Pucko

For the Polish village, see Pucko, Poland. For the Slovenian footballer, see Klemen Pucko.

Logo of Pucko. Dark brown upper case letters in san serif typeface with white borders and shadows on top of an orange filled circle with a border in the same dark brown colour and two words in white upper case characters; "choklad" in the upper half of the circle above "Pucko" and "original" in the lower half below "Pucko".
Standard logo in 2021.

Pucko is a classic Swedish drink made from milk, sugar and chocolate.[1] It is currently manufactured by Cocio in Denmark.

History

Two different glass bottle sizes of Pucko, the left being smaller and held at the top by a hand.
Two glass bottles of Pucko with Cocio branding as well in 2011, one 20 cl bottle to the left and one 27 cl bottle to the right.

Pucko was created in 1953 by Mjölkcentralen, predecessor to Arla Foods, in Järlåsa and launched in 1954.[2][3] The name is inspired and derived from an ice cream called Choklad-puck (chocolate puck), a business that Mjölkcentralen/Arla also had at the time.[2][3] "Puck" was part of the name in some way of several of Mjölkcentralens products, among them a cheese.[2] "Pucko" is a mild slang for "idiot" in Swedish.

During the 1955 consumer product exhibition, Sankt Eriks-Mässan 19 700 bottles were sold in 16 days. In the mid 1960s, sales increased tenfold.[2]

The original bottle was inspired by the Coca-Cola bottle design, but it was abandoned shortly. The next design was used until 2000 when it was slightly altered to the current design.[2]

In 1975 production responsibility was handed over to Semper [sv], a subsidiary of Arla. In 1987 production was moved to Laholm and the factory in Järlåsa closed. Arla sold Semper in 2003 but kept the rights to Pucko, and production continued at Semper in Laholm.[2][3]

1 July 2005 the production was transferred to Cocio in Esbjerg, Denmark. The move to a foreign company was met with criticism and upset Swedish hot dog sellers.[2][3] 12 people were laid off in Laholm.[3]

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.[4][5][6][7]

During the Great Recession in 2008 sales of Arla's chocolate milks fell substantially.[8]

There existed a Pucko ice cream from July 2009 until at least that year out by Hemglass.[9][10]

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[11] 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.[12]

Pucko with hel special.

While Pucko is sold in most Swedish shops that sells cold beverages,[13][14] it has become especially associated with hot dog vendors.[2][15] To order a hot dog with a Pucko is a common cliché although it is not known how many Swedes actually prefer this combo.

Stockholmare (Stockholmer) is used as local slang for Pucko when ordering in a hot dog stand in Göteborg.[16][17] Pucko, or stockholmare, is closely associated with and often ordered together with a Gothenburg local popular dish called halv special and hel special, meaning half special and whole special, consisting of one or two hot dogs respectively in a sausage bread with mashed potatoes on top.[18][19]

Pucko has been called a national beverage, a cult drink and a symbol for Sweden.[3][2]

Nutrition information

Pucko 20 cl
Nourishment, per 100 g
Energy: 280 kJ/65 kcal
Carbohydrate: 10 g
Fat: 1.5 g
Protein: 3.5 g

References

  1. ^ Solomon, M.R.; Polegato, R.; Zaichkowsky, J.L. (1998). Consumer behaviour: buying, having, and being. Prentice Hall Canada Inc. p. 303. ISBN 978-0-13-758707-0. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Norberg, Kerstin. "Pucko - Arlas historia". Arla (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lidén, Svante (1 April 2005). "Aftonbladet: Puckat med dansk Pucko" [Aftonbladet: Empty-headed with Danish Pucko]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 31 August 2005. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  4. ^ Bratthall, Erik (8 January 2008). "Arla köper Cocio". Arla (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  5. ^ Bratthall, Erik (8 January 2008). "Arla köper Cocio" (Press release) (in Swedish). Sweden: Arla. Mynewsdesk. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Arla blir helägare till Pucko". Fri Köpenskap (in Swedish). 8 January 2008. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Arla köper Cocio". Jordbruksaktuellt (in Swedish). 9 January 2008. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Färre köper Arlas chokladmjölk" [Fewer buys Arla's chocolate milk]. ATL (in Swedish). 15 June 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  9. ^ Bratthall, Erik (2 July 2009). "Nyhet i Hemglass bilar - Klassikern Pucko som glass - Puckoglass!" [News in Hemglass' cars - The classic Pucko as ice cream - Pucko ice cream!]. Arla (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  10. ^ Bratthall, Erik (2 July 2009). "Nyhet i Hemglass bilar - Klassikern Pucko som glass - Puckoglass!" [News in Hemglass' cars - The classic Pucko as ice cream - Pucko ice cream!] (Press release) (in Swedish). Sweden: Arla. Mynewsdesk. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  11. ^ World Drinks Marketing Directory. Euromonitor. 1999. p. 435. ISBN 9780863388071. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  12. ^ Eriksson, Leif, kock (2004). Korv, mos och människor : en bok om svenska korvkiosker. Jenny Nordquist. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. ISBN 91-46-21100-4. OCLC 186331227.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Thorburn, G. (2012). Superpiss, Meltykiss, Spankers and Muff. Little, Brown Book Group. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-78033-907-8. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  14. ^ McDonough, J.; Egolf, K. (2015). The Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising. Taylor & Francis. p. pt1212. ISBN 978-1-135-94913-6. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  15. ^ Eriksson (kock.), Leif (2004). Korv, mos och människor: en bok om svenska korvkiosker (in Swedish). Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. ISBN 978-91-46-21100-6. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  16. ^ SaJo (22 March 2009). "Slangopedia: stockholmare". Slangopedia (in Swedish). p. 1. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  17. ^ Adam12312412312312 (26 September 2013). "Slangopedia: göteborgare". Slangopedia (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ "33 – Halv special". Göteborgs-Posten (in Swedish). 3 May 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2021. Däremot tillåts inte så stora variationer när det gäller den vidhängande drycken. En halv special ska drickas med en flaska kall pucko.
  19. ^ Johansson, Kristin (30 March 2017). "Hel eller Halv special & konsten att koka korv" [Whole or Half special & the art of boiling sausages]. Kokaihop (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 March 2021. Sen verkar åsikterna gå isär när det kommer till tillbehör och extra topping. Men med i matchen är räksallad, drycken Pucko, rostad lök, Bostongurka och naturligtvis senap och ketchup.