Candy Bar Lab

This Russian candy bar has a scary looking baby on the packaging. Why? I have no idea, but it’s obvious they haven’t updated their wrapper design since the mid-1940’s. It’s cool in a retro kind of way, but the baby kind of freaks me out. I also learned from the back of the label that this product contains “flavoring identical to a natural one”, which could either be reassuring or frightening depending on how much you trust the Russian equivalent of the FDA…

Structure
A molded milk chocolate bar with crushed pieces of hazelnut and raisins mixed in.

Texture
The milk chocolate is actually well tempered and has a nice snap when you bite in. The hazelnut bits are really crunchy and the raisins add some chewiness. In the pieces I ate, there were definitely more hazelnuts than raisins which is probably a good ratio. Raisins are cool and all, but hazelnuts are better. Overall, a nice blend of textures.

Taste
I was at first a bit surprised by how not-sweet the chocolate was. Though that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’ve grown used to tasting overly sweet and vanilla-heavy chocolate, so I welcome a candy bar that errs on the side of restraint with the sugar. At the same time, the chocolate is a bit bland. That could also be because a couple hours earlier, I was eating this bar which has a really strong milk chocolate. Besides the chocolate though, there’s nothing surprising. The hazelnuts are nicely toasted and the raisins add some tartness. I found myself liking the overall flavor combination after a few bites and wanted to keep eating.

Verdict
Not the greatest candy bar I’ve had, but pretty good nonetheless. The texture of the chocolate and hazelnuts together were really nice, which is ultimately what won me over.

Norwegians 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.