Freia Melkesjokolade

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Freia Melkesjokolade is a Milk Chocolate from the Norwegian chocolate brand Freia and has been the most sold chocolate in Norway since the 1960s. The chocolate was launched in Sweden in the 1950's as a Swedish product, then called Marabou, and has since then been known under the Marabou brand in the other Nordic countries, and later also Estonia. In Norway it remains as Freia.

Freia was created in 1906 by the newly hired manager Johan Throne Holst (1868-1946). When he took over management, he realized that there was a potential market for edible milk chocolate, in addition to the dark chocolate and other minor products Freia were producing at the time. It became a success. However, it wasn’t until the 1920s that regular people had the money to buy chocolate, as it was a luxury product at the time. The chocolate is consistently marketed to create national romantic associations - as the essence of everything that is Norwegian.

Based on the Melkesjokolade Freia produces other candy bars containing nuts, extracts from oranges, raisins etc.:

• Firkløver (1926)
• Daim (1953)
• Helnøtt (1958)
• Fruktnøtt (1963)
• Appelsinkrokan (2004)
• Kjekskuler (2005)

Trivia

• Hollywood actress Renée Zellweger, who has a Norwegian mother, used to eat a lot of Norwegian Melkesjokolade. When her mother had been to Norway and came back to the USA, Zellweger always looked through her mothers suitcase in order to find the Norwegian Melkesjokolade, she always knew her mother had bought for her. Zellweger still says she loves Norwegian Melkesjokolade and that it's her favourite and that it brings back memories from her childhood. ( Source, interview at TV2 Norway )