Szaloncukor is a type of sweet traditionally associated with Christmas in Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. It is a typical Hungarikum, so much that almost the whole quantity consumed in Romania are of Hungarian production. It is usually made of fondant, covered by chocolate and wrapped in shiny coloured foil, then hung on the Christmas tree as decoration.
Every year, almost a kilo and a half of it are consumed per household during Christmas season.
The tradition of hanging these candies on the Christmas tree started in the 19th century. It was named szaloncukor because the tree usually stood in the parlour (szalon in Hungarian; Cukor means "sugar" or "candy"; in Slovak salón is "parlour" and -ka is diminutive suffix).
The name comes from the German-Austrian Salonzuckerl, this is why the original name was szalonczukkedli.