Review: Fazer Salty Popcorn in Milk Chocolate

Based on what I've seen on Facebook and Twitter, Finnish chocolate lovers couldn't wait to get the chance to taste this latest chocolate from Fazer. Me, not so much. Chocolate and popcorn? I wasn't enthusiastic. The reason is simple: I don't like popcorn. I know! I'm weird. It's not that I hate it or anything, I just never really understood the appeal. So when we went grocery shopping yesterday and I saw that this had arrived on the shelves, I couldn't decide whether to buy it or not. But my husband, who is extremely encouraging (especially when it comes to sampling chocolates; he enjoys the tasting sessions as much as I do) started chanting “buy it, buy it, buy it!” Well, who am I to say no? ;)

The wrapping and the size and shape of the chocolate are familiar from the classic Fazer products. The colouring of the wrapping varies a little depending on the flavour of the chocolate tablet, but part of the wrapping is usually dark blue – I guess in honour of what we could call Fazer's signature product, “Fazerin Sininen” (“Fazer's Blue”). The popcorn version comes in a wrapping that's partly light blue. There's a picture of chocolate, popcorn and grains of salt – easy enough to figure out what's inside. The bar itself is fairly large (well, the normal size for the classic Fazer tablets, 200 grams) and divided into small squares. I don't know if anyone can limit themselves to just one of these small pieces; I've never tried.

The scent is interesting. In some pieces the toasted aroma of popcorn is overwhelming, it immediately makes me think of movie theaters, and I couldn't find the chocolate under it at all. In other pieces, the chocolate aroma is clearly stronger. I guess that depends on the amount of popcorn bits per piece. Anyway, it is not an unpleasant scent and it certainly aroused my curiosity!

And the taste? Let's start with the chocolate. I was not disappointed: it's high quality milk chocolate – and I wouldn't expect anything less from Fazer. That's what I love about Fazer's milk chocolates: they aren't overly sweet and sugary, like some milk chocolates tend to be. And then there's the popcorn. It forms tiny, crispy pieces that are easily chewable (i.e. not too hard). They taste... well, of popcorn! It's that roasted, toasted aroma of corn we're all probably familiar with. And there's a sprinkling of salt, a nice amount but not too much. Everything is well balanced: the smoothness of milk chocolate and the crunchy additions; the sweet richness of chocolate and the saltiness of popcorn.

In short, I was somewhat dubious about this one (“Who wants popcorn in their chocolate?”), but it turned out that after one piece, I wanted more! From now on, I'd like my popcorn in this form. :D