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Are you a sucker? We Make Candy, Kato Paphos, Living

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Sweet treats but with no additives

The latest shop to open in Paphos will leave you drooling says NAN MACKENZIE

Last week I had to have my fingers prized out of a jar filled with the King of Denmark’s aniseed balls, and only after I had previously plundered a pile of liquorice rusty nails. I then continued to delight my saliva glands by sucking on some coco-mints which was akin to eating a hardboiled version of a Baileys Irish cream. 

Be warned – it’s true hard boiled heaven in the recently opened We Make Candy sweet shop on the Paphos seafront (next door to the Gourmet Taverna). It’s a place you can hardly miss as the minute you come close to this clean, bright and deeply attractive sweet emporium, the nostrils will start twitching appreciatively as the gentle scent of home made confectionery triggers the frontal lobe into ‘sweet’ mode.

The Hansen family are responsible for bringing back into fashion the lure of the proper boiled sweet which hail originally from Denmark. It’s a mother, son, and daughter in law operation, not forgetting their four-year-old son Malthe who doubles as part time quality controller, also chief lollypop tester.    

This lovely, lip licking shop offers a dazzling array of over 32 individual hard candy recipes with top sellers being lemon, apricot, mango, raspberry, peach, peppermint (note:- sucking a daily peppermint was a recommended Victorian cure for baldness). Then there is the unique flavour of sweet and sour rhubarb (sour flavours are currently all the rage and it is proven that they both aid digestion and also cool down your body temperature in hot climes) and top of my list has to be that deliciously Moorish choco-mint ‘baileys’ delight, but not forgetting some seriously heavy duty Danish made liquorice strips. These black as an oil spill delights with their tingling aniseed flavour, coupled with that sweet-sour back note are also being hailed as a genuine healthy option, with liquorice having long been coveted as an effective natural treatment of bowel disorders, coughs, menstrual cramps also stomach ulcers and as perfect breath fresheners.  

A hugely comforting element has to be the very strict Scandinavian approach to the actual making of the candy - here its deemed to be as healthy as possible at least within the confines of the best ingredients, proper cane sugar, and zero additives, so those brightly jewelled colours are all generated from natural sources, meaning they will mercifully not result in your child turning into a candy fuelled aerobic monster after sucking on one lollypop.

The other great thing is from behind a protective glass frontage, customers can observe each stage of the candy making, and admire the sheer physical stamina it takes to work the yet unformed candy before it cools down and the brightly coloured ribbons of hot candy come coiling out snake like to await the cooling process and - yes - during this bit of the process you are also treated to a free taste test. 

Already the family’s order book is filling up with enlightened couples opting for small glass jars filled with beautiful coloured sweets as both pretty and tasty wedding and christening favours, and what better way to thank a hostess, or deliver a birthday wish than presenting friends and family with what I can only describe as truly delicious tasting mini rainbows captured in a jar. 

We Make Candy

Posidonos Avenue, Kato Paphos, Tel: 99 214248 or 99 108997, wemakecandy@hotmail.com