Monday, March 20, 2017
Easter is slowly creeping up on us and the year has just begun! I, for one, love Easter. I love it so much I would marry it!
But it’s not because I get to spend some quality time with my family or have deep and meaningful discussion about God, religion or politics. Oh, no sir, not me. I’m only in love with Easter because I get to stuff my face with Icelandic Easter eggs!
The truth about Icelandic Easter eggs
If you haven’t heard already, Icelanders have a thing for chocolate Easter eggs. We’re talking about a chocolate shell, filled with candy, topped with a cute, little baby bird and decorated with some more candy and non-edible flowers. Every year I tell myself I will just have the one easter egg and I will not devour it in one sitting. I will take it slow, enjoy every bite and even have some left over for the day after. And every year I fail miserably. Because nothing beats waking up bright and early on Easter Sunday Morning and devouring an egg, or two. Would you judge me if I ate three?
This tradition of the Icelandic Easter eggs dates back to 1920 and up until a few years ago, the only option in the Easter egg market was a plain milk chocolate shell stuffed with candy. Even though the eggs were so humble, Icelanders had very strong opinions on which one was best. It’s an ongoing debate with many possible, scrumptious answers.
Today, it’s even trickier to choose your favorite Easter egg because there are so many options. Icelandic candy makers have taken it upon themselves to revolutionize the Easter egg market every year, offering a variety of novelty eggs inspired by their most successful candy.
Tasting for tourists
So, we here at Must See in Iceland, decided to have an Icelandic Easter eggs tasting for tourists to see if our Icelandic Easter eggs were up to par. We partnered up with one of our favorite tour operators in Iceland, Laxnes horse farm, and got travelers to blind test the eggs, 13 eggs to be precise. We contacted five candy manufacturers in Iceland who make Easter eggs; Nói Siríus, Góa, Freyja, Kólus and Hafliði Ragnarsson chocolatier at Mosfellsbakarí bakery. Only one manufacturer did not want to participate and that was Góa. The other four provided us with eggs for the tasting.
We asked the tourists to rate the eggs from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best score. We also kindly asked them to give us a short feedback on each egg. Some of the eggs are highly controversial and the verdict as a whole is shocking for me, a native Icelander!
Here’s the verdict of the Icelandic Easter eggs tasting in reverse order
13th place
The traditional milk chocolate egg from Nói Siríus
Average score: 5,625
“No….soft! Should be crispy.”
“Good but I have had the same taste before.”
“The chocolate had a strong sugary taste, tasted like cheap, First Price chocolate. I would not buy this.”
“It was good but it tasted a little bit old, like christmas calander chocolate. I would maybe buy it, but I’ve tasted better.”
“I’d buy this!”
“Average.”
“Did not enjoy this egg very much. I would rather eat smoked mackerel.”
12th place
Sterkar djúpur egg from Freyja
Average score: 6,17
“A lot of taste.”
“I don’t like licorice.”
“Very rich in flavor.”
“I don’t understand! Why would you eat something this horrid?”
“Chocolate okay. Did not enjoy the aftertaste.”
11th place
Caramel and sea salt egg from Nói Siríus
Average score: 6,75
“It was good. Too sweet for me but I would buy it for dessert.”
“Really good, but really sweet. I’d only be able to eat one small piece at a time.”
“My favorite! Loved the caramel.”
“A funny aftertaste. Sadly I would not buy this.”
10th place
Egg with 45% dark chocolate from Nói Siríus
Average score: 7,125
“Taste like Freias Dronning Chocolate. It is really good.”
“The egg was dark chocolate but still sweeter than most dark chocolates. I would buy this.”
“Woho! Yummy!”
“No taste.”
“Not really a dark chocolate fan.”
“Nice.”
“A bit bland. Probably the Landrover Defender of the chocolate world.”
9th place
Licorice Dream Egg from Freyja
Average score: 7,25
“Too sweet.”
“It had licorice in it. The licorice was salty, which I never tried before.”
“Good and special. I would buy more of this.”
“I would definitely buy it in the store.”
8th place
Kólus Easter egg & football egg
Average score: 7,3
“It was good. It tasted like milk chocolate but has a cookie dough aftertaste.”
“Too sweet.”
“Yummy!”
7th place
Adventure egg from Freyja
Average score: 7,4
“It was good. Tasted like M&M.”
“Chocolate was good. Too sweet in my opinion.”
“Very rich – could not eat a lot!”
“I don’t really get this one. It’s sort of like a huge Smarties bar. Too much for me – I would not buy this at a store.”
6th place
Nóa Kropp egg from Nói Siríus
Average score: 7,5
“It was ok. Not bad but this is really not my type of chocolate.”
“I like the chocolate, bt not really the crunchy stuff that was in it.”
“Best one!”
“Average good. A tad bland. I would not buy it.”
5th place
Organic dark chocolate egg from Hafliði Ragnarsson
Average score: 7,8
“It has an interesting aftertaste. The aftertaste was slightly sour.”
“You can just feel how expensive this egg must be. Really sophisticated and the pieces are so beautiful, you hardly dare to eat them.”
“The chocolate is almost black. Really rich taste.”
“Strong aftertaste.”
4th place
Crunch egg from Freyja
Average score: 8
“This one is my ultimate favorite!”
“What is this crunch?! I love it!”
“This is way too sweet for me. Kind of like watching 8 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy in one night.”
“I’m in heaven. Love this one.”
3rd place
Caramel crunch egg from Freyja
Average score: 8,167
“I would not buy this. It tasted strange.”
“The sot crackers complimented the sweet, light chocolate nicely giving it a rich flavor and the feeling of melting in your mouth. I would buy this.”
“Love the crunchiness.”
“Delicious! I like the crunch. This one is my favorite.”
“I could eat 100 eggs right now.”
2nd place
Licorice egg from Nói Siríus
Average score: 8,5
“A lot of taste and satisfying.”
“Tastes like it has a little bit of mint in it.”
“This is a tad much for me. I think I would give this to my least favorite cousin.”
“I love licorice so this is one of my favorites.”
And the winner is….
1st place
Dark gourmet egg from Freyja
Average score: 9
“Very good dark chocolate. I would buy this one!”
“Strong cacao taste. Very good.”
“I love dark chocolate.”
“I like this one a lot better than the other dark chocolate one.”
“This is some professional chocolate making!”
Jury:
Tonje (Norway), Asgeir Marc Stangeland (Norway), Ingeborg Guggedal (Norway), Kristian Blegge (Norway), Tora Selvåg Braadland (Norway), Per Ekerlund (Sweden), Ariel (USA), Rebecca (Australia), Melissa Biggs (USA), Wang (China), Taylor (USA), Claire (UK), Josh (UK), Hans Müller (Germany), Amelie (France), Clément (France), Pimchanok (Thailand).
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We would like to add that you can buy Easter eggs from Freyja and Nói Siríus in most convenient stores all over Iceland. The egg from Kólus can only be bought straight from the manufacturer at Tunguháls 5 in Reykjavík. Handmade eggs from Hafliði Ragnarsson chocolatier can be bought at Mosfellsbakarí bakery in Reykjavík and Mosfellsbær.
