A Little Something Sweet…or Salty

Something I love to do whenever I am traveling is try all kinds of new foods. This past trip was no exception. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, if there was a chance for me to taste something different from what I eat at home, I took advantage of the opportunity!

This time as I traveled I decided it would be fun to try some different candies from Finland in addition to other foods. Now I have to admit, I am not a big candy fan. Have some chocolates to try, I am all in! But candy has never been my favorite. Having said that, my sister Nancy and I had a lot of fun trying out some different candies from Finland.

The most Finnish of these candies was definitely the famous salmiakki. Salmiakki is a (very) salty black licorice. Let’s just say it’s an acquired taste. Nancy and I took some videos for fun as we rated each of the candies. Check out Nancy’s reaction to salmiakki below (I had the same reaction).

We tried a variety of other candies both licorice and just chewy candies. The verdict? The red chewy candies were our favorites and seemed to have the best flavor, in our opinion. Old fashion natural licorice was a close second with it’s mild flavor. The only candy in this first tasting that just didn’t go over well was the salmiakki.

Next up for candies was our relative Juha’s favorite. It is a candy called Leijona and it is a tar candy. That’s right tar. They come in a little box and are just little hard bits. Marjo, Juha’s wife is not a fan and I have to say after trying them, I think I am with Marjo on this one. They have quite a strong flavor that is hard to describe. All I know is it was unlike anything I have tasted, and I think one candy bit was enough for me.

The real winner in this whole candy tasting experience was definitely our cousin Veikka. After trying one of each candy, all the left overs went right to Veikka. He was such a good sport watching us try all the candies and he was more than happy to take the ones we didn’t like off our hands. I’m just glad they didn’t go to waste.