Salmiakki
Cough medicine
Pharmacies used ammonium chloride. Sweet liquorice covered the harsh taste.
Candy
Salty pastilles sold in the Nordics and the Netherlands.
Tyrkisk Peber
Danish hard candy filled with salmiak powder. Burns in the mouth. Now made by Fazer in Finland.
Banned
Salmiakki vodka shot pulled from shops. Too popular with teens.
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.
Take one piece
Let it melt. Don’t chew.
The salt comes slowly.
Scan and vote
One question, fully anonymous.
Candy, chocolate, ice cream and even a vodka shot: Salmiakki Koskenkorva, sold in Alko at 30%.
Salmiak flavour is not only for candy.
Chocolate
Liquorice fillingCola
Cola salmiakkiChicken wings
Salmiakki marinadePasta
With salmiakki sauceSnus
LD SalmiakAdults only
Germany once required strong salmiak to carry the label “Adult liquorice, not children’s liquorice”.
A taste you
have to earn
Hard at first. Then you’re hooked.
Everywhere
In almost every Finnish candy bag. Kids love it too.
Taste of home
Finns abroad ask family to send it.
In the language
Finnish kids call the diamond shape “a salmiakki”.
Defended
A planned EU limit would have hit salmiakki. Protests won.
The results
Tasty
Neutral
Yuck
Kiitos! Questions?
Waiting for votes.
Facts
Images