Pucko is a classic

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

drink made from milk, sugar and

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

. It is currently manufactured by

Cocio Cocio is a chocolate milk drink produced in Esbjerg, Denmark. It is moderately popular in the rest of Scandinavia and, to a lesser extent in some US regions, namely New England. It is also available in the Philippines, Spain, the UK, the Netherl ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

History

Pucko was created in 1953 by Mjölkcentralen, predecessor to Arla Foods, in

Järlåsa Järlåsa is a locality situated in Uppsala Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of Swe ...

and launched in 1954. The name is inspired and derived from an ice cream called (chocolate puck), a business that Mjölkcentralen/Arla also had at the time. "Puck" was part of the name in some way of several of Mjölkcentralens products, among them a cheese. is a mild

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

for "

idiot An idiot, in modern use, is a stupid or foolish person. 'Idiot' was formerly a technical term in legal and psychiatric contexts for some kinds of profound intellectual disability where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot ...

" in

. During the 1955 consumer product exhibition, Sankt Eriks-Mässan 19 700 bottles were sold in 16 days. In the mid 1960s, sales tenfold. The original bottle was inspired by the

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

bottle design, but it was abandoned shortly. The next design was used until 2000 when it was slightly altered to the current design. In 1975 production responsibility was handed over to , a subsidiary of Arla. In 1987 production was moved to

Laholm Laholm () is a town and the seat of Laholm Municipality, Halland County, Sweden, with 6,527 inhabitants in 2015. Laholm is, despite its small population, for historical reasons often still referred to as a ''city''. The town is located at the e ...

and the factory in

closed. Arla sold Semper in 2003 but kept the rights to Pucko, and production continued at Semper in Laholm. 1 July 2005 the production was transferred to Cocio in

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022)

, Denmark. The move to a foreign company was met with criticism and upset Swedish hot dog sellers. 12 people were laid off in Laholm. 1 January 2008 Arla bought the remaining 50% of Cocio from E. Bank Lauridsen Holding A/S and IAT Holding A/S, making Cocio a wholly owned subsidiary of Arla and thus taking full control of the Pucko production, among other things. During the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

in 2008 sales of Arla's chocolate milks fell substantially. There existed a Pucko ice cream from July 2009 until at least that year out by Hemglass. For some time after the production move to Cocio, Pucko was branded with Cocio as well. As of 2021 Pucko is branded without Cocio.

Description

Pucko is a cold chocolate drink that is primarily available in 20 cl glass bottles with a screw top, but there is also a somewhat bigger bottle. Pucko is now also sold in cartons, 1 L bottles and 25 cl aluminium cans. The drink itself is also available in a few variants including a diet version, a dark chocolate version and a few versions with added flavour. Pucko is made from standard pasteurised milk, which is pumped into the process via a heat exchanger. The milk is heated to 75°C and mixed with sugar, cocoa and caramel flavouring. The latter gives Pucko its mild taste. The mixture then goes into a homogeniser and is later autoclaved. The mixture is then cooled to room temperature and is thus ready. Hel special och Pucko

While Pucko is sold in most Swedish shops that sells cold beverages, it has become especially associated with

hot dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced Hot dog bun, bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausag ...

vendors. To order a hot dog with a Pucko is a common

cliché A cliché ( or ) is an element of an artistic work, saying, or idea that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being weird or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was consi ...

although it is not known how many Swedes actually prefer this combo. ( Stockholmer) is used as local slang for Pucko when ordering in a

hot dog stand A hot dog stand is a business that sells hot dogs, usually from an external counter. Hot dog stands can be located on a public thoroughfare, near a sports stadium, in a shopping mall, or at a fair. They are often found on the streets of major ...

Göteborg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...

. Pucko, or , is closely associated with and often ordered together with a Gothenburg local popular dish called and , meaning half special and whole special, consisting of one or two hot dogs respectively in a sausage bread with mashed potatoes on top. Pucko has been called a national beverage, a cult drink and a symbol for Sweden.

Nutrition information

References

External links

Pucko's Website
{{Chocolate beverages Arla Foods Chocolate drinks Goods manufactured in Denmark Swedish brands Swedish drinks Products introduced in 1954 1954 establishments in Sweden