Dole Fruit Crisp, Peach Review

January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Prepared Dole Fruit Crisp

I regularly stock fruit cups and applesauce cups for the kids. These items are healthy, convenient snacks and meal sides. Recently, I saw a new item on the shelf in this section. This item is Dole Fruit Crisp.  I was turned off by the amount of packaging the product required and the message it sent: "fruit crisp is difficult to prepare; therefore we'll make it for you".  Once I tried the product and saw my child's response, I understood the advantage. It's easy, good and has nutritious ingredients.   A great snack or breakfast to have on hand for a child. Basically, this is a fruit filling cup (thickened with starch) that can be heated and served with an oat topping (oats, brown sugar, sunflower oil, flour, spices, lecithin, flavor … [Read more...]

Filed Under: meals/sides Tagged With: ,

Cheribundi Ginger Cherry Juice review

January 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Cheribundi Ginger Cherry juice

Tart cherry juice is all the rage this year! Exotic super fruit juices (acai berry, mangosteen) are losing ground to local fruits and berries. I'm delighted with this trend and excited to try some of the new juice beverages in the fresh produce section. One of these juice products is Cheribundi's Ginger Cherry juice. The cherry juice in this beverage is advertised as coming from 50 cherries and not from concentrate. There is no added water on the ingredient statement, and the ingredient statement reads (in descending order): tart cherry juice, apple juice (from concentrate), ginger juice and natural flavors. Cherry ginger is a new flavor combination. There exists one other beverage: a cherry ginger soda from Reed and several recipes … [Read more...]

Filed Under: beverage Tagged With: , , , ,

Activate Vitamin Performance Beverage, Fruit Punch review

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
after shaking

It's Monday and it can be difficult to get motivated and going.  The Activate Vitamin Performance beverage is a perfect choice for a review on a Monday. Activate Vitamin beverage has a unique delivery system: a powdered drink in the red cap that you must "twist, shake, activate". The tag line for Activate Performance beverage is "a turn for the better". The advantage of this beverage over typical vitamin beverages on the market is that the vitamins in Activate are held under dark, dry conditions. Vitamins dispersed in water and exposed to light are subject to degradation (reducing effectiveness). Activate Vitamin beverage is packed with vitamins. One bottle has the following nutrients: Vitamin A  37.5%     Vitamin E   37.5%     … [Read more...]

Filed Under: beverage Tagged With: , , ,

Trident Layers Orchard Peach & Ripe Mango flavor review

January 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Trident Layers Chewing gum, Orchard Peach & Ripe Mango

As a flavor chemist, I have to applaud the flavorist who made this peach & mango flavor. This is a well-balanced, creamy, tropical, crisp, fruity peach mango flavor and would be very difficult to copy. As a consumer and mom, I am concerned about such high flavor load in a product that children would consume. Typically fruit flavors are a "top note" for beverages or fruit fillings that lose some potency during processing. In confection, though, added fruit flavors are the entire flavor system. Chewing gum in particular has an extremely high flavor load, perhaps 2% vs a piece of candy that has 0.2%.  Flavor load is high because it is desired that gum's flavor last 20 minutes. The United States government is very strict about what … [Read more...]

Filed Under: chewing gum Tagged With: , , , , ,

Clif Bar Energy bar, Peppermint Stick review

January 2, 2012 By 2 Comments
Clif Bar, Peppermint Stick flavor

Happy New Year! It's the 2nd of January and if you're like me, you've spent the day cleaning up after the holidays. New Years signifies that it's time to pack away the decorations and  finish all the holiday treats; including the Peppermint Stick Clif Bar I bought at REI for $1.45 four weeks ago. In an earlier life I was an energy bar addict:  I lived at the beach, ran a marathon and played beach volleyball. Energy and protein bars are a convenient, nutritious snack for someone always "on the go" and exercising. Clif bars were my usual morning breakfasts and before workout snack. Currently, my beach volleyball days are on hold; while I live in the Northwest, concentrate on raising a family and taking care of a house. Raking leaves and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Blue Diamond Natural Oven Roasted Almonds, Butter Toffee Flavor review

December 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment
serving measurements on blue diamond almonds container

These natural butter toffee flavored roasted almonds are delicious and healthy. A great snack option for those of us with new year resolutions of eating better and losing weight. A great feature of these almonds is their handy serving size measurements on the side of the container. You can see how much you are eating or portion the servings out accordingly. Besides being able to judge serving size correctly, these almonds are deliciously sweet & satisfying without much sugar. Stevia is a sweetener in these almonds. Usually, I find stevia (a natural high potency sweetener) disagreeable with a bitter aftertaste. In these Blue Diamond butter toffee almonds, there are no off notes or a lingering bitter aftertaste. The sweetness level is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Jelly Belly Dips review, Orange Flavored

December 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Jelly Belly Chocolate Dips Orange

Dark chocolate covered candied orange peel is one of my favorite treats.  A peely orange flavor goes amazingly well with a good dark chocolate. When I saw that Jelly Belly had a similar flavor combination, Orange Chocolate Dips, I gave them a try. I was not disappointed, these Jelly Belly Orange Dips are amazing, I'm impressed. There is a very high load of sharp peely orange in the gelatin center. A juicy, sweet, fruity orange flavor would not be as good chocolate covered. The dark chocolate use to coat the gelatin center has good strong bittersweet chocolate character. Sometimes chocolate used in confections is inferior and has a waxy, chalky and powdery character. The ingredient statement on the beans is very "clean" and pure/natural … [Read more...]

Filed Under: candy mints Tagged With: , , ,

Pretzel Crisps review, white chocolate & peppermint flavored

December 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
White Chocolate Pretzel Crisps with Peppermint

These yummy pretzels were another good find at Target. I honestly didn't think too much of them when I saw them. Pretzels and peppermint don't sound good.  However, it was nearly impossible to stop eating these Pretzel Crisps once I started. They were so good.  The buttery crisp, salty pretzel blends well with the sweet, milky creamy vanilla coating. The cool, sweet peppermint candy compliments the buttery creaminess perfectly. Interestingly enough, no FD&C colors were used in this snack. The manufacturer, Snack Factory, used beet juice for coloring in the peppermint candy. Traditionally, FD&C colors are used in candy, they are brighter, stronger, easier to use, and less expensive. Lately, consumers are looking for more … [Read more...]

Filed Under: cookies, salty snacks Tagged With: , ,

Jufran Banana Sauce (aka Banana “Ketchup”) review

December 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Jufran Banana Sauce ("Banana Ketchup")

Ketchup is known as "America's National Condiment".  The sweet & sour taste of ketchup goes extremely well with fried foods and is always available  at places that serve hotdogs, hamburgers and french fries. Recently, I read the book Pure Ketchup by Andrew Smith http://www.amazon.com/Pure-Ketchup-Americas-National-Condiment/dp/1570031398). This book was well researched and enlightening.  While reading this book, I learned that there is banana ketchup in the Philippines. My husband is Filipino and I was surprised that he never introduced me to banana ketchup. Therefore, on our recent visit to Seafood City outside of Seattle, I went shopping and picked some up. There is no tomato in Jufran Banana Sauce and yet it is reminiscent … [Read more...]

Filed Under: condiment Tagged With: , , ,

M&M’s Cinnamon Flavored Chocolate Candies, review

December 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Cinnamon Flavored M&M's (size & color variety)

The tag line "M&M's make friends" is one of my favorites.  It describes M&M's brilliantly: colorful, yummy and easy to share. Mars (M&M's parent company) can be relied upon to come up with innovative, delicious new food products.Pretzel M&M's are my favorite new candies and were awarded Product of the Year for snacks in 2011. At a recent visit to Target, I found the newly released Cinnamon flavored M&M. It's interesting that the package has a green M&M's character on the front, because the M&M's in the bag are red, burgundy and dark brown/black.  Oddly enough, there are also different sizes of M&M's: one smaller and larger size of each color. In the sake of research, I evaluated each color and size.  At … [Read more...]

Filed Under: candy mints Tagged With: , , , , ,
« Older Posts