Monday, July 11, 2011

Apteekkarin Pehmeä Salmiakkipastilli

A font can say a lot of things about your brand. If you choose Comic Sans, you’re basically saying I don’t even take myself seriously. Papyrus, on the other hand, tells people that you’re doing the old-age/new-age thing, and that you might be Asian, Egyptian, or even African.

On the same note, Apteekkarin’s choice of a Blackletter/Gothic font (along with an illustration of the grand inquisitor himself) says one thing very loudly: the contents of this package were originally designed as a medieval torture device.



Despite this scary looking design and bright red warning ("VAIN APTEEKISTA", which translates to "DO NOT EAT"), I opened up the package.


Never sure of whether I'll find sugar or salt, I popped one of the jelly-textured drops in my mouth and prepared for the worst. Surprisingly, I didn't gag or even immediately spit these out. The mild licorice taste slowly transitioned to a menthol flavor, and after a chewing for about a minute, a subtle salty flavor cropped up. It wasn't too bad at all.

I had another, and then another... and next thing I knew, the bag was empty! That's an extremely rare occurrence here on Salmiyuck and, as such, earns this Salmiakkipastilli the halfway-decent rating. Keep in mind that I'm fairly tolerable of menthol flavors, so you may find these much worse than I did.
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35 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 11, 2011 at 10:55 PM

    Made my morning. \o/

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 11, 2011 at 11:55 PM

    "Vain apteekista" translates to "Only from pharmacy"

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 12, 2011 at 1:06 AM

    here is some description
    :D
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_chloride

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 12, 2011 at 1:29 AM

    Hi,

    Had a good laugh reading through your adventures in salmiakki. It just blows my mind why people don't like it. I tested salmiakkikossu when i was studiyng in the UK and got the first hand experience of friends almost vomiting from it. :D

    But now for some tips on stuff to try. In the farmacy they also sell, in addition to the Apteekkarin Salmiakkipastilli, the REAL deal. Proper, real, original salmiakki which they made in the olden days.
    http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2116/2151583774_d64e30b499.jpg

    And another very good recipie to try is Fisu shots aka Fisherman's Friend shots.

    0.5L bottle of vodka
    4 bags of Fisherman's Friend

    Put everything in a blender and mix until smooth. Put in fridge for about an hour. Enjoy!!

    -Jakob

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJuly 12, 2011 at 1:32 AM

    Well. If you think normal salmiakki is poison, I don't know what will happen to you if you taste fisu. I'm finnish, and I rather trow up just for fun, than drink that stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJuly 12, 2011 at 5:01 AM

    We Finns are crazy "salmiakki" people, we also have Salmiakki Ice cream. Unfortunately, there is no English-language product description. Link to the production is here http://www.pingviini.fi/tuotteet/fazer/fazer_salmiakki

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousJuly 12, 2011 at 6:07 AM

    Congrats, your blog is in Finnish media: http://www.mtv3.fi/makuja/ajankohtaista.shtml?1358803

    BTW: If You ever can get access to Poppamies' "Synkkä Salmiakki" (Grim Salmiac), do it! It's spiced with chili, so the the taste of salmiac won't be a problem. The chili will be. Several salmiac loving Finns refuses to eat it ;-)

    Poppamies.fi webstore has been selling this canned pain, but (un)fortunately they're out of stock. According to the product label (http://www.poppamies.fi/images/_JAK6113.jpg) it's manufactured in Germany, so Poppamies just brands it and sells it in Finland. If You're (un)lucky, someone might know different brands for this great, ahem... experience..

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  8. AnonymousJuly 12, 2011 at 6:58 AM

    This is my favorite candy. :D






    Finish girl

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  9. AnonymousJuly 12, 2011 at 8:38 AM

    I think you're just starting to like the flavor. Soon all these posts will be "halfway-decent." :P

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  10. AnonymousJuly 12, 2011 at 10:07 AM

    Salmiac tastes very good with milk. You should try once. Works especially with Turkish pepper. :)

    - Salmiac lover from Finland

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  11. AnonymousJuly 12, 2011 at 10:11 AM

    Loved through the whole blog. LOVE IT!

    Keep up the good work!

    - Another salmic enthusiastic from Finland

    ReplyDelete
  12. TiinaJuly 12, 2011 at 12:11 PM

    About the ice cream there is a video. It is half Finnish, but you don't need to know what they say, you can see it in ther face. :)

    The text is "hated in the world - loved in Finland" (or something like that).


    http://youtu.be/nJBBakWOeEQ

    ReplyDelete
  13. pajupilliJuly 12, 2011 at 2:40 PM

    "I think you're just starting to like the flavor. Soon all these posts will be "halfway-decent." :P"

    ^ what they said!

    ReplyDelete
  14. JarnoJuly 12, 2011 at 11:30 PM

    I also recommend 'Poppamies Synkkä Salmiakki' if you ever have a chance to try them out, would be a great fun to hear/watch your comments :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousJuly 13, 2011 at 2:32 AM

    Do you know that we have also cough medicine which taste like salty liquorice ;D

    I'm salty liquorice addict and I really love Salmiakkikossu. It's good even sober :D

    - Finnish salmiac addict

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousJuly 14, 2011 at 1:45 AM

    Here is a shop, where i order all my salmiyck nowadays.

    http://www.worldofsweets.de

    And one of their best product ever.

    http://www.worldofsweets.de/Lakritz/Extra-starkes-Lakritz/Stoevring-Pulverpadder.html

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousJuly 14, 2011 at 3:20 AM

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O8N74QoqbBM/THZ6UAPwpfI/AAAAAAAAC_Q/Dd-yOw4tbxk/s1600/barbiee+020.JPG

    Ever tasted these? I absolutely LOOOOOVE them!

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousJuly 14, 2011 at 4:27 AM

    Oh no I'm from Finland, but I have been in Italy now for 5months and reading this makes me dream about salmiakki :P Not long anymore and I'm back in Finland and will eat lot of it!

    ReplyDelete
  19. AnonymousJuly 25, 2011 at 9:42 AM

    While I enjoyed reading your reviews I seriously wonder why do you persist in eating things you do not like? Do I detect a masochist trait there? :)

    Anyway, having seen many foreigners reactions to Salmiak candies I am convinced there are two aspects to the dilemma of Salmiak.

    First of all it is a question of expectation. In most countries candies are uniformly sweet and sugary in taste. Salmiak candies on the other hand are the stark opposite why the first reaction of a novice would quite naturally be rather negative. Salmiak does not pass as a candy to those accustomed to sweet sugary tastes. In fact, the Salmiak taste and the Salmiak sensory experience would appear rather alien to a novice because there are few if any food items in the world which are even remotely similar in taste. Consequently, the natural reaction would be an involuntary response of spitting it out as the novice's "taste memory" can not in any way relate to the experience. This is an inherent biological trait. What you do not know may be poisonous - hence you spit it out.

    Secondly, it would appear that Salmiak, just like many other things such as for example wine, cheese and chili peppers is an aquired taste. The earlier you start the more you will like it in time. I'm Dutch and I simply love all forms of Licorice - from the soft to the hard and from the sweet to the salty.

    ReplyDelete
  20. JLJuly 26, 2011 at 6:05 AM

    @Anonymous

    That shop (http://www.worldofsweets.de) is awesome. And the shipping costs are quite reasonable, so Alex can feed his salmiak addiction without going broke.

    ReplyDelete
  21. FlowerJuly 26, 2011 at 6:47 AM

    Do you have Apteekin salmiakki? http://haganol.fi/ I hope you will taste it some day! (Thanks for asking, I really like it!)

    Unfortunately the page is only in Finnish.

    Someone should send you salmiakkijauhe...

    ReplyDelete
  22. AnonymousJuly 26, 2011 at 12:49 PM

    I must warning you. some sunny morning you wake up and you realize that you like ,want and need salmiak. :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Crispy CritterJuly 30, 2011 at 6:05 PM

    I think I must have some undeclared Finnish or (more likely) Dutch ancestry. Unlike most Americans, I actually *like* salmiakki. Unfortunately, I've only found one Finnish product even semi-readily available (or course, at World Market) - the Halva soft licorice bits that come in the blue box. There are more German varieties there - my favorites among them are the Katjes Salzige Heringe and the Sallos hard candies. Me gusta mucho el original SALLOS-Geschmack.

    However, I found some Swedish-made "salty fish" licorice - at IKEA, naturally. They're labeled "Nordic Sweets Salty Licorice Fish," which sounds like a bit of an oxymoron, and they pack a one-two punch of salmiak and ordinary salt (noting that ammonium chloride comes well before normal salt in the ingredient list; NaCl is the second to last ingredient listed). They go nicely with lots of beer or gin & tonic to fight the dehydration. After I brought a bag home and wolfed them down in a few days, I ended up going back to stock up. I guess those are the *real* Swedish Fish, as opposed to the usual fruit-flavored ones that are available just about everywhere.

    Next time I'm going through Grand Rapids, Michigan, I'll have to stop at one of the Dutch stores and get some of the infamous Dubbel Zout.

    ReplyDelete
  24. AnonymousAugust 5, 2011 at 7:48 AM

    Nice blog if a bit dramatic.

    But where is the good ol' real tyrkisk peber review ? The main delicacy of so many salmiac enthusiasts. So delicious, 5 - 10 in a row warms you up nicely.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/mararie/259816801/

    ReplyDelete
  25. Jannik AnkerAugust 15, 2011 at 6:56 AM

    Have you tried Djungelvrål from Malaco? I'm Danish and looove them. They're, ahem, salty ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Malaco-04.jpg ).

    ReplyDelete
  26. AddeAugust 19, 2011 at 12:13 AM

    I guess it's an acquired taste. It's helps to be Scandinavian - being brought up with the stuff. :)

    Two things I never forget to bring with me when I travel; Swedish snus and salty licorice.

    ReplyDelete
  27. AnonymousAugust 25, 2011 at 9:36 PM

    http://www.emendo.fi/pages/gallery/saunatuoksu-salmiakki-10-ml-maito-saippua-100-g590.php

    ReplyDelete
  28. AnonymousAugust 26, 2011 at 3:17 PM

    Isn't it about time for the next review?

    ReplyDelete
  29. AnonymousAugust 31, 2011 at 8:41 AM

    Sure is, bring the good ol' 3 flame Tyrkish pebers to test Mr. Adventurer.

    ReplyDelete
  30. AnonymousSeptember 1, 2011 at 4:03 PM

    I must point out however, that salmiakki should under no circumstances be confused with salty licorice. It's not the same thing at all. Without ammonium chloride there is no salmiakki, end of story.

    ReplyDelete
  31. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2011 at 5:00 AM

    The best before date on most of the stuff he got must be close to expiring by now...

    ReplyDelete
  32. ReiskaOctober 4, 2011 at 7:11 AM

    Has the blogger dropped from too much salmiac ?

    ReplyDelete
  33. AnonymousOctober 14, 2011 at 12:18 AM

    Maybe he is out of salmiac and we need to send
    more?

    ReplyDelete
  34. ReiskaOctober 17, 2011 at 12:57 AM

    Nope, in the picture he still has that good old three flame tyrkish pebers that is not reviewed.

    Maybe he is scared. :o)

    ReplyDelete
  35. NataMay 16, 2012 at 6:08 AM

    "VAIN APTEEKISTA", which translates to "DO NOT EAT" - :-D Thank you for this, I would like some salmiakki now!

    ReplyDelete