BUBS Candy from Sweden
The whole BUBS shelf — skulls, ovals and Goody bags, straight from Jönköping.
What BUBS actually is
BUBS has made candy in Jönköping since 1992, and for most of that time it was a domestic favourite that visitors took home in a suitcase. The viral moment changed the scale, not the product — the recipes and the slightly unfussy bags are the same ones Swedes had been eating for thirty years. Read the longer story on the BUBS brand page.
The two-layer build
The signature is a chewy fruit layer sitting on a soft foam base, cut into skulls, ovals and rhombs. It is why a BUBS piece does not eat like a gummy: the foam gives way first and the chew arrives after it, so one piece has two textures and takes longer than you expect. Nothing else in the range of most countries is built this way, which is most of the reason the skulls travelled.
Almost all of it is vegan too, and not as a substitution — the foam was never made with gelatine in the first place.
Which BUBS to start with
Cool Cola for the classic. Sour Skulls for the one everybody talks about, and Giant Sour Skulls if you want the same thing with more of it. Banana Ovals if you would rather skip the sour entirely — they are the gentlest thing BUBS makes. The Goody bags and variety packs exist precisely so you do not have to decide, and they are the cheapest way to find out which one you actually want a kilo of.
Buying BUBS by weight
Most of this range is also sold loose from the pick & mix wall, which is how it is bought in Sweden — you take a paper bag and fill it. If you want a BUBS bag made to your own specification rather than ours, build your own mix.