Nói Síríus Pure Icelandic 56% Bittersweet Chocolate

I didn’t really plan on getting all topical with my chocolate reviews, but yet here I am with some Icelandic chocolate which really shouldn’t have been able to make it across the ocean to Canada considering the flight situation during the past few weeks.

And I’d really like to say that I won’t be making any more jokes of a volcanic nature before this review is over, but I really can’t. Sorry.

Anyway, Nói Síríus have been making chocolate in Iceland since the 1920s, and this bar has apparently been packaged the same way since 1933. I mention that because the packaging is really unique – the bars are wrapped in wax paper, something which gives it a real old-fashioned feel even if it isn’t particularly secure. Mine had a few holes poked through where the chocolate was visible because the paper was torn.

Initially, the chunky dimensions of the package made me think that this was going to be a hard chocolate to take a bite out of, but I was quite surprised to find two slabs on top of each other inside. The chocolate has a decent sheen and the texture is relatively smooth with just a hint of grain.

The taste is definitely more sweet than bitter – the first listed ingredient is sugar and it really does taste like it. But once that sweetness subsides a little, vanilla comes in to save the day before running away to finally reveal the slight bitterness. It takes a long time to get there, but eventually the chocolate turns into what it says on the wrapper.

A decidedly OK bar of chocolate, and not much more. But if you happened to be, for example, stuck on an island in the North Atlantic, unable to get off because of some kind of natural disaster, you probably would be happy enough munching on this until the deadly ash cloud rescinded.

Definitely not the worst thing to come out of Iceland recently…