Anyone who has bitten into a piece of BUBS sour skull or a Malaco salmiak after a lifetime of Sour Patch Kids knows: European candy is a different category, not just a different brand. Here’s what’s actually different and why.
Different sugar, different mouthfeel
American candy is dominated by high-fructose corn syrup. European candy makers, particularly in Sweden and the Netherlands, lean on sucrose, glucose syrup from grain rather than corn, and inverted sugar. The difference is subtle but real — corn syrup leaves a slicker, sweeter finish; sucrose-based candy has a cleaner snap and a less lingering sweetness.
Stronger flavour, less sweetness
European candy generally pulls in the opposite direction from American: more flavour intensity, less raw sweetness. A Swedish sour candy hits sour first and stays sour; an American sour usually hits sweet first with a sour coating. A European licorice piece is distinctly licorice; an American "black licorice" is sweetened to mask the licorice.
Salty licorice exists, and it’s a category
The biggest unknown for an American shopping European candy is saltlakrits — salty licorice. Sodium chloride or ammonium chloride is added to licorice in measurable, intentional quantities. Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands all have a salt-licorice category; the US essentially does not. The first piece tastes wrong to most Americans. By the third piece, a meaningful percentage are converted forever.
Texture variety is wider
American candy gravitates to a few textures: hard candy, gummy, chocolate, taffy. European candy adds:
- Foam (skum) — light, airy mallow-like pieces, often as the base for fruit gummies
- Chocolate-rolled almonds — the Swedish chokladrullar tradition
- Pressed pastilles — small dense flavour bombs (Lakerol)
- Soft licorice with filling — salty licorice exterior, sweet core
- Cream-fudge bars — Dutch and Swedish soft-fudge
Less artificial colouring, by regulation
The EU restricts several artificial colours that are still common in US candy (azo dyes including Allura Red AC / Red 40 in food often require warning labels in the EU; some are banned outright in candy aimed at children in certain countries). The result is European candy sometimes looks duller — pastels and natural-pigment yellows instead of US-bright primaries — even before you factor in branding choices.
Pick-and-mix is a primary format, not a novelty
In the US, pick-and-mix exists at a few retailers as a side experience. In Sweden and the Netherlands, the lösgodis wall — fifty to a hundred bins of individual candy types you scoop into a paper bag — is the dominant retail format. Brands design specifically for this: they make pieces that are recognisably theirs at a glance, that hold up in mixed bags, and that taste right at room temperature.
What this means if you’re buying European candy for the first time
- Start with a mixed bag, not a single bag of one flavour. The point is to find your two or three pieces.
- Try at least one salty-licorice piece. Don’t commit to a whole bag — try one piece, decide.
- Don’t expect Sour Patch Kids levels of sweetness. The sour will hit harder and the sweet will be less.
- If a piece tastes "weird" the first time, eat the second one. Most "weird" turns into "favourite" by the third piece.
TheSweetsTruck launches in May 2026 with a pick-and-mix experience built around the European tradition — and curated for first-time European-candy shoppers as much as for the people who grew up on it. See the brand guide for what’s on the shelf.