Matis Halva with Couverture Chocolate wasn’t a showstopper in 2017, yet it was genuinely satisfying – and revisiting it in early 2026 only reinforced that feeling, this time for even better reasons.
The texture and flavor remain essentially the same: pleasantly dense, rich, and expressive, with a noticeable dark-chocolate bitterness that balances the sweetness well. That part hasn’t changed – and honestly, it didn’t need to. What has changed is the composition, and Matis can only be praised for this improvement. Established in 1898, this halva maker is still in tune with today’s trends 😉
Palm oil has been replaced with coconut oil, which is generally considered a healthier and more natural alternative. The traditional soapwort extract is now substituted with an extract derived from chuven, a plant historically used in European cuisine and folk traditions. This feels like a thoughtful and more refined ingredient choice rather than a purely technical swap.
On top of that, the sugar content has been significantly reduced – from 41 g to 31 g per 100 g. That’s a meaningful improvement, especially for a dessert like halva, and it makes the product feel less cloying while keeping the same satisfying taste profile.
Back in the day, Matis Halva with Couverture Chocolate felt slightly too sugary and a bit overly buttery, which held it back from a higher recommendation. Now, with improved nutrition facts and a cleaner ingredient list, those drawbacks are largely addressed – while the end result tastes just as good as before. Nay, the use of high-quality dark couverture chocolate is evident and stands out as one of this dessert’s key assets.
In short: better ingredients, better nutritional balance, same enjoyable flavor. That’s not easy to pull off, and for that, Matis deserves full credit.
If you were curious before, now is an even better time to try Matis Halva with Couverture Chocolate 🙂
Price: ~5,5 Eur (400 g package) in a small shop in Crete.
Ingredients:
tahini (ground sesame) 52%, glucose-fructose syrup, chocolate couverture 8% (cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanillin), vegetable coconut oil, emulsifier mono-diglycerides of fatty acids, chuven extract, flavoring: vanillin.
Nutrition facts (per 100 g):
Energy 2202 kJ/ 530kcal
Fat 34 g
of which saturated 8 g
monounsaturated 13,3 g
polyunsaturated 12,7 g
Carbohydrates 46,2 g
of which sugars 31 g
Fibre 11,2 g
Protein 14,2 g
Salt 0,01 g
