Salmiakki

Finland’s salty obsession
Presentation · Jes
History

From pharmacy
to candy

Origin

Cough medicine

Pharmacies used ammonium chloride. Sweet liquorice covered the harsh taste.

1930s

Candy

Salty pastilles sold in the Nordics and the Netherlands.

1976

Tyrkisk Peber

Danish hard candy filled with salmiak powder. Burns in the mouth. Now made by Fazer in Finland.

1993–95

Banned

Salmiakki vodka shot pulled from shops. Too popular with teens.

What is it?

What is
salmiakki?

NH₄Cl

The formula of the salt only: ammonium chloride, also called salmiak salt. It is what makes salmiakki salty.

The recipe

Liquorice plus salmiak salt. Usually black and often shaped like a small diamond.

The taste

Salty, a little bitter and dry on the tongue, a bit like very strong black tea.

The name

From Latin sal ammoniacus, the “salt of Ammon”, after a temple of the Egyptian god Amun.

Tasting

Your turn

  1. 1

    Take one piece

  2. 2

    Let it melt. Don’t chew.

    The salt comes slowly.

  3. 3

    Scan and vote

    One question, fully anonymous.

QR code
Tasty, neutral or yuck?
Today

Salmiakki everywhere

Candy, chocolate, ice cream and even a vodka shot: Salmiakki Koskenkorva, sold in Alko at 30%.

Warning
May cause a burning tongue and sudden addiction.
Tyrkisk Peber candiesPhoto: str4nd, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo
Tyrkisk Peberimg/tyrkisk-peber.jpg
Salmiakki ice creamPhoto: Tiia Monto, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo
Salmiakki ice creamimg/salmiakki-ice-cream.jpg
Salmiakki Koskenkorva bottlePhoto: JIP, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo
Salmiakki Koskenkorvaimg/salmiakki-koskenkorva.jpg
Bonus

It gets weirder

Salmiak flavour even comes in cola, snus and meat. And in these:

Chocolate bar with salmiakki filling
Bodo, CC BY 2.0

Chocolate

Salmiakki filling
Bottle of Salmari salmiak liqueur
Jolanda Smit, CC BY-SA 4.0

Liqueur

Salmari
Skull shaped salmiak candy
Tiia Monto, CC BY-SA 3.0

Skulls

Sour salmiak
Dracula Piller candies
JIP, CC BY-SA 4.0

Pills

Dracula Piller, DK
Colourful salmiakki meteorite candies
Tiia Monto, CC BY-SA 3.0

Meteorites

Powder inside
Where

The salmiak belt

  • Finland
  • Belgium
  • Denmark
  • Iceland
  • Netherlands
  • North Germany
  • Norway
  • Sweden

Adults only

Germany once required strong salmiak to carry the label “Adult liquorice, not children’s liquorice”.

Identity

A taste you
have to earn

Hard at first. Then you’re hooked.

All ages

Everywhere

In almost every Finnish candy bag. Kids love it too.

Home

Taste of home

Finns abroad ask family to send it.

◆

In the language

Finnish kids call the diamond shape “a salmiakki”.

2012

Defended

A planned EU limit would have hit salmiakki. Protests won.

The results

Tasty

0

Neutral

0

Yuck

0

Kiitos! Questions?

Waiting for votes.

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