The brands behind the candy.

The makers behind the mix — Swedish icons and the neighbours Swedes love just as much. Each page is a short history, the iconic products, the recent news, and where to start.

Founded 1992 · Sweden
BUBS
The candy other Swedish brands quietly measure themselves against.
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Founded 1934 · Sweden
Malaco
The workhorse that built the modern Swedish candy aisle.
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Founded 1862 · Sweden
Cloetta
The grandparent of Swedish confectionery — making candy since 1862.
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Founded 1885 · Sweden
Ahlgrens
Makers of Bilar — the small marshmallow cars Sweden eats more of than anyone.
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Founded 1891 · Finland
Fazer
Northern Europe's most respected chocolate, since 1891.
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Founded 1916 · Sweden
Marabou
What Swedes mean when they say 'milk chocolate.'
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Who actually makes Swedish candy

Fewer companies than you would guess. Cloetta owns a remarkable share of the aisle — Malaco and Ahlgrens Bilar both sit under it, alongside Kexchoklad, Plopp and Polly — so a shelf that looks like five brands is often one company in five liveries. Marabou has been the default chocolate since 1916. BUBS, from Jönköping, is the newcomer at 1992 and the one that travelled.

The other name on every Swedish candy wall is Fazer, and it is Finnish. It has been in Swedish pick & mix bowls and Christmas tables for generations anyway, which is a more useful fact about Swedish candy culture than the passport is.

Essays here, products on the collections

The six pages above are the histories — what a maker is, what it is known for, why it matters. If you came to buy rather than to read, each brand also has a shelf: BUBS, Malaco, Marabou, Cloetta, Fazer and Ahlgrens Bilar.

We also stock makers with no essay here because they are not Swedish and we are not going to pretend otherwise — Swizzels is British, MAOAM is German, Toms is Danish. They earned their place on the wall the honest way. The Swedish-made shelf on its own is Swedish candy.