Tyrkisk Peber (Danish for "Turkish Pepper", often referred to as "Turkinpippuri" in Finland, "Tyrkisk pepper" in Norway, "Turkisk peppar" in Sweden and "Türkisch Pfeffer" in Germany) is a strong liquorice candy flavored with ammonium chloride (salmiakki) and pepper, made by the Finnish company Fazer and popular in the country. Tyrkisk Peber was originally invented by Per Fjelsten, his wife's name was Elly, therefore the company name Perelly, in 1976 [1] [2] and made by the Danish company Perelly, which was taken over by Fazer.
The basic variant is a large, hollow round shell both coated and filled with salmiakki powder. It is sold in dark blue bags. The Tyrkisk Peber product family has later expanded to include the "Hot & Sour" (a milder variant of the traditional design, produced in four different flavours) and "Bonfire" (soft, much milder candies) bagged variants, as well as lollipops and filled licorice. There has also been a chili flavored version and a strongly licorice-flavored version with less of the ammonium chloride and peppercorn flavoring, but these have since been discontinued. The licorice-flavored variant can still be found as one of the flavors in the “Hot & Sour” bags, though. Tyrkisk Peber ice cream is sold by Hjem-IS/Kotijäätelö in Norway and Finland.[3]
It no doubt adds to their popularity that Tyrkisk Peber is sometimes used to make the Finnish cocktail salmiakkikoskenkorva and similar Danish, Norwegian and Swedish cocktails. When Perelly manufactured Tyrkisk Peber, it was also available as powder. The powder was often used to make the cocktail, which in Denmark is known as sorte svin, små grå, or hot shot, in Sweden as lakritsshot, and in Norway as tyrker, små grå, or lakrisshot.
Tyrkisk Peber is hygroscopic, and if left in an unsealed bag it will absorb water from the air and stick together after a few days. Norway also has several different versions of this candy, including Pulverpadder, Rustne Spiker and Speider-Hagl.