Meerkats Jelly Sweets

May 16, 2013, 3:08 am

≫ Next: Ritter Sport White Chocolate & Cornflakes (Weiss + Crisp)

≪ Previous: Cadbury Pots of Joy - White Chocolate Buttons

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"Oh no, they've turned them into sweets now!" was my first thought when I saw these Meerkats Jellies in B&M bargains.

If you're from the UK I'm sure you'll know what I mean. Meerkats have become a "thing" here thanks to those annoying "Compare the meerkat" adverts (there's even a wikipedia page for them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compare_the_Meerkat). As if the adverts weren't enough, they've branched out into soft toys, t-shirts, posters, books and other such rubbish. And now sweets!

Despite hating the adverts I grudgingly bought these just to see if they tasted any good. I wish I hadn't bothered because they turned out to be as bad as the adverts!

Opening the pack I knew something was wrong because they smelled very chemically. Which is odd, because on the front of the pack it says they contain natural colours and flavours. Yet the ingredients lists several different E-numbers. I never realized E-numbers could be considered natural!

They tasted very chemically and had an unpleasant after-taste. They were also annoyingly chewy which didn't help matters. I tried tasting each flavour individually and some were ok; the green and red one had a nice apple flavoured sour tang and the yellow one tasted of citrus. But the chemical aftertaste quickly ruined the flavour.

Overall, these are one to avoid. They're simply a cheap product cashing in on the meerkat "thing" and there are far better sweets for a similar price sold in most discount stores, including B&M. Simples!

Price: 89p.
Made by: Mackay Sweets who are based in Holland.
Ingredients: Sugar, e-numbers, nettle and spinach extracts, vegetable oil. Contains wheat starch.

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Ritter Sport White Chocolate & Cornflakes (Weiss + Crisp)

May 17, 2013, 12:28 am

≫ Next: Wrigley's 5 Turbulence Watermelon Gum

≪ Previous: Meerkats Jelly Sweets

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A big thankyou to Monster Sweets who kindly sent me this Ritter Sport Weiss + Crisp (White chocolate and Cornflakes) bar to review recently. Monster Sweets are a company specializing in European and American snacks, and have one of the largest Ritter Sport ranges available in the UK, plus cheap postage to boot! For more info check out their banner on the side of this blog or visit their website here:
http://www.monstersweets.co.uk/

I'm a big fan of Ritter Sport's white chocolate - their White Whole Hazelnuts Bar is perfection - so I had high hopes for this Weiss + Crisp. And it far surpassed them, it was even better than the White Whole Hazelnuts!

Opening the wrapper the chocolate looked and smelled great, with a lovely vanilla hinted aroma (apologies for my dark-looking picture but there was a serious lack of light at the time!).

Biting into a piece I was first met with a vanilla hit from the white chocolate - it tasted superbly creamy and really good quality. The cornflakes were crunchy and had a slightly salty, savoury edge to them. Combined with the creamy white chocolate they made this bar very moreish, and it didn't take me long to munch through it all because I kept coming back for another piece! It really was that addictive!

My conclusion is that this one of Ritter Sport's best chocolate bars. Which is high praise because I also thought their Coconut and Crema Catalana bars were pretty amazing too!

Overall, I would highly recommend this bar if you're a fan of Ritter Sport, white chocolate and cornflakes. Ritter do this combination amazingly well, but be warned because once you start eating this bar you will find it hard to stop! Fans of the Ritter Sport White Whole Hazelnuts should check this out especially.

Price: £1.55 from Monster Sweets. You can check out the rest of their Ritter Sport range here: http://www.monstersweets.co.uk/ritter-sport-16-c.asp

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*Monster Sweets sent me this bar for an honest review and all views expressed are my own. 

Wrigley's 5 Turbulence Watermelon Gum

May 18, 2013, 2:48 am

≫ Next: Ülker Ҫikolata - Turkish Hazelnut Chocolate

≪ Previous: Ritter Sport White Chocolate & Cornflakes (Weiss + Crisp)

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I'm not usually a big fan of chewing gum apart from the fruity ones like Hubba Bubba (technically bubble gum, but I still see it as the same thing!), but when I spotted this Watermelon flavour from Wrigley's 5 I thought it unique enough to try. Wrigley's 5 is a chewing gum range with stronger and more intense flavours than regular chewing gums; I've tried some of their range in the past and thought they were very successful as far as gum goes.

This Watermelon flavour was just as good as the others in the range, it had a strong and realistic watermelon taste which was very refreshing. I really enjoyed it and thought it was a nice way to get a breath freshening hit. The flavour is more intense and lasts longer than regular gums, which is exactly what you want if you're buying gum in my opinion. Nothing annoys me more than gum which tastes nice for the first few bites and then loses it's flavour!

Overall, I can only recommend this gum, it gives a refreshing watermelon taste and goes further than most regular, boring chewing gums!

Price: 59p from local newsagent.
Ingredients: Contains sweeteners, soya, and a source of phenylalanine. Suitable for vegetarians.

Ülker Ҫikolata - Turkish Hazelnut Chocolate

May 18, 2013, 4:21 pm

≫ Next: Maltesers Teasers Bar Review

≪ Previous: Wrigley's 5 Turbulence Watermelon Gum

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Whilst browsing a local Turkish store I came across this bar of "Ülker Ҫikolata Findikli", which is a milk chocolate bar containing chopped hazelnuts. I'm always interested in foreign brands I've never heard of before so decided to give it a try. Unfortunately I hadn't checked the date and it turned out that it was very close to the sell-by date. It also cost £1.49, which considering the small size of the bar is a lot of money for something that's stale! I seem to be cursed with buying out of date chocolate bars, when will I learn?!

Anyway, when I opened the wrapper the chocolate at least smelled very nice. And it looked pretty attractive too with it's gold foil wrapper and interesting shaped blocks:

Unfortunately it tasted horrible. The chopped hazelnuts were stale and tasted rancid, completely ruining the bar. I had to throw it in the bin after a few bites.

Overall I was very disappointed with this bar, it's such a shame it wasn't in date as I'd really like to see how Turkish chocolate compares to our British stuff. If I come across another Ülker bar in future I'll give one a try as long as it's in date!

For a more positive Ülker product review do check out Grocery Gems' post on Ülker Cokomel Banana Marshmallow Chocolates, they sound a lot more appetizing than this bar!

Maltesers Teasers Bar Review

May 20, 2013, 2:13 am

≫ Next: Tango Blue Balls!

≪ Previous: Ülker Ҫikolata - Turkish Hazelnut Chocolate

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It's been a busy few months in new chocolate news. We've had the new Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations bars from Cadbury, Magnum extended their ice cream brand into chocolate bars, and even Nestlé made a bid for extra sales with their 5 finger version of Kitkat.

Mars have also gotten in on the act and released this new Maltesers Teasers bar, which is basically the Malteser chocolate from Celebrations in bar form. I've always said Mars should make a Maltesers chocolate bar and I'm surprised it took them this long to be honest!

As you can see in this pic the bar is split into weird "bubble sections". I'm not sure what that's all about but it's certainly a unique look for a chocolate bar! It reminded me of the new Aero "bubble shaped" bars.

Taste-wise, this bar was very different from regular Maltesers, and actually much nicer in my opinion. As good as Maltesers are I find their crunchiness a little bit annoying, especially when you get a build-up of the malty bits in your mouth if you eat too many. This bar solves that problem and just gives little crunchy bits of malt in a creamy tasting chocolate bar. It's a much more convenient way to eat Maltesers! The chocolate contains 25% cocoa solids, which gives it a decent standard chocolatey taste. I enjoyed my bar with a cup of coffee which it went perfectly with.

Overall, this is a delicious chocolate bar and one I would happily buy again. It's also available in a big block size which sounds a bit dangerous to me - I would be tempted to eat the whole thing!

Price: 57p at Asda & Tesco.
Nutrition information: Contains 186 calories and 10g fat per bar.
Allergy advice: Contains wheat, gluten, milk and soya. Suitable for vegetarians. Kosher.

Tango Blue Balls!

May 21, 2013, 4:30 am

≫ Next: Peanut Butter M&M's

≪ Previous: Maltesers Teasers Bar Review

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When I spotted bags of these Tango Blue Balls sweets in Discount UK, I was intrigued. I'm sure most people have heard of the term "blue balls" before so I needn't explain anything! The picture on the wrapper is supposed to be of two blue raspberries, but considering the name of this product I think they're meant to resemble something else..?

The sweets are described as "Blue raspberry flavour chewy bonbons", and are basically hard chewy sugar bonbons with flavourings and colours.

The wrapper says "No pain - no gain!" which had me thinking they would be extremely sour. It also describes them as "Tongue painters" as they turn your tongue bright blue, and I can confirm they did indeed have this effect. However they weren't very sour at all so I'm not sure where the "pain" aspect comes in.

They tasted slightly of raspberries, but the overriding flavour was of chemicals and sugar. They weren't very pleasant. They were also far, far too hard and chewy. Presumably the main selling point is supposed to be the blue tongue effect, which they are certainly very effective at, but why anyone would buy sweets to make their tongue blue is beyond me!

Overall I wasn't really a fan of these. They tasted a bit cheap and artificial, and leave your tongue looking like you've snogged a smurf. The makers have used some dodgy marketing to sell them and once the novelty wears off, all you're left with is a cheap product!

There's also Orange Tango Bonbons available from Discount UK, which oddly (but perhaps wisely) aren't called Tango Orange Balls.

Price: £1 at Discount UK.
Ingredients: Sugar, glucose syrup, vegetable oil, pork gelatine, colours and flavours. Not suitable for vegetarians.

Have you tried Tango Blue Balls? If so what did you think of them? 

Peanut Butter M&M's

May 22, 2013, 2:48 am

≫ Next: Ion Break - Greek chocolate from Tesco

≪ Previous: Tango Blue Balls!

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A big thankyou to Monster Sweets who sent me these M&M's recently. You can get most of the M&M's range as well as many American and European snacks from their site here:
http://www.monstersweets.co.uk/

I've tried Peanut Butter M&M's in the past, but haven't bought them much since because of the high prices. I wish they were widely available in the UK because I think they taste amazing, the best M&M's I've ever eaten infact. Why these aren't widely available is a big mystery to me. I guess the UK still isn't ready to accept peanut butter as a mainstream flavour like they do in America. Sigh.

These M&M's contain a peanut butter centre coated in milk chocolate and a crunchy coloured shell.

Taste-wise they were chocolatey, salty, peanutty, crunchy...and very very moreish! The textures and flavours all work perfectly together and I was left wanting more once I had finished the packet.

Overall, these are a great snack which should be made widely available in the UK, preferably in large bags! I'm not usually a fan of M&M's but would buy these regularly if I could.

Luckily they're available from Monster Sweets for £1.25 a bag which is cheaper than most import stores, plus they have other M&M flavours such as Coconut (reviewed here by Grocery Gems), Pretzel, Dark Chocolate and even Almond M&M's!:

http://www.monstersweets.co.uk/mms-17-c.asp

*Monster Sweets sent me these M&M's for an honest review and all views expressed here are my own.

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Ion Break - Greek chocolate from Tesco

May 23, 2013, 1:46 am

≫ Next: Nestlé Studentská Dark Blackcurrant (Limited Edition)

≪ Previous: Peanut Butter M&M's

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A hat-tip to Marcus who does the fantastic Choc It Out! video series on Youtube for alerting me to this bar. He found one in Sainsbury's and ever since he mentioned it on Twitter I've been on the lookout for one. Alas, my local Sainsbury's didn't seem to stock them but luckily I found some in the world food's section of Tesco instead.

Ion is a Greek chocolate brand with a range of different bars, but the ones available at Tesco were this Milk Chocolate with raisins, almonds and hazelnuts, as well as a plain Milk Chocolate bar.

This bar comes in a square block similar to Ritter Sport bars, and each chunk has the word "Ion" printed on it. The chocolate smelled very nice when I opened the wrapper - sweet and milky.

Taste-wise it was nice but nothing groundbreaking. The chocolate was milky and rich but also quite sweet. The raisins were tangy, and the almonds and hazelnuts added a nice crunch. But to be honest I didn't think the chocolate was all that special; it tasted a bit like supermarket own-label chocolate. Which is no bad thing, but it lacks that "je ne sais quai" to make it stand out over other chocolate bars.

Overall, a nice chocolate bar but unless they bring out other flavours in the UK I'm not sure I would buy one again. It was worth trying the once though and it's certainly not a bad chocolate; it just lacks any truly distinguishing features.

Price: £1 at Tesco.
Ingredients: Contains 10% raisins, 3% almonds & 3% hazelnuts. Cocoa solids: 29% min.
Allergy advice: Contains milk & soya, may contain traces of wheat and other nuts.

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Nestlé Studentská Dark Blackcurrant (Limited Edition)

May 24, 2013, 12:47 am

≫ Next: Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Salted Caramels

≪ Previous: Ion Break - Greek chocolate from Tesco

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Here we have the Nestlé Orion Studentská Pecet Dark Blackcurrant. I found this Limited Edition in my local European import store, and there weren't many bars left so I quickly snapped one up . From what I can gather online this bar was only produced for a limited period during 2012, and for 2013 Nestlé are doing a different batch of limited edition Studentská varieties (which I'll be reviewing later).

Orion is a Czech Nestlé brand that apparently has a lot of history behind it. Studentská bars are part of that brand and they come in Milk, Dark, Cherry, and White Chocolate versions (I've reviewed the White Chocolate Studentská here). 

This Limited Edition version consists of dark chocolate, blackcurrant jelly pieces, peanuts and raisins. The blocks are very chunky, and several have the Nestlé "heart" logo going across them:

I like that it was wrapped in foil and paper rather than plastic like most chocolate bars are these days. It's one of those little things I miss from my childhood, and I'm sure chocolate tastes better when it's foil-wrapped!

The chocolate tasted very sweet and not really like proper "dark" chocolate, more like a basic sweet plain chocolate. Which is fine, because combined with the other ingredients it works. The nuts, raisins and jelly pieces are what really brings this bar alive. The peanuts were fantastic; they had a lovely savoury, almost salty edge to them. Combined with the raisins and dark chocolate they made this a very moreish bar; I couldn't stop eating it even though it's quite a thick slab! The only thing that let it down in my opinion were the blackcurrant jelly pieces - the blackcurrant flavour was a bit odd and didn't really go with the chocolate. Still I'm glad I tried this bar because it's very unique and a change from the norm.

I'm gradually becoming a big fan of Nestlé Studentská bars, I love any kind of chocolate with peanuts and fruit in so this is always a winning idea in my book! I've got more Studentská reviews to come so please stay tuned for them!

Price: £2.45.
Found at: European import store.
Made by: Nestle.ch.

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Salted Caramels

May 25, 2013, 1:04 am

≫ Next: Haribo Tangfastics with Watermelon Slices! (Limited Edition)

≪ Previous: Nestlé Studentská Dark Blackcurrant (Limited Edition)

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Just a quick review for these Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Belgian Salted Caramels Selection, as I'm not sure they are even available to buyanymore. I bought these a while ago when I saw them discounted, and wish I had stocked up because they were absolutely delicious!

I'm always wary of salted caramel as it can sometimes be too salty, but luckily these weren't, they had just the right balance of sweet and salty, and were very delicious.

Left to right: White choc, Dark choc, Milk choc.

The dark chocolate ones provided a rich chocolate taste which went wonderfully with the sweet and salty caramel; they tasted very luxurious. The milk chocolate ones were also very nice but perhaps not as good as the dark chocolate. And the white chocolate ones were perfect - there was something about the creaminess from the white chocolate which just worked perfectly with the salted caramel.

Overall, these Salted Caramels were amazing and I'm disappointed that they seem to have been discontinued! (I haven't seen them in my local Sainsbury's for a while anyway).

Haribo Tangfastics with Watermelon Slices! (Limited Edition)

May 27, 2013, 11:58 pm

≫ Next: Maynards Sour Patch Kids Soda Popz

≪ Previous: Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Salted Caramels

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Whilst browsing my Sainsbury's Local I noticed these Haribo Tangastics with Watermelon Slices on special offer, and since they're limited edition I just had to try them. They're basically regular Haribo Tangfastics with the addition of watermelon flavour jelly slices. For anyone worried they've replaced the sour cherries with watermelon, do not fear, there's still plenty of cherries! The watermelon slices look oddly similar to the cherries though...kind of like a cherry that came out of the machine wrong and ended up stuck together.

Taste-wise they were very nice and had a lovely refreshing sour watermelon flavour. The other Tangfastics flavours were all the same as usual, with cola bottles, jelly dinosaurs, rings, gummy bears and cherries. All of them were very addictive and tasty, although I'm not a big fan of the jelly dinosaurs as I think the white foam part spoils them a bit.

Overall I think these Tangastics with Watermelon Slices are a fantastic idea from Haribo; it's about time they tried some different flavours, and watermelon is a great choice as it's very underused in confectionary. These are a "Flavours of Summer" Limited Edition so be sure to take advantage and stock up on them while you can! They're currently on special offer at Sainsbury's Local, although I'm not sure how long it lasts. They're also available from Poundland.

Price: 72p at Sainsbury's Local (special offer), £1 at Poundland.
Ingredients: Contains gelatine - not suitable for vegetarians
Nutritional information: Per 40g serving - 135 calories, 0.08g fat, 31.3g carbs (24g sugars).

Maynards Sour Patch Kids Soda Popz

May 28, 2013, 11:42 pm

≫ Next: Cadbury Crunchums Review

≪ Previous: Haribo Tangfastics with Watermelon Slices! (Limited Edition)

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Whilst shopping in Morrisons recently I found these Sour Patch Kids Soda Popz on an Introductory Offer for £1.50. Being a fan of the original Maynards Sour Patch Kids (and a lifelong fan of Maynards sweets in general), I had to give them a try.

The concept of these is simple but exciting - they're different "pop" flavoured gums which start off sour and turn sweet. The sourness presumably comes from the malic acid sugar coating.

The flavours are Cola, Orangeade, Cherryade, Tropical and Apple Fizz and they're all made with natural colours. Taste-wise they were all very nice, starting off sour as promised and then gradually revealing a fruitier, sweeter side.

The Cola flavour tasted just like fizzy cola bottles - those famous sweets we all remember from childhood. Infact there seemed to be a surplus of Cola as well as Orangeade flavours in the bag. I'm not complaining, but it would've been nice to have more of the other flavours!

The Orangeade flavour was very good and tasted sour and orangey, recreating the flavour of orangeade successfully.

The Apple Fizz flavour was also very good - it tasted refreshing and wasn't too sour like most apple flavoured sweets often are.

The Tropical flavour was interesting - it's coloured pink and tastes of pineapple and grapefruit. It reminded me of Lilt, which I'm guessing is the "soda pop" it's supposed to recreate.

The Cherryade flavour was the only one that let me down - it didn't taste enough like Cherryade and the flavour was weaker than I would have liked.

Left to right: Cola, Orangeade, Cherryade, Tropical, Apple Fizz

On the whole though, I think these flavours were very successful and they all fitted with the "Soda Pop" theme nicely. I'm surprised they didn't have a Lemonade flavour though as it's one of the most common "pop" flavours around!

Overall, these are some tasty gummy sweets and a good addition to the UK Sour Patch brand. If you're a fan of Cola Bottles or fizzy sweets like Haribo Tangfastics I would recommend them.

Price: £1.50 for a 160g bag at Morrisons (Introductory Offer).
Ingredients: Not suitable for vegetarians - contains bovine gelatine.
Nutritional information (per 8 sweets): 80 calories, 0.1g fat, 18.8g carbs (14g of which sugars).
Allergy advice: Contains sulphites, may contain wheat.
Random fact!: Sour Patch Kids are apprently Justin Bieber's favourite candy.

Cadbury Crunchums Review

June 4, 2013, 5:52 am

≫ Next: Marks and Spencer Gluten Free Chocolate & Cherry Cake

≪ Previous: Maynards Sour Patch Kids Soda Popz

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It's been a busy year for new Cadbury product releases. So far we've had Wispa Hot Chocolate, the Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations range, Pots of Joy, the soon-to-be released Dairy Milk Strawberries and Creme...and now these!

I spotted these Cadbury Crunchums on offer in Morrisons along with the rest of Cadbury's bagged range for 99p. They're crunchy maize cereal snacks coated in Cadbury chocolate, described as "crispy chocolatey cereal". Unfortunately the chocolate used isn't Dairy Milk but is Cadbury's sweeter, lower quality milk chocolate. It doesn't really matter though, because it works well with these snacks.

I wasn't sure what to think at first. Biting into one I was met with a slightly salty, savoury kind of taste, almost like crisps. The sweet milk chocolate provides a nice contrast which works surprisingly well, and after a few mouthfulls I was totally hooked and found them extremely moreish. They're quite light as well as being crunchy which makes it very easy to eat a lot at once.

Overall, a tasty new product from Cadbury's which I'm sure will be very successful. I think they would make a great snack for taking to the cinema, which is a theory I plan on testing out. (All in the name of Science, of course!)

Price: 99p at Morrisons.
Ingredients: Suitable for vegetarians.
Allergy advice: Contains milk, may contain wheat, nuts & soya.
Nutritional information (per third of bag): 185 calories, 11g fat, 20g carbs (13g sugars).
Interesting fact: These are available in Europe under the Milka brand called "Cranchitos".

Marks and Spencer Gluten Free Chocolate & Cherry Cake

June 6, 2013, 11:06 am

≫ Next: Cadbury Dairy Milk Strawberries & Creme (Summer Limited Edition)

≪ Previous: Cadbury Crunchums Review

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Here we have the Marks and Spencer "Made Without Wheat" Chocolate & Cherry sponge cake, which is described on pack as "All butter chocolate sponge filled with buttercream and black cherry jam, finished with milk chocolate ganache". It costs £2.99.

I bought this cake as I am rather sensitive to gluten; I can eat it but too much makes me feel unwell. Luckily I'm not celiac, but my heart goes out to those who are because it's extremely frustrating to find products without gluten in. It makes going to cafes all the more difficult, although more and more companies seem to be adding gluten free options to their menus and product ranges.

I decided to buy this for a little one-off treat. There was a gluten-free lemon cake as well as this one, but I went for chocolate because, well, you can never go wrong with chocolate!

I'm happy to report that this cake was delicious! It was moist, fudgy, and had plenty of tangy cherry filling. In fact it was oozing out of the cake, as you can see here:

The topping was some kind of chocolate ganache, but personally I didn't feel it added much to the cake. It wasn't chocolately enough for me. Which brings me to what let me down about this cake: it just wasn't chocolatey enough! The topping and the cake itself didn't have a very strong cocoa flavour, which for me was a disappointment. But apart from that, I can't grumble too much because the cake was so deliciously moist - moreso than most cakes made with wheat flour. It was a real treat indeed.

Overall, if you are gluten sensitive or gluten intolerant then I would happily recommend this cake! It's a delicious treat that tastes just as good, if not better, than regular cakes made with wheat flour. Other gluten-free cakes I've tried have been quite dry in comparison to this, so it's a real winner.

Price: £2.99.
Ingredients: Suitable for vegetarians.
Allergy advice: Contains milk, eggs, soya, sulphites.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Strawberries & Creme (Summer Limited Edition)

June 8, 2013, 1:57 pm

≫ Next: Haribo Smurfs Jellies

≪ Previous: Marks and Spencer Gluten Free Chocolate & Cherry Cake

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Continuing with their endless new product creations, Cadbury have now come up with this "Summer Limited Edition" Strawberries and Creme Dairy Milk bar. I found this at Morrisons (as well as the new Cadbury Crunchums) for £1. I was very excited because a new Dairy Milk flavour is always a special occasion in my book!

The bar is described as "Milk chocolate with a yoghurt and strawberry filling" and comes in a 120g block.

Opening the wrapper I was met with the familiar smell of Dairy Milk chocolate, as well as an undercurrent of fruity strawberries. I couldn't wait to get stuck in! 

Taste-wise it was lovely. The Dairy Milk chocolate was as tasty as you would expect, and the strawberry filling was super smooth and creamy. The strawberry flavour itself was refreshing and realistic, and there was a slight tanginess from the yogurt which brought an extra dimension to the flavour. Overall this bar was moreish yet surprisingly filling - it didn't take too many blocks to feel satisfied, which is good as it made it easier to save some for later!

I was initially disappointed when I read it had a yogurt and strawberry filling rather than strawberry cream, but in hindsight I think it's a good idea because the yogurt brings a refreshing, tangy element to the filling.

Overall I think this is a lovely Summer Edition from Cadbury, and I hope to see more fruity Dairy Milk flavours in future!

Price: £1 at Morrisons, 99p at Home Bargains.
Ingredients: Contains 1% freeze-dried strawberries. Suitable for vegetarians.
Allergy advice: Contains milk and soya. May contain nuts and wheat.
Nutritional information (per 3 chunks): 85 calories, 5.3g fat, 8g carbs (7.8g sugars).

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Haribo Smurfs Jellies

June 11, 2013, 1:45 am

≫ Next: Haribo Starmix with Blue'Bear'ies (Limited Edition)

≪ Previous: Cadbury Dairy Milk Strawberries & Creme (Summer Limited Edition)

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Whilst at Poundland recently I spotted these Haribo Smurfs Jellies. After looking them up online I found that they're to tie-in with the Smurfs 2 film due out next month, which is news to me as I never realized there was even a first Smurfs film!

The jellies are in shapes of all the popular Smurfs characters such as Smurfette, Papa Smurf, Gutsy, Brainy and Grouchy. They come in raspberry, strawberry and lemon flavours.

I was expecting them to taste similar to other sweets in Haribo's range such as Starmix, but to my surprise they had their own unique taste which was very fruity. They reminded me of the original Haribo Gummy Bears but were fruitier and more addictive. I can't quite place what it is that made them so addictive but they really were!

Overall these are a nice spinoff from Haribo and I would definitely buy them again. Along with the new Haribo Tangfastics with watermelon slices they make a nice new addition to the Haribo range.

Stay tuned for more Haribo reviews...I've been finding quite a few new products from them recently!

Price: £1 at Poundland, also available at Primark.
Ingredients: Contains gelatine - not suitable for vegetarians.
Allergy advice: Gluten free.
Nutritional information (per 40g): 137 calories, 0.04g fat, 30.8g carbs (18.2g sugars).

Haribo Starmix with Blue'Bear'ies (Limited Edition)

June 12, 2013, 2:20 am

≫ Next: Magnum Strawberry & White Chocolate Ice Creams

≪ Previous: Haribo Smurfs Jellies

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As well as Tangfastics with watermelon slices, Haribo have also launched these new Limited Edition Starmix with "Blue'Bear'ies" as part of their "Flavours of Summer" range. They are basically regular Starmix jelly sweets with the addition of blueberry flavoured gummy bears, hence the terrible "blue'bear'ies" pun.

Whilst the addition of watermelon slices was a great idea for Tangfastics, unfortunately blueberry flavoured gummy bears isn't quite so exciting for Starmix. The bears have quite an artificial blueberry flavour which I didn't find particularly tasty.

I don't really understand why they went for blueberry as a flavour, to be honest - it's a flavour that's hard to get right in sweets and doesn't strike me as particularly "summery". I think passionfruit or mango would've tasted nicer and fit the summer theme much better. Maybe Haribo just really wanted to use the word "blue'bear'ies" as a pun? Or perhaps blueberry is a flavour the public has been desperately crying out for all this time?

Either way, I'm not a fan of these but I commend Haribo for doing limited edition flavours of such popular sweets. The Tangfastics with watermelon slices are a particularly good idea and I hope to see more limited edition flavours from Haribo in future!

Price: 72p at Sainsbury's Local (special offer), £1 at Poundland.
Ingredients: Contains gelatine - not suitable for vegetarians.
Allergy advice: Gluten free.

Magnum Strawberry & White Chocolate Ice Creams

June 13, 2013, 4:16 am

≫ Next: Sperlari Granperle pralines (like Lindor)

≪ Previous: Haribo Starmix with Blue'Bear'ies (Limited Edition)

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I'm a big fan of Magnum ice creams - the white chocolate ones in particular, so when I saw this strawberry and white variety recently at Morrisons I couldn't resist giving them a try. It was a hot sunny day too which made them all the more tempting.

For £1.75 you get 4 white chocolate Magnums, described as "Strawberry Ice Cream swirled with a Strawberry Sauce (13%) coated with White Chocolate (23%)".

I shared these with a friend and we both managed to get through 2 ice creams each as they were so tasty!

The white chocolate was thick and had a lovely creamy vanilla-hinted flavour, whilst the strawberry ice cream had a lovely refreshing strawberry taste. The sauce was nice and zingy and gave the ice cream an extra fruity kick. The flavours contrasted perfectly with the creamy white chocolate and made for a very indulgent ice cream.

Overall I think these Strawberry & White Magnums are a delicious creamy treat and are perfect for the Summer weather. If you're a white chocolate fan or a fan of Magnum ice cream in general you seriously need to check these out. Highly recommended!

Price: £1.75 for 4 Magnums at Morrisons.
Ingredients: Doesn't state if suitable for vegetarians.
Allergy advice: Contains milk & whey. Gluten free.
Nutritional information (per Magnum): 250 calories, 14g fat, 29g carbs (28g sugars).

(Apologies for the quality of the  pics - I had to rely on a smartphone camera!)

Sperlari Granperle pralines (like Lindor)

June 17, 2013, 2:07 am

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Whilst in Family Bargains recently I came across these Sperlari Granperle pralines. Family Bargains always seem to sell obscure European branded chocolates, such as the LaCasa Pineapple Praline and Pergale Coconut Centres I've reviewed previously. These Sperlari pralines caught my attention because they look a bit like Lindor truffles, and indeed they were very similar!

They're basically ball shaped truffles that contain different fillings. There were three different varieties at Family Bargains but I went for Milk Chocolate with gianduja and caramel crisp, and Dark chocolate with almond cream and nougat.

Milk Chocolate Gianduja and Caramel:

Sperlari  Granperle Milk & Caramel

These are milk chocolate truffle balls that contain a gianduja hazelnut cream centre with crunchy caramel pieces, and they were delicious! The chocolate tasted very creamy and quite similar to Lindt, but not quite as rich. The gianduja filling was creamy and nutty, and the crunchy caramel pieces went well with it. These pralines were verrrrrrrrry addictive, I seriously couldn't stop eating them! Imagine a milk chocolate Lindor truffle with crunchy caramel pieces (like the crunchy bits in Milka with D'aim) and you've got a pretty good idea of how these tasted. Very moreish!

Dark Chocolate with Almond Cream and Nougat:

Sperlari Granperle Dark & Nougat

These weren't quite as nice as the milk chocolate version but were still very tasty. The chocolate contains 60% cocoa solids which made them much richer, and the almond cream filling was sweet and milky with a cinnamon hinted flavour. The nougat grains tasted of honey and almond, similar to the nougat in Toblerone. They were very tasty but I couldn't eat too many at once.

Sperlari Granperle Dark & Nougat

Overall, I think these Sperlari Granperle are fantasic value for the price as they're very good quality and unique, and the Milk and Caramel Granperle are very addictive! I hope to see them again at Family Bargains - next time I want to pick up the hazelnut praline variety I didn't get the last time. If you happen to see these in any discount stores I would definitely recommend them!

Price: £1 per 160g box.
Made by: Sperlari, who are an Italian company. Their website is www.sperlari.it.

Fruittella Magics

June 18, 2013, 5:46 am

≫ Next: Nestlé Joe Apple & Cinnamon wafer bites (Limited Edition)

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After reading this article about Fruittella Magics I was intrigued. Apparently they have been out before, although I was never aware of them the first time so I decided I had to try them this time around. They've been brought out to cash-in on the trend for "flavour changing" sweets, such as Skittles Crazy Cores (reviewed here by Grocery Gems), Starburst Flavour Morphs etc.

The first thing to note is the packaging. It looks a bit...outdated. If Fruittella are trying to appeal to a modern audience I think they made a mistake here, as the packaging is nowhere near as eye-catching as Starburst or Skittles.

Packaging aside it's the taste that counts, and luckily they tasted very nice. They were very fruity and chewy and the texture was just perfect. As promised the orange turned to strawberry and the raspberry turned to lemon. It was quite a subtle change but definitely noticeable, and made for a pleasant flavour experience. They're far nicer than Skittles Crazy Cores in my opinion, but the only letdown was that there were only two, yes two different flavours! I find this very odd since most bagged sweets have at least 4 different flavours. I think this coupled with the outdated packaging is their downfall, and it's a real shame because they are a very tasty product!

Overall if you're into chewy fruity sweets I would recommend these, I think they're much nicer than similar sweets like Starburst, it's just a shame about the lack of different flavours.

Price: £1.25 at Morrisons.
Ingredients: Contains gelatine - not suitable for vegetarians. Also contains coconut oil.
Allergy advice: None stated but they don't appear to contain any allergenic ingredients (milk, egg, nuts).