Ahlgrens Bilar are the Swedish lollies shaped like little cars, and they ship to Australia from our own warehouse in Sweden.
Four from Cloetta reach Australia: Bilar Original, Saltlakrits, the sour Syrlig Frukt and Lakrisal salmiak pastilles. Free shipping to any Australian address.
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Ahlgrens Bilar are foam cars, soft to bite rather than gummy, and bilar is simply Swedish for cars. The shape was a mistake nobody bothered to fix.
The Ahlgrens factory in Gävle was aiming at an American-style marshmallow in 1953 and couldn’t get the foam pieces to come out big enough. A worker looked at the undersized result and said it looked like a Bugatti. The taste was right, so they went on sale as cars.
They went through three names on the way.
Skumbilar. Foam cars, what Swedes called them while they were sold loose.
Ettöresbilar. One-öre cars, after what they cost from the pick and mix.
Ahlgrens Bilar. The name from the 1970s, when Ahlgrens made them a product in their own right.
The firm behind them started in Gävle in 1885 making perfume, shoe polish and a prize-winning writing ink, and when it was sold to the Finnish group Huhtamäki in 1993 the Ahlgrens name was retired everywhere except on the cars.
Cloetta owns them now, a company that goes back to 1862 and runs from Sundbyberg, just outside Stockholm. Its slogan for the cars is not modest.
Sveriges mest köpta bil. Sweden’s most bought car.
Bilar Original is the soft foam car in pink, white and green, and the other two take that same car somewhere else. Original goes back to 1953, Saltlakrits to February 2010.
Saltlakrits is a good first step into salt liquorice, a gentler start than a bag of Djungelvrål. All three cars are made with gelatine. For the only Cloetta sweet without it, go to Lakrisal.
Lakrisal is the most concentrated salmiak in our Cloetta range, and the declaration is about as short as confectionery gets: sugar, liquorice extract at nine per cent, salmiak at six, and two anti-caking agents. No gum arabic and no starch, which is why the tablets come out hard and powdery and have to be pressed to hold their shape. The flavour lands all at once.
Lakrisal has no gelatine in it, the tablets are small, and one pack settles the question of whether salty liquorice is for you faster than anything else here.
All four from Cloetta post from Sweden to any Australian address, Sydney and Melbourne through to Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. If salt liquorice turns out to be your thing, Djungelvrål and the rest of the Swedish candy range are the next stop.
Ahlgrens Bilar are the Swedish lollies shaped like cars. Bilar is Swedish for cars, they’ve been made since 1953, and they’re foam rather than gummy. Three versions ship to Australia.
Ahlgrens Bilar are available to order here, posted from our own warehouse in Sweden with free shipping and tracking to any Australian address. All three cars ship, including the sour Syrlig Frukt.
Cloetta keeps the original deliberately vague and won’t say whether the three colours taste different. Saltlakrits is salty liquorice, and Syrlig Frukt is raspberry, peach, pineapple under a tart sugar coating.
Ahlgrens Bilar are not vegan, since all three cars are made with gelatine. Lakrisal is the Cloetta sweet made without it, and Bubs states that its whole range is vegan.
Syrlig Frukt is the sour Ahlgrens Bilar: raspberry, peach, pineapple in the same soft foam car, lacquered with a tart sugar coating and made without artificial colours or flavourings.
Ahlgrens Bilar are foam rather than marshmallow, a texture Swedes call skum. It started as an attempt at an American-style marshmallow in 1953 and came out firmer and smaller, and that is the texture the cars have kept.
Ahlgrens Bilar are made in Sweden by Cloetta. They came out of the Ahlgrens factory in Gävle from 1953 until it closed in 2014, and Cloetta runs the brand from Sundbyberg.
Lakrisal is a hard salmiak pastille. Cloetta declares liquorice extract at nine per cent and salmiak at six, with no gum arabic and no starch, so the tablets are powdery and pressed rather than chewy. It is the strongest salty liquorice in our Cloetta range.
