A month or two ago I was in the candy aisle at my alternate Shop-Rite, and discovered something a little strange. Both the original Swedish Fish, and a low sugar version of Swedish Fish made by a different company are made in Canada. So a competition was natural. I bought both, and decided to see which was best.
Starting with the elder statesman, Swedish Fish were developed by the Swedish company Malaco in the late 1950's. (I know this detail is a bit vague--I couldn't find out who invented it, and exactly when, or a lot of other historical background information anywhere online.) Malaco teamed up with the large British confectionery company Cadbury to distribute this candy to the U.S. For those that are curious, no, the candy is not made using actual fish. It's just that Sweden was, and presumably still is associated with fishing, so it seemed appropriate to mold the candies into a fish shape. The original Fish were red, and the flavor was cherry-ish. Swedish Fish were enormously successful in my home country. At some point (again, details are frustratingly absent), the mammoth Mondelez International Group entered into a partnership with Malaco, and Mondelez now makes and distributes the candy in North America. (Although oddly, some of the candy intended for Canada and American consumers is also made in Turkey.) Malaco still exists, and still makes Swedish Fish, and other candies, for European customers. I did learn that Malaco is abbreviated from "Malmo Lakrits Compani," and began in 1934. Also, there is a slight difference in Fish made for North Americans, and those made for Europeans. The former have "Swedish" embossed on each individual candy, and the latter have "Malaco" on them. Moreover, in 2008 Swedish Fish got a jokey slogan--"A Friend You Can Eat." (Technically, of course you could potentially eat any and every friend, but unless you're in extreme starvation conditions it's not usually socially acceptable, or legal.)
The "new kid on the block," so to speak, is Smart Sweets Inc. Again, it was a bit difficult to track down, but the founder appears to be Tara Bosch, who started the business in 2016. If there was one thing I took away from the various articles and information about Smart Sweets, and Bosch, is that she, and her company seem to hate sugar with an all-consuming passion. (I'm exaggerating a little, but still.) Smart Sweets' candies avoid sugar, and even sugar alcohols, whatever that means. Instead, the company uses stevia, and allulose to flavor its wares. Their biggest selling brands currently are their Sweet Fish, Peach Rings, Sourmelon Bites, and Sour Blast Buddies. Somewhat surprisingly for a health-conscious company, their products are not Kosher, and some are not even vegan (they use gelatin in some cases). Their manufacturing facilities may process peanuts and tree nuts as well. Moving on, Smart Sweets has succeeded enormously in its short life, and its products are sold in over 130,000 stores, and generated millions of dollars. A business website listed its total employees as being between 51-200, and its base in in Vancouver, B.C. Plus, for those that care, reportedly 80% of Smart Sweet's employees are female, although the CEO as of late 2021 is listed as being a Douglas MacFarlane.
Malaco traditional Swedish Fish: The individual pieces were fish-shaped, clearly, and about 2 inches long by .75 inches wide (or about 5 cm. by 1.75 cm.), with "Swedish" embossed on them. The fish were facing left. My box had 4 kinds--the traditional red, orange, yellow, and green.
Red (cherry): Chewy, familiar cherry flavor. As good as I recall.
Yellow (lemon): Not as good. Same texture, lemon flavor not as tasty.
Orange (orange): Nearly as good as the cherry--nice texture, and orange flavor.
Green (lime): Probably the best. I tend to like lime flavor best, in general. Sweet, chewy, and tasty.
Smart Sweets Sweet Fish: These were similar to the regular Swedish Fish, although there were subtle differences. The fish were facing right, and were slightly smaller--1.75 inches long, and .5 inches wide (or about 4.5 cm. by 1.25 cm.). The color was red, but slightly duller than the Swedish kind. And "Smart Sweets" was embossed on them. Compared to the Swedish originals, these had a softer texture, (although the Swedish Fish box I bought might have been older), not quite as chewy. The taste was good, but not quite as good as the Swedish ones--the sweetness was noticeably weaker, and different.
Therefore, gun to my head, I'd say the original, Malaco Swedish Fish taste a little better, but it's close--the Smart Sweets ones were decent. And clearly many customers really like the kind with much less sugar. So if you're looking to cut back on sugar in your diet, but still want the occasional serving of fish-shaped candy, the Smart Sweets' ones seem like a good alternative. Finally, I should say it was a coincidence that I did a post about Canadian candies the same week the smoke from all those wild fires covered much of the Northern U.S.
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