You know how the croissants and danishes you find at most bakeries, coffee trucks and diners taste nothing like their fresh, flaky, and staggeringly delicious European counterparts? Well, I've just discovered a similar disparity with candy.
The candy is Scandinavian, and compared to their diabolically gluey and artificial U.S. equivalents (Chuckles, Jujubes, Dots, Circus Peanuts) these candies taste like fresh fruit. I also find that they leave you feeling ebullient, as opposed to anemic. These Scandinavian treats can be found in the West Village, at Sockerbit, a starkly white store where the sweet fragrance of fresh candy gently strokes the air.
Since it was my first time there, I selected a little bit of everything for my bag. The truth is, I've never been that into jelly or gummi candies. The only reason I went into Sockerbit in the first place was because my sister wanted to go. She likes candy a lot more than I do—I'm more of a dessert person. But, once there, not only was I charmed by the store's crisp Swedish aesthetic and pleasing scent, but the service is friendly too.
The store clerk told me that most of these candies are made with real sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). OK, that changes everything. Why does that change everything? Because ever since I read Fat Land by Greg Critser, I've become somewhat like the Lorax when it comes to complaining about the metabolic perils of HFCS in foods. We need to a return to a pristine food ethos. Bad ingredients equals bad food and is ruining our lives. In Sweden, said the candy clerk, natural sugar isn't as expensive as it is in the U.S. so there's no cost advantage to using manufactured sugars like HFCS. HFCS is everywhere in food in the U.S. But according to Wikipedia,"Wide scale replacement of sugar has not occurred in the EU."
The Sockerbit Website doesn't mention anything about sugar but it does advertise that its candies do not contain transfats, artificial colors, or GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Win, win, and win. Sockerbit also carries sugar-free candies and vegan candies.
My filled candy bag:
So, how do these candies taste?
Flavor, I tell you, flavor! As fresh and fruity as a bowl full of berries! And that's just half the story. There's also a carnival of textures: textures that marvel and entertain, tantalize and tease. I particularly liked the raspberry gummi hearts sprinkled with sugar, the foam mushrooms with light beige tinted caps and an ever so subtle coffee flavor, and little red monkeys that are tough and tiny but packed with a kind of bubblegum flavor. These monkeys are addictive and I don't know why!
To balance out the jellies with a little more substance, I mixed in soft toffees covered in chocolate (Dumle originals). Of course, like all things comestible, part of the excitement is in the search for and discovery of your own personal favorites.
As soon as I knew it, I had one piece of candy left. A sugar-sprinkled, blueberry-jelly and vanilla-foam gumdrop. As I beheld the sheer beauty of this miniature mold of jewel-like jelly, neatly set upon a layer of snow-white marshmallow, countless thoughts rushed through my head. But I settled upon this. Candy, mixed with love, does make the world taste good. And by love, I don't mean some intangible make-believe ingredient. I mean all-natural flavors and real sugar in the hands of a candy maker with a refined palate and a playful imagination. Think Wordsworth captured in jelly. The glory and freshness of a dream...
What more can you ask for in a gumdrop? Nothing more, and certainly nothing less!
Photos by Katherine Lee
