Freia chocolate factory

In Oslo, my boyfriend and I attended a university organized tour of the Freia Chocolate Factory, which was organized by the International Students' Union. It was actually a lot more fun than either of us had anticipated. We were also shocked to learn that the tour would be 3 hours long when we first arrived. I thought we would just receive a tour of the factory and score some chocolates. We did/got both of those things, but we also got to try making our own chocolates and we went on a tour of the history of chocolate.

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When we first arrived we had to wait some time (maybe an hour or so) before they would start the tour. I'm really not sure why we had to wait since our group of 25 students had a reservation, so we all split up for an hour and walked around Grunerlokka. It was really cold this day, and the factory receptionist wouldn't let us stay inside.. not even when it was just the two of us, lame!

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Before the tour started we were taken to a room where we could press chocolate into our own molds. By the time we were finished with the tour, our chocolate had cooled and solidified. While we were there doing this molding, we of course were provided with a lot of chocolate to eat. On the walls there were old chocolate molds that were once used but have now been retired. It was really neat to see them. They had pigs, chickens, all sorts of things!

The tour began by taking us through a variety of rooms showing the history of chocolate. The first room was set up like a rain forest to show where the cocoa beans grow. Another room was decorated like a boat to illustrate how the beans were carried across the seas to the different countries. Of course they couldn't have a room for each aspect of cocoa's history, so one of the rooms was decorated as a time machine! Fun! We also got to wander through exhibits showing how a chocolate shop from decades past would have looked. As we went through each of these rooms, we got a piece of chocolate, so we collected quite a bit along the way.

My boyfriend and I talked about how any kid would have absolutely loved this tour.. and it was fun for adults too. I think all of the other students enjoyed themselves as well. We found out that you could even host a kid's (or adult's, I suppose) birthday party at the factory. At one point (I believe it was after the tour through the history of the chocolate), there was a room full of toys (not the usual kind of toys) but it was really meant for little kids who needed a break part way through the factory tour.

Finally, after learning all about the history of chocolate, we were able to have a tour of the actual factory where they make the chocolate at Freia. We each had to put on these awful white coats, booties on our feet, and hairnets. I understand why they had us wear such clothing, but still, it made us all feel silly. While we were allowed to take pictures in the other part of the tour, cameras were not allowed in the factory itself. This is because they often are developing or manufacturing new kinds of chocolate bars. This was the case while we were there. We all were able to see the new chocolate bar that hadn't even hit the stores yet and coming bar of chocolate.

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The factory was so loud it was very difficult to hear and understand our tour guide, but I was able to learn about how my favorite Freia chocolate bar is made. My favorite is the milk chocolate bar with bites of Kvikk Lunsj (it would be called Quick Lunch in English) and sea salt. If you're unsure what it is, it's similar to a Kit Kat bar but a lot better. The sea salt is what really sets it off. In my opinion, it is the perfect blend of sweet and salty. Normally I prefer dark chocolate, but when it comes to Norwegian chocolates, this is my bar of choice.

This bar is made by using the scraps from the Kvikk Lunsj bars, which have a wafer-like cookie in them. You see, when the chocolate bars are made, some of these wafers get broken and are just unable to be used in a Kvikk Lunsj bar. So, the chocolate inventors thought up a way to use these scraps instead of throwing them away. So they added these scraps, a bit of sea salt, and covered them in chocolate and voila... perfection! Now the bar has become so popular that they don't have enough scraps, so they have to break perfectly good wafers into to make the bars.

This was a seriously fun trip! If you're a student in Oslo, try and get your student activities group to organize a trip to the Freia Chocolate Factory. You won't be disappointed.. and neither will your stomach. I came back home with a lot of chocolate to enjoy!