Marabou Chocolate

I've mentioned before that my friends and co-workers are all awesome, and regularly bring back chocolate whenever they travel, like Studentská and Milka from Slovakia and Läderach and Cailler from Switzerland.  Today's offering came from Emil, when he returned from Sweden, and, in true Emil style, he brought back a number of different bars to try from Marabou, a brand I had never heard of.

If I lived in Sweden however, I certainly would be familiar with the brand, as they have been around since 1916.  It sorta seems like Sweden's Cadbury or Hershey, and is even owned by Kraft at this point.  Anyway, I tried a slew of the bars, and, for the most part, they weren't really my style, mostly because the selection was all milk chocolate, and I prefer darker chocolate.  The mix-ins were fascinating though, and, for milk chocolate, it was good.

Jordgubb (strawberry)

"Swedish Classic Milk Chocolate with pieces of strawberry in bar".

Not something I'd normally purchase, but, it sounded interesting, like a chocolate covered strawberry perhaps?

Inside the bar.

The chocolate was creamy enough, milk chocolate.  As you can see, there were chunks of dried strawberry embedded throughout.

The taste was instantly familiar: Carnation Instant Breakfast, strawberry flavor.  So fake tasting.

Another taster's first remark: "There is certainly something artificial in here!"  However, one of my co-workers really did enjoy it, so, clearly, to each his (or her) own.

Schweizer nöt (hazelnut).

"Milk chocolate with hazelnuts".

This had the same base mediocre milk chocolate, loaded up with little bits of chopped hazelnut.  Since I don't like hazelnut, this wasn't very appealing to me, but my co-workers quickly devoured it.  I did appreciate the crunch of the nuts at least.

Salta Mandlar.

"Milk chocolate with roasted caramelised salted almonds."

Next was another nutty offering, this time with bits of almond.  I again appreciated the crunch of the nuts.  They didn't taste caramelized or salted as promised though.

The milk chocolate however did start to grow on me.  I found it creamy and as enjoyable as I was ever going to find a milk chocolate.

Daim.

"Milk chocolate with pieces of Daim.".

Uh, what is Daim?  The internet seems to say "crunchy butter almond". To me, it seemed like toffee.  And, indeed, it basically is.  Further digging reveals that this was there attempt at making something like Heath Bar.

This was the best so far, but, my second favorite overall.  Creamy milk chocolate, with a sweet crunch from the bits of Daim.  I liked the crunch, I liked the sweetness.

Black Saltlakrits.

"Chocolate bar with Salty Licorice"

Ok, now we were talking.  I adore salty licorice.  I've had some decent chocolate coated licorice, so it wasn't strange to me to combine them.

This was pretty great.  Creamy milk chocolate.  Crunchy bits of licorice.  Yes, crunchy.  This wasn't soft, candy-style licorice, it was hard, pure licorice.  Super intense.  Salty.  Bitter.  Sweet from the milk chocolate.  All at once.

Definitely my favorite bar, and a unique set of flavors and textures.

Drömkrisp.

"Milk chocolate filled with hazelnut nougat, crisps and salt."

This bar was a bit harder to break into pieces.  But, I did it ...

Drömkrisp: Inside.

The milk chocolate on the outside was very creamy.  Again, I don't really like milk chocolate, but for creamy milk chocolate, it was excellent.  The filling was slightly sweet, slightly crispy, and only a tiny bit hazelnuty.  If I hadn't read the description, I certainly wouldn't have known it was supposed to be hazelnut.  I didn't taste any salt.

Overall, this was fine.  Great milk chocolate, nice texture, but if you were really wanting hazelnut, it would likely let down.