Retro Hungarian sweets, you can still taste

Most of the candies and chocolates we consider retro today, were born around the 1960s. Even though the supply of the plethora of sweets seems endless in stores nowadays, there are some brands and products that survived the hardships of the decades and are still popular among Hungarians to this day.

Although it might only bring up nostalgic memories in the older generations, some young people are starting to go back to what their parents and grandparents craved when they were little. According to a survey in 1951, 40% of sweets that people in Budapest consumed were candies, and only 5% were chocolate. Still, this number grew significantly in 1967 when the chocolate they consumed were 20% of the total number of sweets, says Origo.

Most of the Hungarian sweets were made in factories in Budapest as the only worthwhile producer was the Szerencsi Chocolate factory in the countryside, and that was true up until the regime change in the 90s.

A few years back, a survey was made about which brands of these sweets are being remembered the most. They asked 1001 Hungarians between 18-69 years old. A whopping 79% mentioned ‘Dunakavics’ (Danube rocks – roasted peanut dragées in coloured sugar cover), 76% said ‘Macskanyelv’ (Cat’s tongue – particularly shaped chocolate ‘bars’). Although they are not as common as they once were, these sweets can still be found on the shelves of many stores. We will introduce some retro sweets that you can even go out and buy today to see for yourself why people like them so much.

‘Dunakavics’ (Danube rocks – roasted peanut dragées in coloured sugar cover)

The production of the ‘Dunakavics’ started in 1964, and the product still has the same recipe ever since. You can find this delicacy in the stores in blue bags. The name comes from the fact that with the uneven sugar coating, these dragées look like pebbles right from the Danube.

It was the ‘Duna Csokoládégyár’ (Danube Chocolate Factory) that started making them. The company was the inheritor of the beer-making company, Dreher-Maul. There is actually a story behind this peculiar connection. According to legend, the Dreher company fed their by-product from beer making to cows. Before World War II, the company built a chocolate factory for utilising the milk the animals produced, but after the war, the Danube Chocolate Factory inherited their machinery.

The name of Frigyes Stühmer is also connected to the widespread of this sweet. In the 90s, the German Stollwerck AG bought the plant of the ‘Budapest Csokoládégyár’ (Budapest Chocolate Factory) and the new plant was moved to ‘Vágóhíd utca’ (street), and this retro dragée is still made there today.

‘Francia drazsé’ (French dragée – Cocoa dragées in coloured sugar cover)

The production of this sweet was simultaneous with the ‘Dunakavics’. The Danube Chocolate Factory started producing them in 1964. The children soon became fond of this chocolate to the dismay of parents and doctors. Crunching the dragées with your teeth can cause damage to the enamel of the teeth and often doctors had to remove these sweets from the nose of children who put it in there for fun.

The recipe is still the original and the current manufacturer, the same as of ‘Dunakavics’, Bonbonetti Choco Kft. sells them in a red package, opposite to the blue ‘Dunakavics’.

These sweets are so popular nowadays as well that you will easily find it in almost any store and there are even three new flavours.

‘Macskanyelv’ (Cat’s tongue – particularly shaped chocolate bars)

These are 5-8 centimetres long, elongated chocolate bars with wide and rounded ends that somewhat resemble a cat’s tongue. It could be made out of white, milk, or dark chocolate. You can eat it right away, or you can use it to decorate other things with is.

It was invented by Emil Gerbeaud at the end of the 19^th century, while others think that the idea came from the Austrian Küfferle company. What is certain is that in Hungary, it was Gerbeaud who served it first for his customers in his confectionary at ‘Vörösmarty tér’ (square). It can now be found in almost all European countries, and it is even popular in Japan.