A Swedish candy wall looks familiar until you reach the black bins. This is a field guide to what’s in them: the sweet types, what the chocolate labels legally mean, the peppermint town of Gränna, and how to get it all home.
When you need this
You’re standing at a lösgodis (pick-and-mix) wall and half the bins are a mystery. A Swedish friend has just offered you a black sweet and is watching your face. You’re driving along Lake Vättern and see signs for Gränna. Or you want to bring a bag home and wonder whether it will survive the trip, or customs.
Why Swedes eat their sweets on Saturdays, and how the scoop, the scale, the price sign and allergen questions work, is covered in our guide to Saturday candy and the pick-and-mix routine. This page is about the sweets themselves.
The sweet types on the wall
Pick-and-mix arrived in Swedish shops in the 1980s, and according to the Nordic Museum, Swedes now eat roughly 17–18 kg of sweets per person a year. The mix is broadly the same in any Swedish town. It sorts into a few families, and bin signs often name them:
| Type | Swedish on the sign | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Salty licorice | saltlakrits, salmiak | Black or dark gray, sharply salty; from mild to very strong |
| Sweet licorice | lakrits | Soft and sweet; the gentle end of the black bins |
| Sour sweets | sura, surt godis | Gummies coated in sour sugar; often very sour |
| Foam sweets | skumgodis | Light, marshmallow-like |
| Jelly and wine gums | gelé, vingummi | Chewy fruit gums, often with gelatine |
| Toffee | kola | Soft or chewy caramel |
| Chocolate | choklad | Pieces and fillings; contains milk |
The licorice and the sourness are what surprise most visitors. Taste one of each black sweet before committing to a handful — salmiak strength varies widely and the strongest are an acquired taste.
Two ingredient points matter for many buyers. Gelatine is common in gummies and foam sweets, and it isn’t one of the fourteen allergens a shop must declare, so nothing obliges anyone to flag it at the bin. Chocolate pieces contain milk. If either matters, ask staff before scooping or buy packaged sweets with an ingredient list — our guides to halal food in Sweden and the Saturday-candy allergen routine go further.
Salty licorice and your health
Licorice has been popular across the Nordic countries since the late 1800s, with Finland known for making it. Its salty version, saltlakrits, is usually flavored with salmiak, which is ammonium chloride.
Licorice also contains glycyrrhizinic acid, which in quantity affects the body’s salt balance. Livsmedelsverket (the Swedish Food Agency) sets no limit value, but its advice is clear:
| Livsmedelsverket’s licorice advice | Why |
|---|---|
| Sensitive people eating about 50 g of licorice sweets or more a day risk side effects | Fluid retention, raised blood pressure, heart strain |
| Possible sensitive groups: high blood pressure, heart failure, kidney disease, pregnancy | Greater effect at lower doses |
| Children under five should not eat licorice or salmiak regularly | A few pieces now and then are fine |
Packaged licorice must say “contains liquorice” once glycyrrhizinic acid reaches 100 mg/kg, and add a warning for people with high blood pressure at 4 g/kg. A loose bin carries no such warning, so the strongest salmiak can sit in an unlabeled bin.
Sour sweets have their own cost: 1177, the national health information service, names sour candy as a cause of enamel erosion. Eat the bag in one sitting rather than grazing, and give your teeth two hours between.
Chocolate: the names are the law
Swedish chocolate labels use names that are legal categories, set in Livsmedelsverket’s regulation LIVSFS 2003:13, which implements an EU directive. They aren’t marketing words:
| Label | Minimum content |
|---|---|
| Mörk choklad (dark) | 35 % total cocoa solids, incl. 18 % cocoa butter |
| Mjölkchoklad (milk) | 25 % total cocoa solids, 14 % milk solids, 3.5 % milk fat |
| Gräddchoklad (cream) | Milk chocolate with at least 5.5 % milk fat |
| Vit choklad (white) | 20 % cocoa butter, 14 % milk solids |
Chocolate may contain up to 5 % vegetable fats other than cocoa butter, but then the label must say “Innehåller också andra vegetabiliska fetter än kakaosmör” (“also contains vegetable fats other than cocoa butter”).
Polkagris and Gränna
Polkagris is the one Swedish sweet with a hometown. It is a peppermint candy of sugar, water and vinegar: part of the mass is colored red, the rest is flavored with peppermint oil and worked until white, giving the familiar striped stick.
The town is Gränna, on the east shore of Lake Vättern about 40 km north of Jönköping. Count Per Brahe the Younger gave it town privileges in 1652 as “Brahe-Grenna” and laid out its square the same year. It has been part of Jönköping Municipality since 1971, and it is known for fruit growing as well as candy. Ferries to the island of Visingsö leave from its harbor.
The candy’s history is documented:
- 1859: On 10 January, Gränna’s magistrate gave the widow Amalia Eriksson permission to bake and to make “so-called polkagrisar”. The name is first recorded in that document.
- Soon after: she made the candy in long sticks, at first only for weekends and holidays, and other Gränna bakers followed.
- Until 1945: her daughter Ida continued making it.
- 1997: a bronze statue of Amalia Eriksson was raised in the town.
Whether she invented the sweet or was simply the first to sell it is unclear; the women’s biography lexicon SKBL says only that she was the first to make polkagris for sale. Today polkagris is Gränna’s hallmark, and several bakeries pull it where you can watch.
Äkta Gränna Polkagrisar (“genuine Gränna polkagris”) is an EU-protected geographical indication: at least one production stage must take place in the area. The protection covers that name, not the word polkagris, so a striped stick sold elsewhere isn’t necessarily from Gränna.
Taking sweets home
Inside the EU it’s simple. Goods you buy for your own use in one EU country owe no further tax in another, and personal food moves freely between member states.
For any country outside the EU — including Norway, Switzerland and the UK — that country’s customs rules decide. Milk in chocolate and gelatine in gummies are the ingredients that animal-product rules are most likely to look at, so check your home customs authority before you pack. Bringing food into Sweden is a different question, covered in our guide to Sweden’s customs allowances.
For the journey itself:
- Seal loose sweets in a bag or box; the paper bag lets them dry out or stick.
- Keep chocolate out of hot cars and checked bags in summer.
- On a long trip, packaged sweets travel better than loose ones.
Practical information
| Item | What to know |
|---|---|
| Loose-sweet price | By weight; the shop must show a comparison price per kilo, often posted per hekto (100 g) — multiply by ten. No figure here: prices vary by shop and weekly campaign |
| Packaged sweets | Shelf price plus a kr/kg comparison price |
| Licorice labelling | “Contains liquorice” from 100 mg/kg glycyrrhizinic acid; blood-pressure warning from 4 g/kg; not on loose bins |
| Under-fives | No regular licorice or salmiak |
| Gränna | About 40 km north of Jönköping on Lake Vättern’s east shore; ferry to Visingsö |
| Taking sweets home | No further tax within the EU for own use; outside the EU, your country’s rules apply |
FAQ
What is salty licorice?
Saltlakrits is licorice candy flavored with salmiak, the salt ammonium chloride, and it tastes sharply salty rather than sweet. It is common across the Nordic countries. In ordinary amounts it is fine for adults, but Livsmedelsverket says children under five should not eat licorice or salmiak regularly. Taste one piece before scooping a handful.
What kinds of sweets are in a Swedish pick-and-mix?
Expect gummies and wine gums, very sour sugar-coated gummies, soft foam sweets, chocolate pieces, toffees, and several shades of licorice from sweet to strongly salty. The licorice and the sourness are what surprise most visitors. Many gummies contain gelatine and chocolate contains milk, so ask staff if either matters to you.
What is polkagris?
Polkagris is a peppermint candy of sugar, water and vinegar, part colored red and the rest pulled white, usually sold as striped sticks. Amalia Eriksson in Gränna was the first to make it for sale, with permission from the town in 1859. Äkta Gränna Polkagrisar is an EU-protected name.
Is Gränna worth a stop?
If you travel along Lake Vättern, Gränna is a small town about 40 km north of Jönköping, founded in 1652 by Count Per Brahe the Younger. It is known as the polkagris town and for fruit growing, and ferries to Visingsö leave from its harbor. Several bakeries pull polkagris where you can watch.
Can I take Swedish candy home?
Yes. Within the EU, sweets for your own use owe no further tax, and personal food moves freely between member states. For any country outside the EU, including Norway, Switzerland and the UK, that country’s customs rules decide. Milk in chocolate and gelatine in gummies are the ingredients animal-product rules are most likely to look at, so check before you pack.
Is Swedish licorice safe to eat?
In normal amounts, yes. Livsmedelsverket says sensitive people eating about 50 grams of licorice sweets or more a day risk raised blood pressure, and names people with high blood pressure, heart failure or kidney disease, and pregnant women, as possible sensitive groups. Packaged licorice with high glycyrrhizin levels must carry a warning; loose bins do not.
What does gräddchoklad mean?
Gräddchoklad (“cream chocolate”) is a legal name in Sweden for milk chocolate with at least 5.5 percent milk fat. Other names are regulated too: dark chocolate needs at least 35 percent cocoa solids, milk chocolate at least 25 percent, and white chocolate at least 20 percent cocoa butter.
Related guides
- Saturday candy — why Swedes eat sweets on Saturday, and how the wall, price and allergen questions work.
- Swedish groceries to try — more supermarket discoveries beyond the candy aisle.
- Swedish souvenirs — other things worth taking home.
- Easter in Sweden — the biggest seasonal sweets moment of the year.
- Jönköping and Lake Vättern — the region around Gränna.
Facts verified 2026-09-25. Sources: Livsmedelsverket, 1177, EU Regulation 1169/2011, Jönköpings kommun, Tekniska museet, SKBL, Nordiska museet and the European Commission — full register in this topic’s source file. No brands, shops or prices are published. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.