Danes Try To Take Credit For Old Icelandic Candy-Making Tradition

Representatives of the Danish company Lakrids by Bülow seem to claim that the Danes invented a popular way of coating liquorice with chocolate, reports Vísir.

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The promo text of the company has attracted the attention of comedian and actor Vilhelm Neto on Twitter.

With a screenshot of the ad, Vilhelm said that it was amazing to watch the Danes try to take credit for a method of serving sweets that has been known for quite some time in Iceland, at least since before 2009.

“These are the Danes taking our honour. Icelanders have been doing this since, I don’t know when. Mix the liquorice and chocolate together yourself. When they went to the grocery store, they bought a liquorice bar and a chocolate bar and ate together. It has been since 1984 that a product called Freyja’s dream was launched. It is actually the first product of this type to be produced,” says Pétur Thor Gunnarsson, managing director of the confectionery manufacturer Freyja.

Pétur says that from 1984 to 2009, several products were made using the same mixture.

“So, no no, Icelanders were one hundred percent first with this,” says Pétur.

Pétur says that Johan Bülow actually got the idea for chocolate-covered liquorice balls in Iceland, after tasting the popular Djúpur, which came on the market in 2002.

“He told this story, has stopped telling it now, but told how he got the idea here,” says Pétur. “I’m not taking anything away from him, he does great work and makes cool things. He has traveled to Iceland many times, loves Iceland and all that. He got the idea for his product here. Tasted Djúpur and said: “Listen, I’m going to go to Denmark and I’m going to make this there.”

Pétur says there are some differences between Bülow’s products and the chocolate liquorice products that Icelanders are used to.

First of all, the liquorice itself. That is the biggest difference. Secondly, the difference is that “they just have different chocolate,” says Pétur, who is not saying that the Danish chocolate is anything other than quality chocolate, as it is marketed.