I recently saw a bar of chocolate being shared on Instagram and commented on how awesome the wrapper was, a lot of effort had gone in to making it look desirable and I was lucky enough to be contacted and offered some samples to road test in my mouth. And here is my first (of many) review of chocolates from around the world (assuming other countries will want to send me their’s in competition). First up are 4 bars from Estonia.
Info about the manufacturers: According to my sources Estonia has a national chocolate factory and they do a line of bars celebrating their national folk heroes. The name of the company is Kalev and you can find them on Instagram and the Facebook. Using my amazing translation skills I think they have been making chocolate since 1806 so plenty of time to get it right, yeah? There is some translating done in this review to share the stories of each folk hero, if there are any mistakes it is all Bill Gates fault…I can’t be held responsible as he told me he knew what he was doing.
Linda
First up is Linda and using Bing translate this is who Linda is: Born of a freckled egg, the mythical Linda was a beautiful and proud woman who rejected the suitors of the moon and sun and wind and water. Only the powerful Kalev was to his liking. Linda had three sons, the youngest of whom became a fatherly strongman, the son of Kalev, the estonian national hero. After Kalev’s death, the widow despised several suitors, including the Finnish windman Tuuslar. This wanted to take Linda along forcibly, but the sky titan Uku saved her, turning her into a boulder on the outskirts of Tallinn to Irumäe.
The chocolate is of the milk kind and it is crammed full with plenty of chopped hazelnuts.
Using my wife and kids we tried this one and all enjoyed it, chocolate is very tasty and there are loads of nuts in it, the chocolate breaks easily, makes a mess and I ended up looking like a kid with chocolate all over me fingers. Top stuff.
Piret
Next is Piret and Bing says….Piret was the strong wife of the ancient ruler of Saaremaa, Suur Tõllu. Piret once went to Hiiumaa to visit Tõllu’s brother. Along the way, Vanapagan came to claim some of the village suit he had brought with him from Piret. Piret, however, gave Vanapagan being greedy and asking for more. At this, Piret gave him such an obadus with a loaf of bread that the old wickedness lost sight and hearing for a while. Thus, the courageous Piret properly taught Vanapagana that it is not worth bothering the servants.
Another milk chocolate this time with whole hazelnuts. Again everybody loved this one, I am a big fan of chocolate with whole nuts in it. Impossible to break this one into equal pieces and it was with great reluctance that I had the biggest piece. Very tasty and I think the best of the bunch for showing how silky the chocolate is.
Põrgupiiga
3rd bar is Põrgupiiga….Once, when Kalev’s son was getting acquainted with the underworld, he met three beautiful hell-beasts who kindly introduced the life there and offered their help should the hero happen to be killed by Horn. In order for Kalev’s son to stay on, the elder replaced the drinking glasses of The Horn’s ramblings and ramblings with a pi. The middle one gave Kalevipoeg a magic hat made of nails, with the help of which, along with loads of gold, they reached the gates of hell. However, with the magic wand of the younger pile, the bridges along which the hero and the peeps again got to earth were completed.
This is the bar that started off this adventure, I saw this bar and thought wow! Dark chocolate with sunflower and pumpkin seeds. The wife isn’t a fan of dark chocolate and gave this one a no, the kids and myself enjoyed it, I don’t think I have ever had a chocolate bar with these flavours but it works well the seeds give it a nice crunch that goes well with the bitterness of the dark chocolate.
Saarepiiga
The last bar was called Saarepiiga….I am unable to find Saarepiiga’s story, to this day it remains a mystery. What I do know is that this bar contains bread and cranberries, bread is an important part of the Estonian diet and that is why it has been included in this bar.
“Bread in a chocolate bar?” who would do that is what each of us said, haha. It works though, the bread is nice and crispy which goes well with the cranberries, all of us gave this bar a thumbs up.
Final Thoughts: All 4 bars were tasty, the milk chocolate and the dark chocolate were of high quality. The size of bars were good too, none of this British shrinking chocolate we get over here. So which one was best? I did a vote, 1 vote for Saarepiiga, one vote for Piret and two votes for Põrgupiiga.
Overall I’d give these bars 8/10.
Massive thanks to Liz Scanlon for sending me these goodies, you can find her blogging, twittering and instagramming so be sure to give her a follow.
And if anybody out there thinks their chocolate is better than what Estonia has to offer then give me a shout.
Gnome Appreciation Society 