Myah's Hide And Seek Treat Is Newman's Own Organics Turkey & Sweet Potato Dog Treats!

The Good: Good ingredients, Good dental benefits
The Bad: Does not have a noticeable aroma (hard to entice Myah), Comparatively expensive
The Basics: The Newman's Own Organics Turkey & Sweet Potato Premium dog treats help Myah learn new tricks, even if they aren't the most exceptional dog treat for the money!


Recently, we've been working with our Siberian Husky, Myah, to improve her tracking skills. So, when we want to reward her, we play games of hide and seek with treats. As she has gotten better at it with regular treats, we've upped our game with Newman's Own Organics Turkey & Sweet Potato Premium dog treats. We found the Newman's Own Organics Turkey & Sweet Potato Premium dog treats at our local discount store and when Myah showed no real preference for them in day to day treat times, we transitioned them to her training and for that, they offered her a real challenge with her finding skills.

Basics

We picked up the 10 oz. resealable bag of Newman's Own Organics Turkey & Sweet Potato Premium on sale for $2.49. The Newman's Own Organics Turkey & Sweet Potato Premium dog treats are hard little heart-shaped treats with a seam down the middle. Whenever the bag is opened, these treats present no aroma. Each snack is approximately 1 3/4" tall by 1 5/8” wide and 5/16" thick. The surface of these Newman's Own Organics treats are hard and grainy, much like virtually every classic dog treat (like Milkbone). The treat is hard and breaks evenly along its seam. Breaking them in half allows us to give Myah more to hunt for and, despite her not going after the treats as a first choice, when she gets playing hide and seek game now, she will hunt for as many as we tell her are hidden!

Ease Of Preparation

This is a ready-to-eat dog treat and only requires one to open the bag to dispense. The bag reseals after it is closed, but it would be hard to imagine how these would be different if they got hard and stale!

Myah’s Reaction

The hard Newman's Own Organics Turkey & Sweet Potato Premium dog treats do not freshen Myah's breath given how small they are and their lack of any noticeable aroma. That said, they are just big enough that Myah has to chew them and they are hard enough that they help to physically scrape off plaque on her teeth, which is helpful.

Despite that, Myah only really goes for the Turkey & Sweet Potato Premium treats when they are hidden for her as part of her game. Despite my not being able to find a noticeable scent from them, Myah uses her sniffer to find them and just now, while she was sleeping on the couch next to me, I placed one near her nose and she woke up after a few inhalations to eat the treat! She might not have a preference for these treats, but she definitely recognizes them as treats and eats them!

Nutrition

The Newman's Own Organics Turkey & Sweet Potato Premium dog treats are very healthy. With at least 10% crude protein, 7% crude fat and no more than 6% crude fiber and 10% moisture, the Newman's Own Organics Turkey & Sweet Potato Premium offer some decent nutrition to dogs. Made primarily of organic barley flour, ground turkey and cane molasses, I was impressed by how the Newman's Own Organics Turkey & Sweet Potato Premium dog treats are made of entirely recognizable ingredients. These treats do not have any recognizable preservatives and they have a surprisingly limited shelf life. As with all dog treats, it is highly recommended that when you give your dog Newman's Own Organics Turkey & Sweet Potato Premium, you make sure they have a decent supply of clean water available. Newman's Own Organics Turkey & Sweet Potato Premium treats are not intended to replace dog food.

Overall

Newman's Own Organics Turkey & Sweet Potato Premium dog treats are worth using for training, but are a tougher sell for those trying to truly thrill their dog.

For other dog treats, please visit my reviews of:
Pedigree Filet Mignon & Bacon Flavor Stackerz
Purina Benefuls Heartfuls Baked Delights
PureBites Freeze-Dried Ocean Whitefish dog treats

5/10

For other pet products, be sure to visit my Pet Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Delightful Dark: Newman's Own Organics Super Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa Bar Gets It Right (For A Price)!

The Good: Great taste, Wonderful quality, Great ingredients.
The Bad: Expensive!
The Basics: Newman's Own Organics 70% Cocoa chocolate bars are wonderful, but hardly worth more than similar quality, less expensive, chocolates!


Every now and then, I am reminded of just how lucky I am to be able to find so many amazing things at my local discount store. Despite living in the virtual middle of nowhere, there is a store nearby that seems to buy up trucks of returns, overstocks and other merchandise (as near as I can tell by the sheer variety and randomness of the products they stock) and they sell them at pretty incredible discounts. This was hammered home to me as I went to review the Newman's Own Organics 70% Cocoa Chocolate Bar I bought there and I saw the disparity between the online price and the price at which I bought them.

The Newman's Own Organics 70% Cocoa Chocolate Bars are good, but not worth $7+ each; I was fortunate enough to find them for less than $1.00/ea! The difference makes all the difference. These chocolate bars are wonderful, but they are not worth that much more than other, comparable, chocolate bars that are less expensive.

Basics

Newman's Own Organics 70% Cocoa chocolate Bars are each 6" long by 3" wide and 1/4" thick. Each of the bars comes individually wrapped in a wrapper and features eight segments that make it easier to consume than biting into the whole bar.

Each segment is a seamless square that is solid, with the Newman's Own Organics "N" punched into the top. The 70% Cocoa chocolate Bar come in a standard 3.25 oz. bar. The thick paper wrapper does little to protect the bar, though I’ve not had any breakage from the few I picked up at a store that is less than careful about how they handle inventory.

Ease Of Preparation

This is candy, so preparing them is as simple as opening the wrapper and cracking off a square segment of the bar. There is no grand secret to eating Newman's Own Organics 70% Cocoa Chocolate Bars. These bars are exceptionally hard at room temperature, which makes them very easy to crack into proper segments.

Taste

The Newman's Own Organics 70% Cocoa bars have a surprisingly mild aroma to them. This chocolate bar has virtually no scent, which sets the consumer up for a far less flavorful bar than they actually are.

On the tongue, this chocolate is rich and powerful with its cocoa taste, with a strong dry aspect to the flavor, especially as it finishes reaching its potential in the mouth. As a result, this tastes like a very-concentrated dark chocolate without much sweetness to it. There is no waxiness or creaminess to it. This is a potent, true rendition of cocoa flavor, without the diluted milk or sugar flavor mass-produced bars have. Those looking for a fine dark chocolate will get exactly what they expect from this chocolate bar.

Predictably, the Newman's Own Organics 70% Cocoa Chocolate Bar has a strong, dry aftertaste. That said, the aftertaste does not ever transition into bitter or sour, the way some chocolate bars with a high cocoa percentage sometimes do.

Nutrition

These are candy, so they are not healthy, but the Newman's Own Organics 70% Cocoa Chocolate Bars are not nearly as bad as they could be. The sole ingredient is organic dark chocolate. There is nothing unpronounable in this candy and everything in it is certified organic by the Rainforest Alliance and the USDA.

A serving of the Newman's Own Organics 70% Cocoa Chocolate Bar is considered one whole bar. From a bar, one takes in 470 calories, including 40 grams of fat. There is no sodium and 7 g protein, but no vitamins in these chocolate bars. There is 15% of one's daily iron and Calcium in full bar, so that is decent.

These are not Vegan-compliant (they are manufactured on machines that require them to have a milk warning), nor are they recommended for anyone with a nut allergy as they are produced on the same equipment that peanuts and tree nuts pass over. They are also not recommended for anyone with a soy, wheat, or egg allergy.

Storage/Clean-up

The Newman's Own Organics 70% Cocoa Chocolate Bar remains fresh for quite some time. While I could not find an expiration date on my bar, it had been kicking around for several months, partially opened without any issues. One assumes that if they are kept in a cool, dry environment they will not melt or go bad. It is hard to imagine just what it would take for these to go bad outside melting and refreezing.

As for cleanup, don't litter with these environmentally-friendly wrappers; that's just rude. Outside that, there is no real cleanup needed, unless one is eating them in a hot environment. In that case, it is likely one would need to wash their hands. If these chocolate bars melt into most fabrics, they will stain. Getting them to melt is surprisingly hard, though.

Overall

The Newman's Own Organics 70% Cocoa Chocolate Bar is perfectly wonderful, but overpriced for what it is. It tastes great, but there are other, comparable 70% cocoa chocolate bars on the market that will not blow one's budget to stock up on!

For other dark chocolates, please check out my reviews of:
Lindt 99% Cocoa Dark Chocolate Bar
Endangered Species Chocolate Dark Chocolate With Forest Mint Bar
Cachet Lemon & Black Pepper Dark Chocolate Bars

8/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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