Freia Chocolate Factory Tour

Last week I got to tour the Freia Chocolate Factory here in Oslo with ICON (International Club of Norway).  Freia to Norway is like Hershey's to the US.  Freia has been around since the late 1800's.  They're now owned by Kraft, but the chocolate is still the same - and it is delicious!

Twenty of us got to go on the tour.  No motorized ride like Hershey's.  Instead we started with a history of the discovery and origin of chocolate - the Aztecs and Quetzalcoatl introducing cocoa, Cortes taking it to Europe, even learning about the secret to making cocoa powder that dissolves in water - removing the fat, resulting in cocoa butter!  We then learned about the history of Freia and it's chocolate.  For example, the name "Freia" was the original factory owner's wife's name; the next owner liked it so he kept it and it's been the same ever since.  There was a little room decorated like their original flagship store with different samples of all their different chocolate bars over the years (not to eat, just to look at and see how they changed).  We saw old TV ads, which were hillarious!  I managed to find them online and embedded them for your viewing pleasure...

blurry, but you get the idea

We then donned hairnets and smocks, straight out of the classic "I Love Lucy" episode before walking on the factory floor and checking out all the machines.  There was chocolate everywhere and it all smelled SO good!  I think the only reason we all resisted the temptation of snatching some straight off the line was because they kept giving us free samples throughout the tour.

And last but not least, we got to make our own chocolate!  Ok, we got to pour our own chocolate.  They gave us little molds, just smaller than an average chocolate bar with "Freia Land" on them.  We wrote our names on our molds, lined up, walked to a little spigot, pulled the lever to dispense chocolate into the mold until you heard this little "poof,"then tilt and shake the mold to get the chocolate all settled around, placed it on a large cookie sheet, then threw it in a fridge for a while while we decorated our own boxes for our own chocolate bars.  Very fun for all of us to do together and certainly a great way to spend a Tuesday!

In the "time machine"

We had to hop over the "icebergs" and across the "water"

The best shot I got of the machines; you can see the chocolate on the belt.

Jean modeling the latest in chocolate factory fashion; decorating our boxes.

 

Lunch afterwards at The Nighthawk Diner

My chocolate bar!