Fazer

Finnish, and we are not going to pretend otherwise

Fazer was founded in Helsinki in 1891 and it is Finnish, not Swedish. It is on a Swedish candy site because Dumle, Geisha and Tyrkisk Peber have been fixtures of Swedish pick & mix bowls and Christmas tables for generations. What people keep asking for is a better reason to stock something than where the factory stands — and pretending otherwise would make every other claim on this site worth less. The Swedish-made shelf is at Swedish candy.

Start with Geisha, approach Tyrkisk Peber carefully

Geisha is the easy one: hazelnut nougat under milk chocolate, soft, and almost impossible to dislike. Dumle is chewy toffee in chocolate and the thing Finnish children are bribed with. Tutti Frutti is the fruit chew, and the sour version is a genuine sour candy rather than a mild one.

Tyrkisk Peber is the one to be careful with. A hard salmiak shell around a sharp pepper-and-liquorice centre — salty rather than sweet, and it does not ease you in. People either build a lifelong habit on it or never touch it again. Buy it alongside something else the first time.

What salmiak actually is

Salmiak is ammonium chloride, and it is why Nordic liquorice tastes the way nothing else does — salty, slightly metallic, with a cooling bite behind it. It is an acquired taste in the literal sense: almost nobody likes it first time and a great many people end up unable to do without it. Read more on the Fazer brand page.