In the latest round of “what’s the best chocolate in my eclectic collection?”, it’s time for Switzerland vs Norway, Lindt vs Freia, the battle of the two great neutral European powers. Now, this one’s going to be interesting because these are both high scorers – Lindt soundly defeated Greek Lacta back in April and drew with Dairy Milk in July, although in that case I declared it a favourite rather than a winner. Freia also defeated Lacta and many years ago, drew with Swedish Marabou, so both chocolates are sitting on a win and a draw.
Let’s reintroduce the contestants.
In the blue corner is Swiss Lindt and specifically – and perhaps unfairly – its Excellence brand, the flagship of the Lindt range. Lindt remains independent, one of the few good chocolates that hasn’t been hoovered up by Mondelez/Kraft. Lindt comes in a cardboard box, with the chocolate inside wrapped in thin foil.
In the yellow corner is Freia, which has. Kraft bought Norwegian Freia in 1993 and I take that as a good sign, generally. Mondelez has good taste in chocolate and you’ll often find, at least in Europe, that any given country’s best, long-lived national chocolate, is bought by them – see Cadbury, Freia, Marabou, Lacta, E Wedel, Alpen Gold, Korona… the list goes on. And yes, Freia. Freia comes a little more conventionally packaged, in bright yellow flowrap plastic.
But which one is the best?
Well, I say it every time but I love the creaminess of Lindt. Sometimes a particularly creamy chocolate bar loses the chocolatiness and it just tastes too milky but Lindt have managed somehow to avoid that trap. I love the way it snaps – thin chocolate is so much more satisfying than thick and Lindt’s large thin squares are exquisite. But on the other hand, Freia, being less milky, is so much more chocolatey. I think I do prefer the chocolate flavour of Freia. But do I prefer the chocolate flavour of Freia over the creaminess of Lindt, as well as over its chocolate? Actually, I think I do. Oh, it’s a hard win, I want to make it a draw and certainly when I’m feeling decadent, it’s Lindt I go out and buy – admittedly, this is made easier by the fact that you can’t easily buy Freia in the UK but I don’t even think of Freia. Nonetheless, weird as it feels, I’m going to declare Freia the winner here, the better chocolate by dint of having a better chocolate flavour.