackcurrant, so there's always something friendly to follow it. And if you already love the stuff, you don't need us to tell you.

Eleven mixes, one for every mood

• New to all this: Nordic Nibbles. Bubs foam skulls, cherry fish and chocolate covered banana. The easiest way into Swedish sweets.
• A bit of everything: Smorgasbord. Filled pizzas, jelly cows, gummy cars and a sour finish.
• Sour fans: Swede and Sour. Ten of Sweden's sharpest sour fruit gummies, all vegan.
• Skull collectors: Skulduggery. Ten skulls in one bag: sour, foamy and fruity.
• Chocolate and toffee: Fika Break. Named after the Swedish coffee break, and made for one.
• Fizz: Northern Lights. The fizziest, brightest Swedish mix we do.

There's also one for cola purists, one for anyone who always picks the red ones first, a tropical one and a forest one. See all eleven in Swedish Mixes.

How to eat Swedish sweets properly

1. Wait for Saturday. Or don't.
2. Use a bowl. Tip the whole bag out so you can see what you've got.
3. Start sweet, finish sour. Or save the liquorice for last and make everyone watch.
4. Share. Lördagsgodis is a family thing.

A box of Sweden

Every Swedish mix comes in a 300g Teaser Pouch or a 1kg Capsule box. The Capsule makes a very good present for the friend who has seen the videos and not yet tried the sweets.

Go Scandi for candy.

Shop Swedish sweets