When you say Switzerland, you say Ricolaaaaa! You probably recognize the candy from the yellow packaging that you may have taken with you on holiday in the car when you were younger. And not without reason, because Ricola candies are super tasty. Did you know that there is a whole story behind that little candy? We traveled to the Swiss Alps at the invitation of Ricola to see with our own eyes how this tasty candy is made. We will tell you all about these delicious herbal candies.
First things first: where does Ricola come from?
Ricola is a true family business from Switzerland. Every step in the production process of the candy takes place in Switzerland: from harvesting the herbs to packaging the candy in the iconic box. The family business dates back to 1930 and was founded by Emil Richterich. To this day, the fresh herbs that go into the candy are dried, cut and stored in the herb centre in Laufen. There are around 100 herb farmers in Switzerland who harvest their herbs exclusively for Ricola. So you can safely call it a real Swiss candy! Oh yes, fun fact: you may have already solved the puzzle, but the name Ricola comes from ‘Richterich’, ‘Compagnie’ and ‘Laufen’.
Herb farmers
One of these herb farmers, Lukas, told us passionately and enthusiastically that he has been working with Ricola for years. Lukas has been working with Ricola for about forty years and that is not without reason: he not only offers financial support, but also security and stability. Not only does he talk passionately about his collaboration, his passion for herbs is also evident. Every herb is special and indispensable for Ricola and we hear that in his story. After his story, we would like to take that entire herb garden home with us!
13 different herbs in one candy
The candy owes its delicious taste mainly to the different herbs. The herbs are harvested and dried in the Swiss mountains. For example, yarrow, peppermint, sage, chamomile and all other herbs are transported to the herb center in Laufen for processing. Approximately 1.4 tons of pure Swiss herbs are collected for these herb pastilles each year. That is a total of 124 football fields full of herbs. Wow! You can probably imagine that we could still smell the mint on our clothes after visiting these herb fields.
The productionproces
We briefly mentioned it earlier, but the entire production process takes place in Switzerland. We were also able to witness the production process with our own eyes. The herbs are harvested and dried and stored in very large bags in the Herb Center that we also visited. These herbs are then turned into ‘tea’, after which the machines in the factory do their work to transform it into sweets and pack it in boxes. And did you know that Ricola also sells different tea flavors? Perfect if you are a tea lover.
Export to other countries
Ricola is not only found in Switzerland, but also in all other countries in Europe. The candy is doing particularly well in France, Italy and Germany, but Ricola is also doing very well in the United States. In fact, the United States are the largest buyers of the product. Whichever supermarket you look in, you will find Ricola almost everywhere. That feels like ‘coming home’. Do you want to see all the flavors together? Then you can, just like us, visit the Ricola store in Laufen. Here you will find all the flavors together in a rainbow arrangement. Not only tasty, but also very pretty.
Would you like to visit the herb garden yourself?
To see at a glance which herbs are processed in the Swiss candy, we visited a herb garden in Nenzlingen. This was a herb garden, high in the mountains, where all the herbs were shown. If you are lucky, you will see all the herbs in full bloom. John, the gardener who told us everything about the herbs, told us that you can visit the herb garden whenever you want without an appointment. So, if you want to make an extra stop at this herb garden in Nenzlingen during your next visit to Switzerland, go for it!
