Presents for the hosts

I was told to get something from Finland to the host family and the class at the co-op school.

From left to right, starting from the top;
Two packets of crisp rye-bread - one flavoured with garlic and one plain 100% rye. Finnish bread, which they don't have in the UK. I know they have crisp bread, but not this very, very thin and very crispy rye bread.

Soft liqourice. This is the "normal" liqourice, the sweet kind, not to be confused with black liqourice.

And left to right, the bottom row;

Sisu - the liqourice pastils, which recipe is a guarded secret. The so called typical Sisu pastil tastes of liqourice and has a hint of tar in the taste. They do also have "tar" flavoured Sisu. I have three different types of Sisu here, two flavours as chewing gum and the "typical" kind as pastils. They are an acquired taste, not everybody likes them.

Fazer Salmiakki mix - a selection of Fazer's salmiakki, a.k.a. ammonium chloride, candies. There are four different kinds of salmiakki in this bag: Super Salmiakki, Merirosvorahat and two slightly different in taste salmiakki candies, which aren't sold as their own brands.

Super Salmiakki is a bit difficult to describe. It's not exactly sweet, really, but it isn't that salty, either. Personally I don't like them and just give them to my partner, who absolutely loves them :D

Merirosvorahat, or pirate coins, are round salmiakki pastils that have a pirate coin stamped on them. They are quite sweet with that nice kick of salmiakki in them. They also sell candies called Merkkarit, which are like pirate coins but a lot bigger than these and they also have fruit flavours in the same bag. They discontinued them some time in the early 2000s, to the dismay of us who grew up in the 70s-90s, and brought them back in mid-2010s. Sadly they don't taste the same as they did in the 90s.

The Diamond shaped salmiakki candies, that make up the rest of this bag's selection, are the more generic salmiakki. They both have a distinctive shape determining which flavour is which; the one with a flat top is more salty, and the one with a ridgy top is more sweet.

And finally, Tyrkisk Peber - Or as we call them, Turkinpippuri, literally translates to Turkish pepper. They are marketed as something very hot and spicy. They are salmiakki as hard candy, with a sweet and quite hot salmiakki powder inside. Personally I like these candies a lot, and prefer to savour them for as long as I can, so I never bite into them. I suppose the "spice", the idea that they are hot, comes from the fact that if you bite into the candies, the surprising spiciness creates the idea of the candies being like pepper.

I've received more ideas on what I should take with me as presents, like the local liqourice (which was my original plan, but the store I went to doesn't carry the local liqourice factory's products!), Finnish chocolates, mämmi since Easter is coming... Some of the ideas are quite good, but sadly I also have to have room for clothes and keep in mind that the bag that goes into the hold can't weigh more than 23 kilos.
What I am going to do is I'm going to buy one more thing at the airport, after we get to the tax free stores. Something the host family's adults will definitely remember me from (or not if they consume it at once, haha!).