Candyland

 This post is not about a game, but a bout a country of candy maniacs and us there amongst others... 

A week ago on Monday IT and I went to Porvoo with our friend KV. Porvoo is a lovely town, well worth a day trip. It has a beautiful medieval church and cute small, red warehouses by the river. It is also the hometown of J.L. Runeberg, the National Poet of Finland, who in the 1800's wrote about the heroic people of the heartlands. Runeberg's home museum is an interesting part of history. 

Porvoo is picturesque

Yet we didn't go to Porvoo primarily for any of those reasons. We went to visit the outlet of the Brunberg candy factory. Brunberg is a medium size candy factory, known for their truffles, fresh licorice, Alku-caramels and, above all, kisses. 

Brunberg's kisses don't look at all like Hershey's 
kisses. They are much bigger, for one thing. And 
filled with flavored fluff, in this case raspberry. 

 This wasn't the first time we had been to the factory outlet in Porvoo, so we were ready to stock up. However, turned out that KV had visited another candy factory two days ago, and I admitted that our family was going to visit a candy factory within a week of this visit. So much candy! 

This Sunday we did, indeed, visit another candy destination: The Fazer experience. Fazer is Finland's largest candy company. They are also spread far and wide outside of Finland - you can buy Fazer candies in the Baltic states and elsewhere. Not in the US yet, unfortunately. By their factory in Vantaa they now have AN EXPERIENCE for all those who want to visit - for hygiene reasons, you can't actually tour the factory. 

A town of chocolate at the Fazer EXPERIENCE center

 Our friends, the L family, were visiting from Utah, and we had been saving this tour for them. There was noticeable excitement in the air when we got to "Fazerland". You see, the tour ends with an all you can eat candy buffet. For 15 minutes, eat as much as you can, then take a to-go bag and leave through the store. I'm not sure this is great for the store, since mostly people feel a bit sick after 15 minutes of stuffing themselves with chocolate, and they don't want to buy more. But it is definitely good for the experience.  

PW and EL going for the candy

Finns eat ridiculous amounts of candy. In the stores, the candy aisles are fabulous and just looking at them gives you type B diabetes. There are also candy stores, where you pick-and-mix your own baggy of bulk candy - and no movie theater would be caught alive without a pick-and-mix wall. Meanwhile Finns are getting quite chubby. Sugar and candy taxes have been floated, but the candy factories win by threatening to move out of the country. 

The candy aisle in a grocery store

 When I was a kid, "candy day" was a thing, and our family has re-instituted it this fall: one day of the week, traditionally Saturday, you can buy candy with no guilt. My mom used to buy several different bags and then pick-and-mix into little bowls so everyone got every sort of candy. Kids and adults joined in to eat candy after lunch. Our version is slightly different, since we're picky about candy. On Saturday, we go to a regular store of candy store, and everyone gets to buy candy. During the week we resist the temptation, just so that we wouldn't end up eating candy every day. 

Except when we have guests, like this week. Or visit a candy factory. 

You see, candy here is very good. The flavors are actually from berries, fruits, licorice root or cocoa, with plenty of sugar of course. In moderation it isn't bad for you. The problem is how to stick with moderation.