A candy cane, originally white with red stripes and tasting of
peppermint, but today available in hundreds of tastes and colors.
The first polkagris was baked by Amalia Eriksson in the late 19th century, in Gränna, Sweden, and the real polkagrises are still handmade there.
The word itself, directly translated from Swedish, would mean "polkapig", which makes just as little sense to someone speaking Swedish as to anyone else.
A polkagris is made out of water, sugar, a dash of vinegar, colouring and various essences. This is mixed and heated to approximately 250 degrees celsius, and then worked into a thick white dough, which is rolled into sticks. Contrary to common belief the taste is not in the colour - sometimes it's exactly the opposite, since some bakers do not add flavour to the colored sections.