Swedish Candy, According to Reddit: The Hype, the Stale Bags and the Salmiak Wars

If you want the unfiltered verdict on Swedish candy, you do not read ads. You read Reddit, where nobody is paid to be polite. There is no single Swedish candy subreddit (the one with the obvious name is, awkwardly, not about candy at all), so the debate lives scattered across r/candy, r/snacks, r/licorice and local city subs. We read through it: the haul photos, the taste tests, the complaints, the conversion stories. The short version: Reddit loves the candy, fights about the freshness, and splits cleanly in two over salty licorice. Here is the longer version.

The candy itself: BUBS carries the hype

Start with the biggest thread we found, r/candy’s “No one does candy like the Swedes” (979 upvotes, 158 comments). The top Swedish voice in it, u/priestess_of_the_moon, states the home view plainly: “I am from Sweden and i hold the firm belief that we have the best candy in the world!”

BUBS is the name that comes up again and again. In another r/candy thread, “I went to a Swedish candy store yesterday” (434 upvotes), the comments read like a fan club: “The BUBS are so good, the sour ones are intense” (u/The_Secret_Squirrel), “they’re the best sour skulls” (u/No_Cauliflower_6771), and “Those pink Bubs have my heart” (u/JojofromDaUP). Reddit taste testers quoted in roundups of the same discussions go further on the foam texture, calling it “absolutely life changing”, with the skulls “absolutely top tier”.

Reddit is also specific about what to buy first. The most recommended single piece across the threads we read: the BUBS Sour Raspberry and Licorice Skulls (“Try the BUBS Sour Raspberry and Licorice Skulls”, u/Aromatic_Ad_9534). And the community polices incomplete hauls. When one poster’s bag had no Swedish Fish and no salt licorice, commenters asked where they were. A Swedish candy mix without them does not count as finished, according to r/candy.

The freshness fight: ‘No one does stale candy like the Swedes’

The biggest criticism is not flavor. It is freshness. In the same 979-upvote thread, u/somewhatcompetint fired the shot that titles this section: “No one does stale candy like the Swedes”. Another commenter reported a friend who found that “every single one tasted stale”, and u/rickyyybobby put the general theory politely: “I think a lot of the magic is lost by the time it gets to the US.”

The Swedish answer in that thread is the most useful comment in it. u/KalleH explained that Swedes buy their candy at the grocery store, not at specialist candy shops, which exist “solely for tourists”, because what keeps candy fresh is turnover: high sales, fast rotation, no bags sitting around. It explains the split in American reviews. Swedish candy bought from a busy store or a fresh restock is soft and intense. The same candy after a slow boat and a quiet shelf is a rubbery disappointment. Summer makes it worse: delivery threads and reviews repeatedly describe heat damaged orders arriving as, in one phrase that keeps recurring, “one huge glob”.

The practical Reddit consensus: buy from sellers with fast turnover, order in the cooler months if you can, and do not judge Swedish candy by a stale bag.

Salty licorice: the great divide

Nothing splits Reddit like salmiak, salted licorice. In one of the largest candy opinion threads on the site, with tens of thousands of responses, u/kickasstimus told the conversion story that defenders quote back: “Once upon a time I swore that salted licorice was the most vile thing ever to have graced our fair planet… my wife made me try some and much to my surprise, I liked it!”

The haters are just as loud. In an r/AskWomen thread about the worst candy in the world, salty black licorice got the treatment, emoji included, although even there a defender showed up to argue the case. The pattern across threads is remarkably consistent: first taste, shock. Second taste, curiosity. Third taste, a convert or a lifelong enemy, with very little middle ground. It is also why raspberry licorice skulls became the gateway piece: sweet first, salty second, training wheels for salmiak. Incidentally, that is the same flavor BUBS once cut from its US test lineup after American tasters called it a no go, a decision Reddit’s licorice fans have not forgiven.

The stores: beloved, busy and accused of a hype tax

Reddit’s store talk concentrates on the in person experience, the pick and mix wall, the weighing, the bag. It is the ritual people describe, as much as the candy. The recurring complaint is price. BonBon, the New York chain that started the wave, sells pick and mix at around $18 a pound in store, and online mixes elsewhere can run near $30 a pound. Defenders answer that imported candy with real sugar and natural colors was never going to be cheap. Dissenters point out that two blocks from BonBon’s flagship, Economy Candy sells comparable pieces for a fraction of the price, and a visible backlash against what one commenter called the “viral hype tax” has become part of the conversation. Newer sellers now market themselves against it.

Our own read of the threads: nobody regrets their first visit to a Swedish candy store. Plenty of people shop around after it. If you want to see what is near you before you go, our store locator maps every Swedish candy store we have verified, 111 and counting.

Ordering online: what Reddit actually asks

The most telling thread is a question, not an answer. “What’s the best Swedish Candy site that ships to the US?” asks one r/candy poster, looking to “fill a 2lb bag for around $30”, and 41 comments argue it out. The names that recur in the wider discussions are sockerbit.com and ikandi.us for pick and mix, alongside a loyal camp that orders by the kilo directly from Sweden and accepts the wait and the customs lottery. The scam warnings recur too: at least one heavily advertised Swedish candy seller has a Trustpilot page full of people who never got their candy, which is exactly why buyers ask Reddit to vet stores first.

What Reddit wants from an online store is consistent: honest per pound pricing, bags packed fresh rather than scooped months ago, and shipping that does not melt the order. Our comparison of the best places to order Swedish candy online scores the stores we track on exactly those points, and our Pick N Mix page lists the 1 lb mix bags by price.

Reddit’s own tips, distilled

• Judge the store by its turnover. Busy shop, fresh candy. Quiet shop, stale risk.
• Let firm gummies warm to room temperature before deciding they are too hard. A minority even prefers them slightly stale, “like Peeps”.
• First BUBS order: sour skulls and the pink ovals. First licorice: raspberry licorice skulls, then salmiak if you are brave.
• At a pick and mix wall, sample broadly before you commit to a big bag of one flavor.
• Skip mixes padded with filler pieces you did not love in single form. Buy single flavor bags of your proven favorites instead, or build your own mix.
• Order by the kilo from Sweden only if you can wait, and not in a heatwave.

The verdict

Reddit’s verdict on Swedish candy is a yes, with conditions. The candy itself, BUBS above all, survives the hype test: the texture, the sour intensity and the flavor range are real. The conditions are freshness and price. Buy it fresh, from somewhere busy, at a per pound price you have compared, and the internet’s most honest reviewers will tell you it is the best candy in the world. Buy it stale at a hype markup, and they will tell you that too.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What does Reddit think of BUBS?

  BUBS is Reddit’s favorite Swedish candy brand by a wide margin. The sour skulls and pink ovals get the strongest praise, with the foam texture described as life changing in taste test threads. The most recommended single piece is the Sour Raspberry and Licorice Skulls.

• Is Swedish candy overhyped, according to Reddit?

  The candy itself, no. The prices, sometimes. Reddit threads praise the flavor and texture while criticizing markups at viral stores, and freshness problems when candy has traveled slowly. The consensus is to buy from busy stores and compare the price per pound.

• Why does Swedish candy sometimes taste stale?

  Turnover. Swedish commenters point out that Sweden buys candy at grocery stores with very fast rotation. In the US, candy from slow sellers or summer deliveries can arrive stale or melted, which is the single most common complaint in the threads.

• What Swedish candy should a beginner try first?

  Reddit’s starter list: BUBS sour skulls, the pink BUBS ovals, Swedish Fish (the Swedish kind), and raspberry licorice skulls as the gentle introduction to licorice. Salmiak, the salted kind, is the advanced level.

• Where does Reddit buy Swedish candy online?

  The names that recur are sockerbit.com and ikandi.us, plus ordering by the kilo from Sweden for those who can wait. Buyers vet stores on Reddit because scam sellers exist. Our best place to order guide compares the tracked stores on price, freshness and shipping.