If you are visiting Finland on a budget trip and cannot afford to buy Finnish design, consider Finnish food and sweets as affordable and unique gifts and souvenirs. They can easily be bought from the duty free and other stores at the Helsinki-Vantaa international airport.
Salmiakki (Salted Liquorice)
Salmiakki is available in a few countries outside Finland, but the range of salted liquorice made and sold in Finland is huge. It can be an acquired taste, but it is a Finnish speciality that makes a fun (and affordable) gift. Salted liquorice comes in a variety of sizes, shapes, flavours and packs, and while the duty-free stores at the airport sell family-size bags and boxes, ordinary supermarkets and kiosks often carry a better variety in brands and sizes.
Salmiakkikossu is an alcoholic drink made with Koskenkorva (a highly popular Finnish grain alcohol that goes by the nickname kossu) and salmiakki. The sweets dissolve in the alcohol and the combination creates a drink that, much like salmiakki itself, is an acquired taste and gets you drunk fast. Salmiakki Koskenkorva (or Salmari) is available from Alko stores, the government-owned stores that have a monopoly on selling spirits in Finland.
Finnish Chocolate
There are countries that are much more famous for their chocolate than Finland, but the variety of Finnish chocolates is great, and boxes of chocolates are convenient gifts or souvenirs. Fazer is the most famous of Finnish chocolate makers. Try Fazer Blue, the traditional Finnish chocolate that is available in small or large bars and in decorative boxes, or any of the multiple varieties of Fazer's original milk chocolate.
Finnish Rye Bread
If you're buying your last-minute souvenirs from Finland at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport, the food department in the Stockmann store stocks a range of Finnish delicacies and unique products that make good gifts. Traditional Finnish rye bread is always a good souvenir: try fresh rye bread or rye crisps (hapankorppu). Popular brands and products that are easy to carry in your hand luggage include Reissumies and Ruispalat.
Cloudberry (lakka) belongs to the most expensive berries in Finland and is considered a delicacy. Cloudberries are used to make jam (sold in many supermarkets and also in the airport Stockmann) and liqueur (available from Alko stores and from the airport duty-free). If you need to buy last-minute presents on a budget, the duty-free and the Stockmann store have a range of unique, odd and tasty souvenirs from Finland.
