The Lithuanian sauna is anything by spa procedure. It’s an esoteric experience where bathers “die and resurrect”. In pagan times people used the sauna for bathing, giving birth, preserving and worshipping. Pitch black walls, hot stones and steam enable bathers to build a spiritual bond with basic elements of fire and water while the heady aroma of Siberian fir whisks and wormwood leaf rustle opens up their consciousnesses. As a black sauna enthusiast and chocolate maker, Domantas from Naive was tempted to interpret his black sauna experience through chocolate. Would you like to taste how? To the old Gods!
FACTS. In the deciduous forests of Lithuania, tiny log cabins layered with moss dot the countryside. These are the smoke saunas – places for bathing bodies and cleansing spirits. The aroma of alder wood and stripped birch, burning below hot stones, waft through the air. Once the stones reach peak heat, the smoke is vented out. The ceremony begins with salt rubs, followed by tree twig whisking and finished with a cold plunge. The oldest written references to the practice date back to the 13th century, and Unesco includes the tradition as a part of “the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.”
This chocolate is made in-house with organic speciality cacao, which is mixed in certain proportions to form a clean, rich and flavorful base. It is also is a great answer to the question “What is the best chocolate in the world?”
ABOUT FORAGER COLLECTION. The Forager collection concept is madly experimental and multilayered. At first, they deconstruct all ingredients and then combine them back to hormone-of-a-kind chocolate bars with ‘patented’ flavours. With this collection, we have created a new way of introducing flavours into the chocolate by using locally sourced and intense ingredients refined into the chocolate bars them to naturally extend the complex chemical flavour composition of cacao.