The Fazer Chicken
Easter is defined by calendrical engineers as "Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon after vernal equinox." I have a hard time remembering what day of the week it is most of the time so I rely on a far more simple algorithm to determine when Easter is approaching; the arrival of Easter candy in the stores. It is less precise but accurate enough since the candy is the best part of the holiday.
Mämmi is back in the groceries, little hens and chickens are everywhere, chocolate bunnies, feathers, daffodils in pots and grass seed packets at the cashier since it's traditional to grow some small pot of grass for the return of the sun and warm weather. I didn't notice the Fazer Mignon eggs last year but these are the neatest Easter chocolates ever. They are real eggshells filled with an almond-hazelnut milk chocolate. The logistics of eating one of these eggs is complex and merits more study. The egg shell is removed rather easily with a brief bit of refrigeration. However, getting your teeth around a rather large, solid chunk of chocolate can produce at least 10 minutes of pure entertainment. Those who prefer to eat, not wear, their chocolate might use an egg slicer on a reasonably warm egg. The box mentions that these have been around for more than 100 years....
Mignon is an Easter tradition created by Karl Fazer in 1896, the second oldest product in Fazer's range. A genuine eggshell filled with fine nougat chocolate made with almonds and nuts. In the olden days they were delivered as an Easter treat even to the Tsar of Russia and his family....
What is it about Tsars and eggs? :) Anyway, I bought a few of these eggs, just to see if they were real eggshells and my results are inconclusive since, although they look and feel like real eggshells, the eggs are all perfectly sized. Does Finland have a chicken that lays identically sized, blemish-free eggs just in time for Easter? If so, I wonder if the chicken is pals with the Cadbury Crème egg rabbit or the Marshmallow Peeps. :)
update ~ Two people sent me links to articles about the Fazer Mignon eggs written in Finnish. I am amazed to find out that they are not only real egg shells, but that they are filled by hand, all 2.5 million of them each year. I made PDFs of the two articles and added translations for those who might be curious: Finnfood's Mignon - A Perennial Favorite of Easter [approx. 60k] and Mignon - the Classic of Easter Eggs [approx. 258k].
19 Mar 2004 at 18:24, Helsinki
