Friis-Holm

Danish chef Mikkel Friis-Holm builds his chocolate around Nicaraguan cacao, and since 2015 it has been made at the company's own factory near Roskilde.

About Friis-Holm

Based in
Herslev, near Roskilde, Denmark
Founded
2014
Known for
chocolate from Nicaraguan cacao

Mikkel Friis-Holm is a Danish chef who worked in San Francisco in the late 1990s. In 2007 he got involved with a large cacao project in Nicaragua, backed by Danida, the Danish government's development organization. From 2007 to 2013 his bars were made with the French chocolate maker Bonnat. Friis-Holm Chocolate was founded in 2014, and since 2015 its chocolate has been made at the company's own factory in Herslev, near Roskilde.

Nicaraguan cacao farmers are still at the core of the business, and the company describes its work as bean to bar, from the cacao bean to the finished chocolate. In 2023 the family behind the ice cream company Hansen Is became co-owners alongside Mikkel.

Friis-Holm questions

How does fermentation shape Friis-Holm chocolate?

After harvest, cacao beans are piled in heaps or boxes to ferment, for about five days in the case of Forastero beans. Yeasts and then bacteria feed on the sweet pulp around the beans, and the chemical reactions that follow develop chocolate's flavor and color. Turning the beans lets in air and speeds the bacteria's work. Friis-Holm has fermented the same beans in different ways to show how much this one step changes the taste of the chocolate.

What is dark milk chocolate?

The percentage on a chocolate bar is the share that comes from cacao beans, counting cocoa solids and cocoa butter; the rest is mostly sugar and, in milk chocolate, milk powder. US rules set the minimum for milk chocolate at just 10% chocolate liquor (ground cacao). Dark milk chocolate keeps the milk but uses far more cacao, so the chocolate flavor comes through strongly while the milk keeps it creamy. Friis-Holm makes chocolate in this style.

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Where it comes from See Friis-Holm on our producer map (Herslev, near Roskilde, Denmark) More producers from Denmark