Amalia Eriksson
Amalia Eriksson, née Lundström (25 November 1824, in Jönköping – 19 January 1923, in Gränna), was a Swedish business person, known as the inventor of the Polkagris, a type of candy stick which she invented in Gränna, Sweden.
Amalia Eriksson was the daughter of farrier Jonas Lundström and Katarina Hagen Andersdotter in Jönköping. Her family died of the cholera when she was ten, and she became a domestic servant. In 1855, she moved to Gränna in the company of the family she worked for at the time, where she married the tailor Anders Eriksson in 1857.
Widowed with a newborn daughter in 1858, one year after her wedding, she applied for permission from the magistrate of Gränna to manufacture and sell pastries and peppermint rocks, and was granted her permit in 1859. Amalia Eriksson became the first person to manufacture and sell the Polkagris, a product which was launched in the year of 1859. She kept the recipe for the Polkagris secret, and it was only revealed upon her death. She had several followers within the business in the city. Her own shop was inherited by her daughter Ida Eriksson, who managed it until her own death in 1945. The house of her work shop still stands, and was made in to a hotel in 2003.
Amalia Eriksson, as well as her daughter Ida, is buried at the Gränna cemetery.
References
- Berezin, Henrik (2006). Adventure Guide Scandinavia: Sweden, Norway, & Denmark. Hunter Publishing. p. 141. ISBN 978-1-58843-579-8.
- Widenfelt, Sam Erik; Wifstrand, Selma (1975). Favorite Swedish Recipes. Dover Publications. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-486-23156-3.
- Änkan som är polkagrisens moder. Företagsamheten.se, Om svenska uppfinnare, entreprenörer och deras företag.
- Alexandra Selivanova. ”Amalia Eriksson”. Uppfinningar & kreativitet; Svenska uppfinnare. Tekniska Museet. Läst 15 juli 2014.