Review: Freia Firkløver
August 23rd, 2008Norwegians have three extra letters in their alphabets, including this one: ø. According to Wikipedia, this is a monophthongal close-mid front rounded vowel or, in less fancy words, it sounds like the vowel in “bird”. All of this said, I’m still not sure how to pronounce Firkløver, but the word (and the packaging) look very nice.
Anyway… let’s talk about the candy bar. It’s pretty hefty - about 3 1/2 ounces. Compare this to a standard Hershey’s chocolate bar, which is only about 1 1/2 ounces. From a quick glance of the web, it also has a hefty price tag. I was lucky enough to score this one as a gift from a Norwegian friend wanting to show off his country’s goods (thanks Gunnar!).
Structure
This is an 18 segment molded milk chocolate bar with pieces of chopped hazelnuts spread throughout.
Texture
I’m always concerned about thick chocolate bars. I don’t want to work to bite through them. This wasn’t a problem at all with the Firkløver. Even though it as a nice temper, it’s still soft and smooth to bite through. The chocolate feels very thick and creamy, but it melts away effortlessly leaving small pieces of hazelnuts for the finish. Overall, the chocolate and crunchy hazelnut textures work perfectly together.
Taste
The chocolate flavor is just really good. I don’t know what else to say except I wish all milk chocolate was this good. There isn’t a ton of hazelnut flavor, but you do get some at the end after the chocolate starts to subside.
Verdict
There’s nothing creative or fancy about this bar. It’s just a milk chocolate bar with nuts in it, yet it’s incredibly good. I definitely recommend trying one of these out one day.
Tags: hazelnuts, milk chocolate
August 25th, 2008 at 7:19 am
I was fortunate to have also tried this bar and I totally agree with your assessment. The taste was fabulous. I also really enjoyed the size of the hazelnuts. They were small and weren’t overwhelming. They accented the taste of the chocolate nicely.
December 5th, 2009 at 7:17 am
This is possibly my favourite chocolate bar of all. I can’t get it where I am and am very fortunate to have a friend on Norway who keeps me in constant supply. You’re absolutely right in that the milk chocolate has a distinctive smoothness and taste of its own. I’ve also tried Freia’s Melkesjokolade which is a plain milk chocolate bar and it’s really delicious. I think having a supply of these chocolates from Norway has spoiled me and other milk chocolates don’t quite cut it anymore.
January 5th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
I’ve been spending the last hour or so reading all the reviews on your blog, and I must say: I’m impressed by the general quality of them, especially all of them beeing very specific; telling us exactly what you like, and don’t like, about each bar.
As a Norwegian, it feels great to get a confirmation from someone from another part of the globe that the Norwegian milk chocolate is really good. I’m always anxious that I like things only out of habit, and have a tendency to think less of unfamiliar tastes, i.e. chocolate, merely because they’re unfamiliar. In my opinion, the Swiss and Norwegian are the best mass produced milk chocolates. I find the Belgian to be slightly too sweet (even though it’s been a couple of years since I last tried some, so I’m probably mistaken on this).
If I’m going to recommend other Norwegian chocolates, I’d say you should try one called Walters Mandler if you get the chance. Caramellized almonds in the same milk chocolate as Firkløver, and other Freia products. It’s only available in large bars of 200 grams, though, as far as I know. For something completely different: If you’d like to try a really good mint chocolate, I’d recommend the Dark Mint, also from Freia. I tried it myself for the first time today, and at first I found the mint taste too strong. I’m not that fond of the taste, but I began enjoying it after a short while. I also found that it tastes excellent after having had a piece of plain milk chocolate, with that taste still present in the mouth. It’s rather dark, 70 %, but that goes very well with the strong taste of mint. Even though Freia’s dark chocolate isn’t my favourite (and I like dark chocolate way better than milk chocolate), seeing as I find it a bit too sweet and tasteless compared to other brands, it is still great, and goes very well with the fresh taste of mint.
January 13th, 2010 at 12:16 am
Freakout - Overall, the Norwegian candy bars I’ve had have been very high quality. I have a few Norwegian bars left in my stash to taste, but sadly the Walters Mandler is not one of them. I’ll have to try that one out some day.
February 21st, 2010 at 12:29 am
i really miss that chocolate!! haaaaaargggg! it’s simply the best chocolate i ever tasted… huhu.. i wish i can have that on my debut.. but that’s not possible today.. CRISIs.. haha!!