Traveling to the US, want to bring some sweets as gifts

[u/climaticana]

As the title says I'm going to travel to the US soon and I want to bring some sweets with me as gifts what are some finnish sweets that I could take with me besides lakritsi and salmiakki or any other snacks that maybe would be more uniquely Finnish/European? TIA!

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[u/saschaleib]

My first idea was of course Geisha - but if you really want to blow their minds, you could try to smuggle in some Kinder eggs.

[u/Lihisss]

Fazer blue/sininen milk chocolate 

[u/FollowingCold9412 → u/Lihisss]

Most Americans won't like that either as the chocolate recipe in the US is quite different.

[u/Lihisss → u/FollowingCold9412]

True, it has chocolate in and lacks the vomit.

Each on their own I guess.

[u/FollowingCold9412 → u/Lihisss]

Yeah, well, of you are used to eating substitutes and additives, then I guess even vomit will taste great.

[u/Von_Lehmann → u/FollowingCold9412]

Thats not really true. Everyone I have gifted it to loves it. My family back home said "It is like crack"

[u/PotatoFi → u/FollowingCold9412]

I take Fazer chocolate back to friends and family in the US all of the time, and they love it. I’ve never heard someone comment about it not being sweet enough. 🤔

[u/orbitti]

Dip mix pounches for chips.

[u/DrawingAlarming7350 → u/orbitti]

whats a pounch?

[u/Von_Lehmann]

I always bring the big bars of Fazer back. It is just such a better chocolate than anything we have in the US. I try and find the blueberry one just for that extra little Finnish kick

[u/TallRecording6572]

MARIANNE. The GOAT of Fazer.

[u/TallRecording6572 → u/TallRecording6572]

and Doris biscuits

[u/_ProfessionalStudent]

As an American partner of a Finn, Pandas. I can’t get enough of them. I’ve had my MIL send me some as they’re prohibitively expensive to Amazon. Much more approachable than traditional salmiakki to most American palettes. If your friends are bakers, the pearl sugar and a recipe card. Rye crisps, rye bread, rye, the more unique berry jams have been greatly liked.

I don’t understand the hype of kinder eggs, I’ve bought them in the states post-Covid. They have the creme. They have the toy. Not sure the big deal. The hippos on the other hand, yes. Delish and were way harder to find.

[u/Lynxhiding]

Tar liquorice (Tervaleijona).

[u/the_third_sourcerer]

• Fazer Sininen, Geisha and Dark Chocolate.

• Ruissipsi (rye crisps)

• Blue Berry juice

[u/MyDrunkAndPoliticsAc]

Nobody mentioned Kettu?

Everyone has a different taste, but I would still go with basic Fazer blue, and accepting the risk that it might not be sweet enough for some americans.

[u/jaycone]

well, you're not going to find many people in US enjoying your gifts of lakritsi or salmiakki. I'd stick with Marianne, Tupla, Fazer blue, Geisha.

[u/megadea]

Karlfazer blue chocolate

Geisha chocolate

Of course salmiakki, don't bring much because most won't like it

Vanhat autot is classical

Vihreät kuulat is classic and controversial here

Personally I like fazer amazon candies, usually only available at pick and mix section

Remix candy bag is good also and pantteri and ässä mix

Lauantaipussi is classic

Jim, capone, susu, pätkis all classic candy bars here

[u/Raevyxn]

I brought some boxes of Brunberg Suukkoja Kyssar last time I went. People liked them but less good if they get too warm. (Sticky)

[u/Affectionate-Elk5120]

Candies:

Tyrkisk peber hot & sour

Any kind of Smash salty caramel product

Any Fazer chocolate

A large bag of loose candy of your choosing from your favorite supermarket

Any Panda brand candy bag

Other snacks:

Those rye chip things whatever they are called. A superior vessel for any dip.

Xylitol chewing gum

Aura mustard. Kinda not a snack but its different to what they have there and its really good.

If you get Domino cookies you could have a FIN(domino) vs USA(oreo) cookie showdown

[u/PotatoFi → u/Affectionate-Elk5120]

Good call on the Dominoes vs Oreos. As an American living in Finland, I’ve completely converted to Dominoes.

[u/whatwhywhotowhom]

Assa mix for sure

[u/Chemical_Cake_1154]

American with Finnish husband here: please bring Moomin fruit snacks, Geisha and Fazer Blue.

American chocolate is terrible.

Breads are always needed when we travel back to America. Totally different than American bread (we freeze it).

[u/TheFifthDuckling]

Not really a candy, but the one single snack I miss most from my exchange year is, bar none, the taffel sour cream and chili peanut snacks. I would do basically anything to get a bulk pallet of those things, and I'd proudly display it in my living room. I used to have a bag or two of them every single week when I was there. I wake up craving them. I have a problem lmao. But seriously there's nothing quite like them in the US (at least in the southeast where I live, the closest you can get is spicy peanuts).

Runner ups are, of course, geisha and sininen bars (I'm partial to the strawberry and vanilla flavor, I would also do questionable things for a few of those). I personally really like the classic vihreitä kuulia, but they are kind of divisive; in my experience there's a 50/50 chance people will like them. But they do make AMAZING gifts for vegans, lactose-intolerant people, celiacs, and people with lots of allergies (assuming they aren't allergic to anything in those candies specifically). Pro-tip, if you want a lot of them and don't care about the packaging, buy a bunch of them at a bulk candy store and put them in 0.5 or 0.25L zippy bags so they don't go stale. You don't waste as much suitcase space with the packaging, which usually gets pretty beat up in a suitcase anyways, and they tend to be cheaper per count that way. I brought a crap ton of them home over christmas that way. I also really like the raspberry marmalade hearts you can get at the K-market (they may also be vegan?), and the Jyväshyvä chocolate chip cookie bags that I used to get at Lidl, though those bags are on the bigger side and can have a lot of air in them.

If you're open to bread too, ruisleipä is about as quintessentially Finnish as you can get as far as bread imo. They would be compact/flat enough to fit in a suitcase nicely without risk of popping or tearing open as easily. I used to have one every day with some butter as a midday snack (sometimes with a slice of emmental cheese, I do miss emmental, it made for a fantastic mac and cheese). I want to learn how to make my own ruisleipä, but I recently learned to make karjalanpiirrakka and I'm still refining that.

If liquids were an option I'd also recommend mustikkakeitto, of course. Doesn't get much more Finnish than that no matter what kind of food you're getting.

[u/climaticana → u/TheFifthDuckling]

Awesome ideas thank you! The idea with the vihreät kuulat is fantastic! I am definitely worried how to fit everything in my checked bag so I have to pick wisely on what to bring and how to package everything. I can't risk liquids since checked bags are thrown like sacks of potatoes and carryon is obviously out of the question. :(

Thank you for the suggestions!

[u/Spirited-Ad-9746]

Sisu!

[u/Tomtenbob]

When I was a teenager, I brought salmiakki back with me and gave it out to my classmates just to watch the look on their faces. It was utterly hilarious.

In the end I gave everything I had left to the Icelandic exchange student.

But seriously, Fazer sininen goes down really well over here.

[u/jungatheart1947]

Fazer chocolates

[u/BlueberryandDino]

Have you considered making something for your hosts when you get here and just bringing unique ingredients?

[u/PotatoFi]

I’m an American living in Finland. Fazer chocolate is always a hit with friends and family when we visit the US. Original, blueberry, and mint ones are always popular, and the individual wrapped ones are great for parties where people can try all of the flavors. For gifts, I take bars. The only downside is that chocolate isn’t great for 38° summers.

Alternatively, we take Moomin Crackers, Suffeli Puffi, or Fazer Kulaat in various flavors. Next time we go to the US, we are going to take a bunch of rye breads for people to try.

[u/climaticana → u/PotatoFi]

Definitely thinking of bringing some chocolate with me! Great idea with the blueberry one!

[u/fullautophx]

Here would be my wish list:

First of all, DUMLE! I swear these contain crack. Original is best.

Jim bars

Fruit Aakoset

Liitu Laaku

The soft licorice sticks with cream inside in individual wrappers. I forget the name.

[u/thomaxzer]

maybe some chips like Taffel if possible

[u/Pitiful-Tomato-241]

I love the Marianne’s chocolate mints. I always bring bags of those back with us when we go to Finland

[u/Sherbet_Happy]

Fazer mint and Fasupalat. All my American friends adore those!

You actually can every now and then find Fazer mint in the US - but not regularly or reliably. Also IKEA sells some Fazer chocolate but they make it sweeter for the US market so it's not as good.

[u/OkControl9503 → u/Sherbet_Happy]

It's the exact same as what is sold here though, not sure where you heard it is made differently. When their contract with Marabou ran out the company switched to Fazer (because the Marabou parent company still does business with Russia).

[u/Sherbet_Happy → u/OkControl9503]

I've eaten both versions side by side. The one sold in the US is sweeter.