The other day on Tumblr I ran into a Legolas meme that involved a candy I grew up with:

“One small bite is enough to fill the stomach of a grown man.”

That’s actually not too terribly far from the truth. 😀 It’s quite possible to inadvertently overdose yourself on them—these suckers are surprisingly large. See for yourself:

Since I’m a nerd who never wondered about this candy before, I had to read a bit more. 🙂

Fazer is an old Finnish company that makes biscuit and grain products, confectionery, and other candy. In addition, they run a chain of popular cafes. One of their seasonal products is pear-flavored marmalades or jelly candy called vihreät kuulat (green balls).

(Marmalades are not one of Fazer’s international brands, which was tough for me when we were still living in the U.S.—I could only get my green ball fix when visiting Finland at the right time of the year, or if someone sent or brought them as a gift.)

Apparently Fazer has been making jelly candies for Christmas since the end of 1800s, when the founder Karl Fazer brought a recipe home from St. Petersburg, where he had been studying. The green ball format and flavor has been for sale since 1929.

Besides Christmas, the second big season for green balls is Easter (although I have to admit that’s escaped my notice thus far). Altogether Finns eat some 25 million green balls a year. These days there are also green ball flavored chocolate and cookies, and I’ve even seen spreadable jelly.

Woo, only 6 years to their centennial! I hope they’ll make something special. 🙂

Images: Legolas meme via homunculus argument on Tumblr. Green ball by Eppu Jensen.

Geeks eat, too! In Second Breakfast we talk about food with geeky connections and maybe make some of our own. Yum!