Rice Krispie Squares – [New] Rocky Road Edition (Nisa) [By @Cinabar]

I have had my eye out for this new flavour of Rice Krispie Squares since DavidH let me know that he had spotted them in Asda. I found mine on a trip to the local shop nearest work, on a hunt for cheap coffee. I discovered that they stocked these and all four flavours of the new Chunky Kit Kats – hurrah!
Anyway I got back to my desk and carefully unwrapped the Rice Krispie Square. I did have a moment of disappointment when I first saw the bar, as the description of the topping was shortbread, raisins and white chocolate but it wasn’t really visually represented. After a further look I worked out that although I was a little short changed on the white chocolate, the biscuit pieces and the raisins were actually within the mallow.
If you haven’t seen Rice Krispie Squares before they consist of Rice Krispies, all stuck together with chocolate mallow. There are various versions of the bars available, and the toppings are often quite creative. I never know whether they are meant as an alternative breakfast food – but I tend to have them as my elevenses snack!
This new variety has a good selection of goodies, and I think it is the first time they have used raisins. I liked the raisins with the chocolate, and of all the Rocky Roads goodies it was certainly my favourite. The juicy sweet fruit worked well with the sticky chocolate coating and broke up the texture and flavour. The texture of the biscuit was a bit more lost as the bar is so crunchy anyway, but the buttery taste did shine through when you got a chunk.
My only criticism is that I would have liked to have seen a bit more white chocolate on the topping, as it was barely noticeable on my bar. The chunk I had was nice enough with a creamy vanilla flavour, but where were the rest of them? To be honest I think I was just unlucky on that front, but for all the other ingredients I have to give the new flavour a thumbs up.

By Cinabar

Walkers – What’s That Flavour? Mystery Flavour A [Crisps] [By @Cinabar]

The new products just keep on rolling in... and I’m pleased to announce some new crisps from Walkers. I can’t tell you what flavours they are though – because it’s all part of the mystery!
Walkers have created three new varieties of crisps, but not labelled what they are on the bag. You can take a guess at the flavours (via Facebook or Text message) and then be in with the chance to win some serious cash prizes!
I can’t resist a challenge, so was eager to dive in. I started with the reasonably named bag ‘A’. The only clue on the packet was that this was a dairy based flavour. The ingredients list on the back didn’t offer any more clues than that!
I opened up the bag and was pretty sure I could pick up on a garlic smell and some cheese. When I actually tasted a crisp, I could no longer pick up on that garlic hint and the flavour seemed far more focussed on the cheese aspect. It was a strong cheese, something quite powerful and distinct, and perhaps that garlic I thought I smelt was a background onion taste, possible even shallots?
The main thing is that these crisps were really nice, and if you like Walkers Cheese and Onion then you’ll find these a good alternative. They are certainly similar to that classic taste, but still are unique and they have stumped me a bit. I’ll be honest I not sure what I’m going to enter as a potential answer, and I’m going to have to have another bag to give them a try before I settle on a final decision.
If you want to give them a try yourself they should be appearing in supermarkets and other shops very soon. Allan H has already spotted all three flavours packaged in a multipack in Tesco – if you want to hunt some down. If you do, please leave a comment, let me know what you think!

By Cinabar

Pokka Blueberry Tea (KK Mart - Bromsgrove) [by @NLi10]

A while ago I drank quite a lot of the Pokka lemon tea and decided to write it up for here. Essentially it's a bottled tea but made with actual brewed tea instead of tea flavours being added. This is similar but with Blueberries added instead of lemons!

I bought this a while back but saved it for when I thought I'd need a nice drink and took it to an all day gaming tournament in Birmingham, UK for Magic: The Gathering.

The tea flavour wasn't quite intense enough for me, but the blueberries ended up giving it quite a nicely interesting aftertaste. It was very drinkable, refreshing and perked me up a bit too. I think that while I prefer the original lemon variety I'll end up buying this again, it's more exciting than the typical fruit cordials we get as 'still' drinks here in the UK. It's just unfortunate that only Spar and speciality retailers like KK Mart & Yum Yum seem to stock them. Us Brits need to be more adventurous!!

By NLi10

Fox’s Glacier Citrus (WH Smiths) [By @SpectreUK]

Fox’s have been producing sweets in the UK since 1897. Peppy the Polar Beer joined as their chief Quality Checker when Glacier Mints were brought out in 1918. I’ve always been partial to the odd packet of Fox’s Glacier Mints ever since I was a young lad. A year or so ago Cinabar reviewed Fox’s Glacier Limited Edition Mango Peach Passion Fruit Smoothies. These Fox’s Glacier Citrus recently appeared in my blogger’s in-tray between the iron bars of my cell in the Foodstufffind’s dungeon. There were four flavours to choose from, which were; lemon, lime, grapefruit and clementine. Clearly with such big sour fruit juice titles such as lemon, lime and grapefruit, I thought these glacier mints were meant as a bitter treat to dull the taste of whatever strange flavoured beer Cinabar had plans to torture me with. The Glacier Citrus were made in some part with actual fruit juice and with no artificial flavours or colours. It was good to see Fox’s were trying new flavours of sweets after so many years on the market. So I put down my beer bottle opener (fashioned from the skull of a previous Foodstuff blogger) and hungrily tore open the 200g Glacier Citrus bag. There was some confusion to start with as all the wrappers of individually wrapped sweets inside the bag were the same colour! I first thought that they were all four flavours rolled into each sweet, but I was just so wrong…

Clementine flavour

Unwrapping a sweet and taking note of the orange colour, I dumped it in my mouth and immediately noticed that it tasted just like orange jelly. This is great if you like orange jelly and don’t have one to hand. Fortunately I love orange jelly. I’ve always said that if jelly wrestling became an Olympic sport (London 2012?), then the bikini girls should wrestle in orange jelly. There was no sourness, just a juicy mouth watering clementine taste that was totally scrumptious.

Lime flavour

Green in colour and frustratingly in the same coloured wrapping as the clementine flavour, the lime flavour had a good sour taste to it, not face twisting, but enough to wake me up a bit whilst I sat bored at my desk at work. It had the same mouth watering tastiness as the Clementine flavour, with a delightful lime zing. Although I was beginning to wonder if I would have to unwrap most of the sweets to find the other two flavours!

Grapefruit flavour

Luckily the sixth sweet I unwrapped was an off yellow colour, and I popped it in my mouth figuring this would definitely be the lemon flavour. I was immediately taken aback by the face twisting sour heavy kick of pure grapefruit. Sucking down hard sent pleasurable shivers up and down my spine that I’d never felt from a sour sweet before. Usually sour sweets make me squirm or hurt the roof of my mouth with their acid sour strength. This was a strange ecstatic tingle that I’m certain no other food could ever reproduce. It was raining big freezing dollops of icy water outside at the time I began to suck on this mouth watering sweet, however inside the office at my desk I felt an oddly warming sensation as my senses delved into grapefruit and all its tangy goodness. Honestly, you have to try this sweet, as it was quite an experience!

Lemon flavour

After unwrapping another three sweets I found a very yellow coloured sweet that just had to be lemon. I popped it in my mouth and was first pleased to be kicked by another face twisting sour sweet and second that I’d located the last of the four flavours amongst the individually and identically wrapped sweets. I almost gave out a cheer, but remembered that I was at work and that my office was far too serious for such a thing! The tangy sourness of the lemon flavour, made me think of pancakes in the spring time covered in brown sugar and lemon juice. The sweet was far more sour and face twisty than the grapefruit, and although it didn’t give me the same ecstatic back tingling feeling, I reveled in the squirming zingy sensation that ran around my senses like a hamster on steroids.

These Fox’s Glacier Citrus sweets were mouth wateringly genuinely fruit juicy tasting and fantastically moreish. Whilst sampling them my mind went on an adventure from the (Olympic) joy of orange jelly wrestling, to being shaken awake by fresh lime ready for a Tequila Sunrise, replaced by the previously unknown ecstasies of grapefruit and brought thudding back down to earth by the squirming awkwardness of lemons! These individually wrapped sweets also presented a certain anonymity that was kind of fun to discover what flavour I’d be eating when I unwrapped it at the time. I’m definitely keeping these sweets in my draw at work to suck on whilst I trawl through endless paperwork and dream of the next weekend.

By Spectre

Kit Kat Chunky Orange [New] [By @Cinabar]

As mentioned earlier in the week there are four new Kit Kat Chunky bars on the market as Limited Editions, the most popular of which will become a permanent member of the Kit Kat Chunky family. I am working my way through the varieties and the next one on the list is Kit Kat Chunky Orange. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it!
The bar is brightly packaged in an orange wrapper, which of course matches the flavour. Once opened I discovered that the bar had a nice sweet smell, with a pleasant natural citrus aroma, which made it rather appetising. I think it is safe to say that orange and milk chocolate work well as a flavour combination, and it is nice to see Kit Kat giving it a try.
The bar is lovely and Chunky, and when you bite in the chocolate and orange blend together perfectly creating a cocoa filled fruity sensation. The orange flavour is soft; it’s not sharp or tart, but pleasantly sweet. It is reassuringly natural in taste too, and I’m pleased to say that the packet states that there are no artificial flavours which is always nice to see. The good solid large wafer inside the Kit Kat gives the bar the substantial feeling you’d expect from one of the Chunky bars.
I felt that the orange worked really well, and made the bar much easier to eat. The fruitiness breaks up the flavour and stops the bar from being overpowering or too rich. It instead had a lovely freshness about the chocolate that made it feel like a proper treat.
If I didn’t know that there was a Peanut Butter Chunky remaining to be tried, I think I’d be real excited about this new Kit Kat!

By Cinabar

Um, Big Chocolate Star? - The Cocoabean Company (Boots) [by @NLi10]

I don't have much details about this, it being a Christmas present, but due to the little green gift sticker I'm guessing it came from Boots and as the ribbon says the cocoabean company I'm going to guess it comes from this place up in Scotland!

I'm not a massive fan of milk chocolate, it's something that's always been around and just doesn't excite me that much. This fulfils the 'add an angle' and makes boring old milk chocolate exciting by adding little rice crispies in chocolate to the outside, adding some deceptively chewy toffee to the points and spraying titanium dioxide in the middle.

As with most Christmas things I'm only just getting around to starting eating this and it's actually quite enjoyable. I'd say that it's more of a Hotel Chocolate style experience than I'd expected, and the website shows that these guys go all the way to the extreme luxury slabs of chocolate end too! The rice was plentiful enough to give me a crunch but not so overwhelming that the chocolate was flooded. I'm also working under the assumption that eating titanium gives you super-powers but I haven't checked Wikipedia yet so fingers crossed on that one.

It's a bit much for one sitting, but sitting watching all the TV programs recorded over Xmas and playing all of the Xmas games I picked up this was a nice thing to reach for and aggressively bite a chunk out of while steadfastly avoiding all the real food in the kitchen. I'd hapily try other things in this range, especially as they do fruity chocolates by the look of it too.

By NLi10

Feel Good – Cloudy Lemon Flavour (Westmorland Service Station ) [By @SpectreUK]

I bought this lemon drink from the Westmorland Service Station just outside Penrith, on the way back from a recent trip to Northumberland. Cinabar had a good hunt around the farm shop there for Foodstuff Finds goodies after we’d sat down for a first-class meal. I had a hearty curry and chips and fancied a drink that was refreshing, healthy and zingy to keep me awake on the long drive home. The 100% natural ingredients and no added sugar caught my eye on the bottle label. This drink was made with water and 82% fruit juice, of which is apple, lemon, grape, orange and aceroia (a type of cherry apparently).
To start with I can definitely confirm that this drink is cloudy. The drink tastes sweet with an underlying sour lemon flavour, giving it the zing I needed. It did make me “feel good” and had a healthy feel to it. It was easy to drink and I felt refreshed once I’d finished it. The only problem was that I wanted another one straight away. I would certainly buy this cloudy lemon drink again, and not just for a long jaunt down the motorway.

By Spectre

MaltEaster Mini Bunnies (W H Smiths) [By @Cinabar]

Back in 2009 the MaltEaster bunny was launched and it was an amazing success. I can tell that it does well, because my short post from January 2009 still proves to be one of the most popular here at Foodstuff Finds!
The thing about bunnies is that they tend to multiple, and now instead of just being available singularly, you can now buy multiple chocolate creatures in a bag, albeit ones that are a bit smaller than the original. Yes, MaltEaster have expanded their range this year and inside this bag are mini bunnies all individually wrapped. They weigh in at just under 12g and contain just 62calories so they are perfect if you fancy a smaller chocolate treat. Other than that the bunny is much the same as the previous year’s versions; with thick creamy chocolate a malt cream filling and pieces of honeycomb to give it a bit of a crunch. It does essentially taste like a large bunny shaped Malteser but with a softer filling, and absolutely lovely it is too. These are great for sharing, but also as they are individually wrapped they would be good for popping into a lunch box as a small chocolate treat.
Finally I hope everyone realises the name of this product contains the word Easter... oh my, the seasons gets earlier and earlier every year!

By Cinabar

Galaxy Bubbles Orange Bar (Boots) [By @Cinabar]

January is normally a slow month snack wise, but things seem to be going a bit crazy at the minute. I have SO many new items to tell you about, I can foresee it being a good week ahead at Foodstuff Finds so keep your eyes open!
First up is a new product from Galaxy, that I first saw sitting quietly on the chocolate counter in Boots. Sometimes when a new product comes out there is a big fanfare about it, and the shops have promotional displays and advertising boards, but this new bar appeared without fuss on the shelf. There was no more than the word ‘new’ written on the wrapper of this Galaxy Bubbles Orange Bar to mark its arrival.
I opened up the bar and as you would expect from Galaxy it was neatly marked into pieces so that you could snap off bite size chunks. The aroma was mild, but I could certainly pick up on the chocolates sweet citrus tones. I picked up one of the chocolate pieces and gave it a try. The first thing I noticed was that as the texture of chocolate wasn’t as clean with its bubbles as other bars such as Wispa. I guess this is because the pieces are thinner and that the chocolate has a much thicker melt, I noticed when I wrote about Galaxy Bubbles for the very first time (i.e. without the orange flavour) I also picked up on this. The Galaxy bar still had its indulgent feel when combined with the heat in the mouth, as the soft bubbles melted and coated the tongue with a very indulgent thick smooth finish. The flavour was spot on, the orange taste was fruity and sweet working well with the rich chocolate bringing balance instead of cutting it up with a sharp zesty flavour. This gentler orange flavour didn’t distract from the super creamy chocolate it complemented it and added a new level to the Galaxy chocolate. This bar is a total success, and really did deserve some fanfares at it launch. It is nice to see a bit of variation with some lovely new chocolates on the market – although this one is surprisingly similar in name to the other recently launched: Aero Bubbles in Orange.

By Cinabar

Sobe V Water - Shield, Lemon & Lime (Tesco) [By @NLi10]

Usually when I pick up multiple flavours of the same drink I do a joint review, but this one is a bit different so will come in two parts. This is part 2 - part 1 was on Thursday!

Having picked this up as the plus one to a special offer of a drink I'd found disappointing I wasn't holding out much hope for this. I'm not even sure why I picked up this flavour to be honest! The previous drink had been deep in colour and slight in taste and lemonade style drinks that are flat are something that it's hard to get right.

I picked this up after returning late from work instead of making a cup of tea, I figured it was easier and frankly cutting back on caffeinated drinks is probably wise. I did my usual web surfing and video watching at the computer and barely even registered the fact that I was drinking it. And after a short while it struck me why - this is fundamentally Pocari Sweat! I didn't write the entry for that product, mainly because it's one of those odd things that I'm a little evangelical about - I can't get enough of this stuff!

Don't get me wrong though, this Sobe Shield isn't Pocari Sweat, it doesn't have the smoothness and I think it's a note or two less sweet, but it's pretty close and doesn't have to be bought from import shops which is a bonus. Given the choice I'd happily choose the original over this every time, but I'll certainly pick this up again.

I'm not sure how you'd describe the taste of this other than unsweetened lemonade with the sourness tuned down - and flat. The aftertaste is possibly a little flat for my liking, but that really is nitpicking. Oddly this contains lemon, lime and chilli flavourings and several natural herbal extracts (echinacea and astragalus) AND zinc sulphate which suggest that Britvic has put a lot of thought into the health angle for these drinks (for people who don't go on PubMed and check on the efficacy of these things as part of their jobs anyway...).

When a new range is launched I tend to either like or dislike the whole thing, but with these V Water things they produced one disappointing weak cordial, and one surprisingly nice delicate lemon drink. That's not a terrible strike rate if you ask me.

But oh - what is this - there are SIX flavours... and two energy drinks? I'm not sure I can risk that...

By NLi10