A classic Swiss hard candy, Cola Fröschli, brings back childhood memories for many people who grew up in Switzerland. If you want to learn more about this frog-shaped sweet treat, here are 10 facts about an iconic Swiss food product:
1. In 1938, a man named André Klein started making Cola Fröschli in Basel, Switzerland.
When the American soft drink Coca-Cola arrived in Switzerland, Klein had the idea to try adding a cola flavor to a hard candy. With this concept in mind, he created Cola Fröschli.
2. Shaped like little frogs (fröschli), they weigh approximately 5 grams each.
Furthermore, these candies have a brown color. This color comes from the caramel sugar syrup.
3. Cola Fröschli appears within the directory of Patrimoine Culinaire Suisse.
This directory of Swiss culinary heritage includes tradional food products from Switzerland.
4. The original recipe for this candy has not changed.
The ingredients for this candy include the following: sugar, glucose syrup, citric acid, caramel sugar syrup, natural aroma and sunflower oil.
5. The cola flavor for these frogs comes from a natural ingredient.
The company uses the nuts of the kola tree, according to Patrimoine Culinaire Suisse.
6. Klein shaped these candies like a frog, lying down on its belly.
He thought this shape makes the candies more appealing for children.
7. Other flavors of the frog candy have been introduced over the years.
The include flavors such as raspberry, lemon and caramel, but the original cola flavor has lasted over time.
8. These frog-shaped candies are also known as Goggi-Fröschli.
Goggi means “cola” in Swiss German. In French, these candies carry the name, grenouilles au cola, and in Italian, Ranocchiette all cola.
9. Since 2015, Cola Fröschli have been produced by Egli AG.
This Swiss company is based in Effretikon, within the canton of Zürich.
10. Finally, Cola Fröschli celebrates in 80th anniversary in 2018.
To help commemorate this anniversary, Egli AG unveiled a new design for its packaging.
Sources:
- Cola-Froschli, Egli AG
- Cola-Fröschli, Patrimoine Culinaire Suisse
- Happy Birthday, Goggifröschli!, Berner Zeitung
Updated: May 10, 2022