Great For Peanut Lovers, Less For Those Who Adore Fudge: Haagen-Dazs Peanut Butter Salted Fudge Ice Cream!

The Good: Decent peanut butter and salt flavor, Great ingredients
The Bad: More expensive than other ice creams, Not at all healthy, Fudge flavor is entirely sublimated to the peanut butter
The Basics: Haagen-Dazs Peanut Butter Salted Fudge ice cream is an interesting, very nutty ice cream that worked as a pick-me-up, but is unlikely to get a repeat "buy" from me!


Today was not a great day for me. I spent almost twelve hours driving to a convention - and got very much inside my head while driving alone - and I finally managed to take in the new film by one of my favorite writer/directors only to be gravely disappointed by it. Two things, however, made my day better. The first was a series of phone calls from my amazing wife. The other was buying some comfort food. Yes, nothing changes the tenor of the day like cranking the heat up in a hotel room and cracking open a pint of ice cream. In this case, the therapy ice cream was Haagen-Dazs Peanut Butter Salted Fudge Ice Cream.

Haagen-Dazs Peanut Butter Salted Fudge Ice Cream strikes me as something my wife might enjoy more than me. I like chocolatey flavors quite a bit and I love a good mix of chocolate and peanut butter. But, between a peanut butter base, a very weak fudge and actual peanuts, the Haagen-Dazs Peanut Butter Salted Fudge Ice Cream is definitely intended for a peanut butter lover!

Basics

Haagen-Dazs ice cream comes in a 14 oz. (almost) pint container. The Peanut Butter Salted Fudge ice cream is a smooth ice cream with occasional chunks of fudge and a lot of peanuts mixed in. At (locally) $4.99 a pint, the Haagen-Dazs Ice cream is an expensive frozen dairy dessert.

Ease Of Preparation

The Peanut Butter Salted Fudge Ice cream is a basic ice cream with two additives. As an ice cream, preparation is ridiculously simple: one need only open the top of the container, remove the safety seal from the top, scoop out a half cup and consume! There is no trick to preparing or eating the Peanut Butter Salted Fudge Ice cream!

Taste

Haagen-Dazs Peanut Butter Salted Fudge ice cream smells fairly strongly of peanut butter. The aroma is nutty and becomes even more prominent as the ice cream nears its melting point.

On the taste front, the Peanut Butter Salted Fudge ice cream is dry and salty. The chocolate fudge flavor barely has a chance to manifest before the actual peanuts in the ice cream overwhelm any potential sweetness and the saltiness in the ice cream overcomes the cocoa flavoring. This is a great ice cream for those who love peanut butter!

This ice cream has an extremely dry aftertaste to it.

Nutrition

The Haagen-Dazs Peanut Butter Salted Fudge Ice cream is a comparatively thick ice cream with hard additives. The 14 oz. container represents three and a half half-cup servings. In the half-cup serving, there are 340 calories, 210 of which are from fat. The twenty-three grams of fat represent 35% of the RDA of fat, with 55% of one’s RDA of saturated fat coming in the 11 grams of saturated fat in this ice cream. One serving has 60 mg of cholesterol (that’s 20% of the RDA!) and 150 mg of Sodium (6% RDA). The only other real nutrients are six grams of protein and 10% of the RDA of Calcium in the Peanut Butter Salted Fudge ice cream.

Haagen-Dazs has decent ingredients. Made primarily of Cream, skim milk and sugar, Peanut Butter Salted Fudge Ice cream is all natural! There is nothing unpronounceable in the ingredients list. The Peanut Butter Salted Fudge Haagen-Dazs is neither Kosher, nor gluten free. There are no specific allergy warnings on the package, though this ice cream is noted to contain milk, peanut, soy, and egg ingredients, so it is very much not Vegan compliant.

Storage/Clean-Up

Haagen-Dazs ice cream is both a frozen and a dairy product, so it is pretty obvious that it must be kept frozen in order to remain viable. Kept frozen it remains fresh for months (my pint had an expiration date of September 7, 2018, though it will be gone by the end of the weekend, if not the end of the night!).

The Peanut Butter Salted Fudge ice cream is fairly light off-white/tan color and will stain if the ice cream comes closer to room temperature, especially because the Salted Fudge is far darker and melts into fabrics. As well, when the ice cream melts and gets onto fabrics, it will require one to wash it right out. On nonporous surfaces, the ice cream wipes off exceptionally easily.

Overall

The Haagen-Dazs Peanut Butter Salted Fudge ice cream is good, but the peanuts in it distract some from the salted fudge, robbing it of perfection!

For other Haagen-Dazs products, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Midnight Cookies & Cream Ice Cream
Vanilla Bean Gelato
Black Cherry Amaretto Gelato

6.5/10

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

© 2018 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Weird Pseudo-Cracker, Blue Diamond Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt Underwhelm!

The Good: Does not taste bad
The Bad: Very bland, Not incredible on the nutrition or expense front
The Basics: Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt snacks are a weird, somewhat disappointing, cracker.


My wife and I have been trying a number of new things lately and with some of them, she has been spot on with her assessment. A few crackers into the box of Blue Diamond Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers, she grumbled "why does everyone try to do everything?!" And she stopped eating the crackers. I can absolutely understand her perspective; Blue Diamond makes great nuts. If the Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt are any indication, they should stick with the nut market and leave crackers alone!

Basics

Blue Diamond Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers are a fairly new product. The crackers are each 1 3/16" in diameter and a hair over 1/16" thick. Each cracker is slightly textured, but mostly flat. The Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers are white and spotted. The surface of the Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers is glazed and contains the salt.

The standard box of Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers is 4.25 oz. That represents approximately five serving. The bag within the box does little to protect the crackers from breakage, but these crackers do not seem to be very susceptible to breakage.

Ease Of Preparation

Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers are very easy to consume. These are a ready-to-eat snack food and one need only open the liner inside the box, pull out twenty-seven crackers and start eating them!

Taste

The Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers smell faintly of nuts. The faint almond scent has a slightly burnt quality to it, but it is very mild. The aroma from the Blue Diamond Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt is very mild.

In the mouth, the Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers are vaguely salty with a hint of buttery flavor to them. The flavor is in offensive, but they taste like a blend of almonds and flour. These lack anything potent or compelling in their flavor.

Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers have no real aftertaste to them, though they leave a slightly dry sensation in the mouth when the last of them is consumed.

Nutrition

Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers are fairly nutritious, though the cracker market has not (apparently) caught up with breakfast cereals; there are no added nutrients sprayed onto these crackers to attempt to artificially boost their nutritional value. As a result, the health benefits of the Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers stand solely on their (mostly) natural and recognizable ingredients. These crackers are made primarily of rice flour, almonds and potato starch. There is actually nothing in the ingredient list that is not natural or recognizable, which is good.

A single serving of Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers is considered twenty-seven crackers (21 grams). In a full serving, there are 90 calories, 15 of which come from fat. On the plus side, there no saturated fat, nor any cholesterol in a full serving. For those watching their carbs, the Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers can be eaten while on a keytogenic diet as these crackers have 17 grams of carbohydrates, with a gram of dietary fiber (16 net carbs). There are 2 grams of Protein in the Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers and trace amounts of Calcium and Iron (2% RDA, each). On the plus side, while these crackers might not contribute a lot to one's daily nutritional needs, they do not detract at all from eating healthy!

The Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers are marked as gluten-free! They contain milk in the natural flavorings, so they are not Vegan-compliant! I am not certain why, but I could not find any indication that the Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers were considered Kosher (there is no marking for that on the box!).

Storage/Cleanup

Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers are easy to keep fresh, provided they are kept in a cool, dry environment. When one is not eating the crackers, it helps to close the plastic bag they are in to keep moisture out. Kept such, our bag would not have expired until June 1, 2018, so these do not have the longest shelf life in the world!

Cleaning up after the Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers is generally easy; the crumbs may be wiped up fairly easily.

Overall

Mini Nut-Thins Hint Of Sea Salt crackers are a bland disappointment.

For other crackers, please check out my reviews of:
Good Thins The Beet One Sweet Balsamic Vinegar & Sea Salt
Full Circle Ranch Soy Crisps
Triscuit Dill Sea Salt & Olive Oil Crackers

2/10

For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the food reviews I have written!

© 2018 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Utterly Average: Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels Candy Bars.

The Good: Does not taste bad, All right ingredients, Affordable
The Bad: Not particularly flavorful, Not superlative in any way
The Basics: Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels chocolate bars are worth trying once, but hard to want to stock up on or try a second time.


Late last year, it made the news that Hershey's was releasing its first new candy bar in more than two decades. So, as the new year begins, I figured it was about time to try it. Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels candy bars are the first new candy bar since, it appears, I graduated from high school. And given that amount of time, I would have figured Hershey's would have made a candy bar that felt indispensable. Sadly, the Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels is not that candy bar. The Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels candy bars are all right, but not exceptional in any way.

Basics

Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels chocolate candies are a full-sized candy that is made up of nine connected segments. A full candy bar is five and three-eighths inches long, two and one-eighth inches wide and one-quarter inches thick. Each of the bars comes individually wrapped in a tan plastic wrapper. It is worth noting that while I usually rail against the environmental impact of such things, it is hard to imagine these Hershey's chocolate candies not wrapped. This keeps each one clean, unmelted and intact.

The 1.4 oz. Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels candy bar tends to run in the $1.00 range. These are an average-priced candy bar!

Ease Of Preparation

These are candy, so preparing them is as simple as opening the wrapper. There is no grand secret to eating Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels chocolate candy. The bar has nine segments and they easily snap apart.

Taste

Each Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels candy bar smells like peanut butter. There is no real aroma of chocolate in the bouquet of the Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels candy bars.

The Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels candies taste sweet, like creamy caramel to begin with. The light caramel chocolate melts away to reveal the saltier, crispy flavor from the pretzels. The broken up peanuts in the Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels bar manifests more as a texture than a flavor, adding a little more salt and solidity to the soft, creamy bar. The flavors of caramel and salt dominate the Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels candy bars.

The Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels candies leave a slightly sweet, mostly salty, aftertaste in the mouth after the last of the bar is consumed. The salty and sweet aftertaste lasts for several minutes after the bar is consumed, but it is not at all unpleasant.

Nutrition

The Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels chocolate bars are candy, so it is tough to look at these for something nutritious and then blame them for not being overly nutritious. The primary ingredients in the Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels candy bars are sugar, vegetable oil and skim milk. There is nothing unpronounceable in these candies, save in - ironically - the enriched bleached flour!

A serving of the Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels chocolate candy is considered an entire 39 gram candy bar. From a full bar, one takes in 220 calories, with 14 grams of fat. There is virtually no cholesterol (5 mg in a full serving), surprisingly little sodium (85 mg of Sodium - 4% RDA), and there are no vitamins in these chocolate candy. There is, surprisingly enough, 3 grams of protein and 2% RDA of Potassium in a serving.

Honestly, these are candy and anyone looking to them for actual nutrition needs to get a reality check. These are not Vegan-compliant, nor are they recommended for anyone with a nut allergy as they have peanuts in them. These are not marked as kosher and they are not (apparently) gluten-free.

Storage/Clean-up

The bars of Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels chocolate candy remain fresh for quite some time. The bars of Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels chocolates we picked up a few weeks ago had an expiration date of September 2018, so they have a pretty decent shelf life. Given that these are chocolate and pretzels, one assumes that if they are kept in a cool, dry environment they will not melt or go bad. Because they are individually wrapped in a very sealed package, it is hard to imagine just what it would take for these to go bad outside melting and refreezing.

As for cleanup, one need only throw out the plastic wrapper in the garbage to clean up after the Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels chocolate bars. 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 candies melt into most fabrics, they will stain. Getting them to melt is fairly easy, though.

Overall

Hershey's Gold Peanuts & Pretzels candy bars are nothing special, but they are not bad, either.

For other Hershey's candy reviews, please check out my reviews of:
Reese's White Peanut Butter Cups
Reese's Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups Stuffed With Pieces
Cadbury Caramel Egg

5/10

For other chocolate reviews, please visit my Chocolate Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2018 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Pretty Standard Cookie, Barilla Baiocchi Come Out As Average!

The Good: Decent ingredients, Does not taste bad
The Bad: Comparatively expensive, Not very flavorful at all
The Basics: My first experience with Barilla's line of cookies are their Baiocchi cookies and they are pretty unremarkable.


It's that time of year that I am gifted a whole awesome box of new-to-me foods! The first food that caught my eye to try was the Barilla Baiocchi cookies. I was pretty surprised to see Barilla - famous as a pasta and pasta sauce company - was branching out. The Baiocchi are intended as a dessert that will accent their pastas to finish a meal off well.

Barilla Baiocchi cookies are trying to compete with brand named Oreo sandwich cookies. But, with only fifteen cookies per pack - and smaller ones at that, the Barilla Baiocchi are proportionately a bit more expensive for a less-sweet, less-flavorful cookie.

Basics

Barilla is an Italian company that is famous for making pasta and is now branching out in its U.S. distribution to include its baked goods, like cookies and breadsticks. Sandwich cookies have never been my favorite type of cookie and Barilla Baiocchi are not exactly making me rethink that.

Each (almost) 10 gram Barilla Baiocchi Cookie is two tan disks approximately 1 1/2” in diameter, connected by a thin layer of brown icing that holds the two cookies together. Baiocchi Nutrition Rich Cookies come in a 5.29 oz. bag that houses the fifteen cookies. The bag does nothing to prevent breakage and my bag had several broken cookies. A serving of Barilla Baiocchi cookies is three cookies.

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Barilla Baiocchi cookies is not a real challenge; they are cookies. Simply open the bag - which is not resealable - and pull out a cookie. When you have a cookie out, all you have to do is stick it in your mouth and chew; there is nothing complicated or difficult about eating these cookies.

Taste

Opening the bag of Barilla Baiocchi cookies, one is greeted by the scent of graham crackers. The scent of the cinnamon and graham is intriguing and inviting, but not particularly strong. There is no hint of the hazelnut or cocoa in the bouquet of the cookies.

In the mouth, the predominant flavor of the cookies is dry and nutty. The exterior of the cookies is dry and not particularly sweet. The flavor transitions into something mildly akin to graham and the hazelnut and cocoa center adds a little bit of sweetness to them. These cookies are neither overly flavorful, nor particularly sweet.

The Barilla Baiocchi cookies leave a fairly dry aftertaste in the mouth, so they are ideal when accompanied by milk or water.

Nutrition

Barilla Baiocchi are intended as a dessert, not a full meal. Three of these cookies, totaling 28 grams, represent a single serving and they are predictably not all that nutritious. Made primarily of wheat flour, sugar and non hydrogenated vegetable fats and oils, the ingredient list is made of almost all-recognizable ingredients. This is not an all-natural food product and these cookies were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about eggs, milk, soy, hazelnuts, shea nuts, coconuts and wheat.

Barilla's Baiocchi cookies have only 140 calories for a three cookie serving, but 70 of those calories are from fat. A full serving represents 15% of one's RDA of saturated fat, though they are cholesterol free. As well, they are fairly low in sodium for a cookie, having only 85 mg per serving. They also have 2 grams of protein, but no other significant nutrients.

Storage/Cleanup

Barilla Baiocchi cookies are easy to care for and clean up. Unopened, they have a pretty decent shelf life; the bag we got earlier this week (which was produced on November 7 of this year) had an expiration date of February 1, 2019. Kept sealed, I am sure they would have lasted at least that long; they were pretty dry and hard to begin with. As cookies, one need only not shake the bag excessively to care for them and wipe away any crumbs after eating them. This is a low-stress food!

Overall

Barilla Baiocchi cookies are pretty unremarkable, but not bad. Anyone hoping for anything flavorful - especially in the arena of chocolate flavoring for the central icing - will be disappointed.

For other reviews of cookies, please check out:
Creme de Pirouline Dark Chocolate Artisan Wafer Rolls
Peeps Oreo Cookies
Chips Ahoy! Thins Cinnamon Sugar cookies

4/10

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

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Taza Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Mexicano Disappoints.

The Good: Wonderful ingredients
The Bad: A little expensive, No almond (or even salt) flavor
The Basics: Taza Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Mexicano is fine, but has none of the flavors it promises outside, somewhat, the chocolate flavor.


Some things are painfully simple when it comes time to review them. I like, in general, the Taxa Dark Chocolate Mexicano discs I have tried so far. But, when I tried the Taza Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Mexicano, I couldn't find even a hint of almond flavor in it and the chocolate flavor seemed a bit weaker than the other dark chocolates. It, quite simply, does not live up to the standards of the promised flavors.

Basics

Taza is an premium chocolatier in Massachussetts that makes stone-ground Mexican chocolates. Almond Dark Chocolate Mexicano is a high-quality chocolate that I was lucky enough to find inexpensively at my local discount store.

The Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Mexicano comes as two discs (2.7 oz. total) that are paper-wrapped together and packaged inside a cardboard wrapper. The whole disc is presented as a 3” in diameter by 5/16” thick slightly segmented chocolate disc. The segments do not snap apart evenly. Despite that, the Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Mexicano are generally easy to portion out to have less than a full serving, which is nice for those who might be watching their waistline!

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Taza Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Mexicano is not a real challenge. After removing the chocolate from the cardboard and the paper wrapper, simply pull out the disc or break a segment off and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated method to eating these chocolates. This is an entirely ready-to-eat food . . . unless one wants to make it into a hot cocoa!

The hot chocolate version of the Taza Salted Almond Dark Chocolate requires milk and uses both discs in a package. One needs to grind up both discs of the chocolate and stir it into the simmering milk. Honestly, I've yet to make up some of this flavor as a cocoa.

Taste

Unwrapping the paper around the Salted Almond dark chocolate disc, the smell of dark chocolate is instantly recognizable. The Salted Almond Dark Chocolate smells almost homegeneously of the dark chocolate, without any hint of anything nutty in its aroma.

In the mouth, the Salted Almond Dark Chocolate is surprisingly bland. This chocolate is not overly sweet and it is not even distincly salty on the first blush. Instead, it is slightly dry and crispy with only a light, generic chocolate flavor. Try as I might, I could not find even a hint of almond in the flavor of this chocolate.

There is a sightly sweet chocolate flavor that lingers in the mouth from the Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Mexicano for about five minutes after the last of these are consumed.

Nutrition

Taza chocolates are intended as a dessert product, not a health food! Each 38 gram disc of Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Mexicano represent a single serving of the chocolate. Made primarily of organic cane sugar, organic cacao beans and organic almond, there are no unpronounceable ingredients in this chocolate. They were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about almonds, coconuts, and hazelnuts. The Taza Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Mexicano are marked as both gluten free and Vegan-compliant, as well as Soy Free.

Taza's Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Mexicano have 210 calories in a one-disc serving, 110 of which are from fat. A full serving represents 35% of one's RDA of saturated fat, but they are cholesterol-free. There is a minimal amount of sodium in these Dark Chocolate Mexicano Salted Almond chocolates and there are 3 grams of protein. These are not a significant source of any vitamins or minerals, though they do have 1% of one’s daily calcium and 4% of the RDA of Iron.

Storage/Cleanup

As a chocolate, Taza Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Mexicano are fine as long as they are stored below 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The package I picked up two weeks ago had an expiration date of April 6, 2018. Given that mine are gone already, I cannot comment on how well they endure as they come closer to the expiration date.

If, however, they melt, they will stain. Consult your fabric guide if they melt as dark chocolate can be a bear to clean up when melted into light fabrics. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the paper wrapper away when you are done with the chocolate disc.

Overall

Taza Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Mexicano is unlikely to satisfy anyone who loves any form of mix between nuts and chocolate . . . or even nut flavors in chocolate.

For other Taza chocolates, please check out my reviews of:
Cinnamon Dark Chocolate Mexicano
Vanilla Dark Chocolate Mexicano
Coffee Dark Chocolate Mexicano

2.5/10

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

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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For Those Who Have Use For It, The Wowly Pistachio Bowl Is Wonderful!

The Good: Durable, Inexpensive, Easy to use, Clever concept
The Bad: Nothing really.
The Basics: The Wowly Pistachio Bowl does all that it promises remarkably well!


Somewhere along the line, recently, I became a person who had virtually everything I ever wanted. There are a few "Grail Gifts" that remain on the list (with Robert Guillaume's passing recently one of the biggest is now likely out of reach), but for the most part, I have all I want. While this is nice for me in my day to day life, I have become a righteous pain in the ass for my wife to shop for on holidays and personal milestones. As such, she has gotten quite creative in trying to find gifts to give me. One of the most recent successes in her search for new things for me to use (and for her to give me) was the Wowly Pistachio Bowl.

I am a huge fan of pistachios and for the past two and a half decades, I have eaten pistachios with a bowl and a mini plastic garbage can for the shells, which I would then use in my landscaping. This was not an ideal solution to the problem of what to do with the shells from pistachios. The Wowly Pistachio Bowl is pretty much the perfect solution to trying to keep pistachios and their shells separated while consuming them.

The Wowly Pistachio Bowl is actually a pair of dishes that nest together. The top of the Wowly Pistachio Bowl is a 6" by 4 7/8" wide by 1 1/4" tall dish that acts as a tray for one's pistachio nuts. That tray fits into the top of the actual Wowly Pistachio Bowl. The tray portion fits snugly into the groove around the top edge of the bowl. The Wowly Pistachio Bowl is an oval shaped bowl that is then flared out on the long sides to have a hole that provides access to the bottom portion of the bowl.

The basic concept of the Wowly Pistachio Bowl is that consumers will pull a fresh pistachio nut from the top tray, crack open the shell, consume the meat within and then drop the shells through the flared out slots on the sides so the empty shells accumulate in the bowl below the tray. And it works perfectly. If one consumes a lot of pistachios in a single sitting, one might need to shake the bowl a little to settle the shells out to make room for more, incoming, shells.

When one is done consuming pistachios, simply detach the top tray portion and dump the shells from the Wowly Pistachio Bowl wherever one dumps their pistachio shells (I live in a forest, so there are a lot of all-natural options for me!). The Wowly Pistachio Bowl wipes clean exceptionally easily and it is top-rack dishwasher safe.

The Wowly Pistachio Bowl might be a very specific kitchen tool, but for those who love pistachios, it is perfect for one's needs!

For other kitchen gadgets, please check out my reviews of:
ThinkGeek Star Wars Battle Of Hoth Pint Glasses
Breville BOV450XL Toaster Oven
Home Essentials Can Opener

10/10

For other kitchen product reviews, please visit my Home And Garden Product Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate Bars Are Not One Of Wild Ophelia's Greatest Hits!

The Good: Tastes good, Decent quality, Does not melt easily, Good corporate ethics
The Bad: Comparatively expensive, The almonds do not actually manifest in the flavor
The Basics: The Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate Bars are flavorful, but those looking for a good nut/chocolate balance are likely to be disappointed.


The last month, I have been pretty thrilled to try all sorts of Wild Ophelia chocolates. Wild Ophelia is a pretty amazing company, doing good things with its corporate profits, making chocolates with impressive and high-quality ingredients, and creative flavor combinations. Wild Ophelia is a cool company and they have a ton of great products. Today, I sat down to enjoy Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate Bars and the chocolate and even the sea salt in them maintains the high standards I've come to expect from Wild Ophelia. But, for an almond-enhanced chocolate bar, I found the Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate Bars a bit underwhelming on the nut front. The balance between the chocolate and the nuts is not all that good in the Almond Sea Salt bars; the almonds make less of an impression in the bars than the sea salt. I might not be much of a fan of nuts in chocolate, but the Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate Bars underwhelmed even me.

Basics

The Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate Bar is a solid dark chocolate bar from Wild Ophelia. Each 2 oz. chocolate bar is wrapped in a cardboard wrapper. Inside the cardboard case is a thick metallic plastic wrapper (with a seam resembling a Pop Tart more than a chocolate bar). The actual chocolate bar is 4 1/2” long by 2 13/16” wide by 1/4” thick. The Bar has no identifying marks or logos on it, but it is segmented to make three 1 1/2” wide by 2 13/16” long bars. The top features ribbing that give the bar a very Art Deco look that is distinctive.

The chocolate is firm, dark and not at all waxy; it’s a quality chocolate bar. Individually, the bars are found in the $5.99 range. Given the quality of these bars, it is tough to call them too expensive, especially with premium potato chips in them.

Ease Of Preparation

Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate bars are chocolate; preparing them is as easy as unwrapping the candy bar. Because the chocolate is a premium chocolate product, I recommend eating this a little at a time, not just biting right into the bar.

Taste

The Almond Sea Salt Chocolate bar smells strongly of chocolate. The chocolate scent is potent and there is a hint of bitterness in the aroma that implies the dark nature of the chocolate in the Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate Bar.

On the tongue, the Almond Sea Salt Chocolate bar explodes with surprisingly sweet chocolate flavor. The dark chocolate is not nearly as bitter as one might expect or in comparison to many of the other Wild Ophelia bars. The chocolate flavor is enjoyable and sweet without tasting generic, buttery or waxy. The almonds in the Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate Bars manifest as a texture - a bit of crispiness in the solid chocolate bar - as opposed to a flavor. In fact, in the bar of Almond Sea Salt, there were more bites that had sea salt flavoring than almond flavoring, given that there were some that were flavored with the salt and none that tasted like almonds.

The Almond Sea Salt Chocolate bar have a slightly sweet aftertaste that does not endure very long in the mouth after the last of the bar is consumed.

Nutrition

Wild Ophelia makes their fine chocolates with quality ingredients, which is arguably why the range in price in the real world and online is a bit more than other chocolate bars! With the primary ingredients being bittersweet chocolate, roasted almonds and butterfat, the Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate bars are a candy bar, not a legitimate source of nutrition needed to survive. That said, Wild Ophelia uses natural ingredients and organic ingredients where possible; none of the ingredients are unpronounceable. In a full 56 gram serving (2 ounce), there are 310 calories, 220 of which are from fat. This represents 39% of one's RDA of fat (72% of the RDA of saturated fat). Each bar has 70 mg of Sodium (which is low considering there is actual sea salt in these candy bars) and 4 grams of protein. There is a smattering of Calcium (6% RDA) and a decent amount of Iron (35% RDA), but no other vitamins and minerals. In other words, this is not a snack to try to survive on.

While the bars are all natural with no artificial ingredients and have no preservatives, they do contain soy. As well, there is an allergy warning for milk, tree nuts and peanuts, which makes them unacceptable to those who observe a Vegan diet.

Storage/Clean-Up

Because the chocolate is generally hard, as a dark chocolate, the Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate bars are comparatively hard to melt. Despite that, these should be kept cool in order to not melt, but I have not had any problems with mine. As long as they are kept cool and dry, these bars will last at least six months (the ones my wife gave me last month would have lasted until October 5, 2018, had I not eaten it up first).

Clean-up is easy, so long as the chocolate does not melt. The Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate bars have wrappers that ought to be properly disposed of, but otherwise, the chocolate washes off skin and non-porous surfaces. It the chocolate melts onto fabric, consult a fabric guide.

Overall

Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate Bars are fine for what they are, but unimpressive for what they are supposed to be. The expectation one has when getting a chocolate bar with nuts is that the consumer might actually taste the nuts and that the nuts would add something substantive to the bar. That does not happen with the Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate Bars. That makes the Wild Ophelia Almond Sea Salt Chocolate Bars one of the few comparative failures from the venerable chocolate maker.

For other Wild Ophelia candy reviews, please check out my reviews of:
Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups
Cold Brew Jet Black Chocolate Coffee Bites
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Crispy Crunchy Caramel Corn And Dark Chocolate Bar

4/10

For more food reviews, please check out my Food Review Index Page!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Mediocre Execution: Reese's White Peanut Butter Cups Flop!

The Good: Peanut butter flavor is good, Inexpensive.
The Bad: Not the most nutritious thing ever, White chocolate is waxy and flavorless
The Basics: Reese's White Peanut Butter Cups are a bit of a disappointment for anyone who loves creamy, rich, white chocolate.


White Chocolate does not need to be flavorless. Sadly, though, some of the major mass-produced chocolatiers in the United States treat white chocolate like a flavorless cousin compared to milk or dark chocolate. Such is the case with Reese's White Peanut Butter Cups.

Basics

Reese's White Peanut Butter Cup are a fairly new Hershey's candy. The Reese’s White Peanut Butter Cups are the same size and shape as the traditional Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Like the rest of the Reese’s peanut butter cups, they come as pairs in a thin wax paper cup. The 1.5 oz. package houses two 21 gram candies.

Each Reese's White Peanut Butter Cup is sold as a pair for about $.99.

Ease Of Preparation

These are candy, so preparing them is as simple as opening the wrapper, removing it from the paper tray, and then eating the candy. There is no trick or mystery to eating Reese's White Peanut Butter Cup.

Taste

The Reese's White Peanut Butter Cups smell almost entirely of peanut butter. The aroma from these peanut butter cups is strong and inviting for anyone who loves peanut butter.

In the mouth, the White Peanut Butter Cup are waxy and flavorless until the white chocolate shell is broken. When that happens, the tongue is almost instantly overwhelmed by the flavor of the peanut butter, with no real flavor from the white chocolate in the flavor palate.

The Reese’s White cups leave a dry, salty aftertaste in the mouth after the last of the candies is consumed.

Nutrition

These are candy and a mass produced one at that, so it is tough to look at these for something nutritious and then blame them for not being healthy. Reese's White Peanut Butter Cup have mostly recognizable ingredients, which surprised me. The primary ingredients are peanuts, sugar, and vegetable oil. There is nothing unpronounable in these candies, though there are couple of abbreviated preservatives; everything else is easily identified.

A serving of the Reese's White Peanut Butter Cup is considered one package (two cups). From a single package, Reese's White Peanut Butter Cups provides 220 calories, 120 of those calories being from fat. There is no cholesterol in the White Peanut Butter Cups, but they do have 7% of one's daily sodium. There is only 4% of one's daily iron in the cups.

Honestly, these are candy and anyone looking to them for actual nutrition needs to get a reality check. These are not Vegan-compliant, nor are they recommended for anyone with a nut allergy as they contain peanuts! They are not noted to be either kosher or gluten-free.

Storage/Clean-up

The pack of these Reese's White Peanut Butter Cup remain fresh for quite some time. The ones I found in advance of Halloween had an expiration date of May 2018. Given that they are wrapped in a very sealed package, it is hard to imagine just what it would take for these to go bad outside melting and refreezing. Hershey's chocolates, even the white chocolates, do seem especially susceptible to melting, though.

As for cleanup, throw the wrappers away in socially appropriate places, as opposed to littering. 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 this chocolate melts into most fabrics, at least dark colored fabrics, it will stain. Getting them to melt, sadly, does not take much.

Overall

Reese's White Peanut Butter Cups fail to embody well the flavor of a decent white chocolate, undermining their overall novelty.

For other Hershey's candy reviews, please check out my reviews of:
Hershey's Cookie Layer Crunch Mint
Cadbury Screme Egg
Whoppers

3/10

For other food reviews, please visit my index page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Dry, Bitter, Delicious: Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups Deliver!

The Good: Good chocolate and peanut butter flavors, Great ingredients, Awesome corporate ethics, Good sea salt flavor
The Bad: Could use more sea salt, A little more expensive than other peanut butter cups with minimal differences
The Basics: The Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups are enjoyable, but they could use a little more sea salt in the chocolate to truly make them pop.


Every now and then, I encounter a product that has a good idea and it does not quite break through to fully realize that good idea. Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups are certainly one of those products. Wild Ophelia does a lot right (and it's a pretty great company!), but the two peanut butter cups by the company I have so far tried have not truly blown me away. The Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups are good, but for having the dual gimmicks of dark chocolate for the cups and sea salt, the sea salt is not actually prevalent or distinct enough to land the concept. Despite that, the Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups are quite good!

Basics

Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups are a fairly new candy. The Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups are like mini-candy cups. They come as a quartet of treats on a thin cardboard tray. The 1.37 oz. package houses four candies which are each 1"in diameter and 5/8" tall, shaped like a traditional peanut butter cup.

Ease Of Preparation

These are candy, so preparing them is as simple as opening the wrapper, removing it from the cardboard tray, and then eating the candy. There is no trick or mystery to eating Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups. The Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups are a ready-to-consume candy.

Taste

The Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups explode with the aroma of peanut butter. The scent from these chocolates is that of fresh roasted peanuts and it is very inviting. There is almost no hint of the chocolate in the bouquet from the Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups.

In the mouth, the Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups taste sweet and chocolatey. For being a dark chocolate, the Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups start quite sweet, before they transition to a dry, dark chocolate flavor. The dryness of the Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups continues with the peanut butter when the bitter chocolate shell of the cups is broken.

The Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups leave a dry, but sweet, aftertaste in the mouth after the last of the candies are consumed; it is not an unpleasant aftertaste and it does not last very long in the mouth.

Nutrition

Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups are comparatively good on the nutrition front, which is unsurprising given how good the ingredients in this chocolate are. The primary ingredients are Fair Trade Bittersweet Chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. There is nothing unpronounable in these candies; everything in them is easily identified, like sea salt.

A serving of the Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups is considered one package (four peanut butter cups). From a single package, Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups provides 220 calories, 150 of which are from the 17 grams of fat. There is 1% of the RDA of cholesterol and 50 mg of sodium. There is 4% of one's daily Calcium in the Cups, as well as 15% of the RDA of Iron.

These are not Vegan-compliant, nor are they recommended for anyone with a nut allergy as they are produced on equipment that processes tree nuts and the cups contain actual peanuts! They are not noted to be kosher, though they are gluten-free and made using Non-GMO ingredients. There are allergy warnings for milk, tree nuts, peanuts and soy.

Storage/Clean-up

The package of these Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups remain fresh for quite some time. The ones my wife got me for my birthday would have expired on May 31, 2018, had we not eaten all of the cups up already. Given that they are wrapped in a very sealed package, it is hard to imagine just what it would take for these to go bad outside melting and refreezing. These Wild Ophelia chocolates do not seem very susceptible to melting.

As for cleanup, just throw the wrappers away in the trash and you're done! There is no real cleanup needed unless one is eating them in a hot environment. In that circumstance, it is likely one would need to wash their hands. If this chocolate melts into most fabrics, it will stain, which is a legitimate concern, but dark chocolate does not melt very easily.

Overall

Wild Ophelia Maine Sea Salt Peanut Butter Cups are flavorful and nice, but they do not have enough sea salt in the chocolate or center to sell the consumer on the concept fully.

For other Wild Ophelia candy reviews, please check out my reviews of:
Cold Brew Sea Salt Caramel Latte Chocolate Coffee Bites
Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups
District 12 Mining The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Mined Salt And Milk Chocolate Bar

6/10

For other candy reviews, please visit my Candy Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups Intrigue!

The Good: Good chocolate and peanut butter flavors, Great ingredients, Awesome corporate ethics
The Bad: Very weak banana flavor, Comparatively expensive
The Basics: Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups are a good idea that Wild Ophelia does not quite pull off.


With the success of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, any number of chocolatiers have begun making peanut butter cups. Wild Ophelia, the high-quality chocolatier, is no exception to this trend. Tonight, I had the opportunity to try the Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups and when faced with the full selection of Wild Ophelia cups, this was my first choice. The idea of peanut butter and banana sounded good and I eagerly tried these treats.

Unfortunately, the Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups do not quite live up on the banana flavoring and as a result, they end up as a comparatively expensive peanut butter cup with little to distinguish them from other peanut butter cup candies.

Basics

Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups are a fairly new candy. The Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups are like mini-candy cups. They come as a quartet of treats on a thin cardboard tray. The 1.37 oz. package houses four candies which are each 1"in diameter and 5/8" tall, shaped like a traditional peanut butter cup. that are 7/16" thick.

Ease Of Preparation

These are candy, so preparing them is as simple as opening the wrapper, removing it from the cardboard tray, and then eating the candy. There is no trick or mystery to eating Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups. The Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups are a ready-to-consume candy.

Taste

The Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups have the scent of buttery milk chocolate exclusively. While the cups might contain peanut butter and bananas, there is no hint of either in the bouquet. These candies smell entirely of chocolate, without any hints of anything else in them.

On the tongue, the Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups are sweet and the outside does contain the strong flavor of bananas. The moment the Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups break open, the peanut butter in the center completely overwhelms the flavor of the banana crumbled on the top. The sweetness of the chocolate blends nicely with the peanut butter in the center of the candies, though both entirely overcome the mild banana flavor on the top of each cup.

The Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups leave a slightly sweet aftertaste in the mouth that does not last very long after the last of the candies are consumed.

Nutrition

Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups are comparatively good on the nutrition front, which is unsurprising given how good the ingredients in this chocolate are. The primary ingredients are milk chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. There is nothing unpronounable in these candies; everything in them is easily identified, like dried banana pieces and sea salt.

A serving of the Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups is considered one package (four peanut butter cups). From a single package, Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups provides 220 calories and 15 grams of fat. There is 2% of the RDA of cholesterol and 60 mg of sodium. There is 2% of one's daily Vitamin A and Calcium in the Cups, as well as 10% of the RDA of Iron.

These are not Vegan-compliant, nor are they recommended for anyone with a nut allergy as they are produced on equipment that processes tree nuts and the cups contain actual peanuts! They are not noted to be kosher, though they are gluten-free and made using Non-GMO ingredients. There are allergy warnings for milk, peanuts and soy.

Storage/Clean-up

The package of these Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups remain fresh for quite some time. The ones my wife got me for my birthday would have expired on April 30, 2018, had we not eaten it already. Given that they are wrapped in a very sealed package, it is hard to imagine just what it would take for these to go bad outside melting and refreezing. These Wild Ophelia chocolates do seem fairly susceptible to melting, though.

As for cleanup, I applaud those who actually throw the wrappers away in socially appropriate places, as opposed to litter. 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 this chocolate melts into most fabrics, it will stain, which is a legitimate concern given how the milk chocolate melts fairly easily.

Overall

Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups do not taste bad, but the promised flavors are not all evident in the taste and as a result, they feel more expensive than satisfying.

For other Wild Ophelia candy reviews, please check out my reviews of:
Cold Brew Jet Black Chocolate Coffee Bites
Beef Jerky & Smoked Salt Chocolate Bar
District 5 Power The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Crispy Crunchy Caramel Corn And Dark Chocolate Bar

4/10

For other candy reviews, please visit my Candy Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Generic Ice Cream, Wonderful Additive: Edy's Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Is A Mixed Bag!

The Good: Good ingredients, Affordable, Good flavor for the peanut butter additive
The Bad: The ice cream is generically sweet and minimally flavored, Not overly nutritious
The Basics: Edy’s Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice Cream is a nice twist to the cookie dough ice creams . . . even if the ice cream itself is not overly exceptional.


I am told, by the person I trust most in this life, that I like strong flavors much more than the average person. As such, my views on some ice creams may differ from those who enjoy more wishy-washy flavors or have mild palates. In the case of Edy's Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice Cream, I definitely fall on the front that the ice cream is far too weak to hold its own with the peanut butter additive in the dessert. Had Edy's used a peanut butter flavored ice cream instead of a sweet cream ice cream, the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough ice cream might have been a rousing success. As it is, the ice cream is mild, the additive is not prevalent enough and the result is a more average overall ice cream than one that truly wows those who like strong flavors.

Basics

Edy’s ice cream comes in a one and a half quart cylindrical container. The Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice Cream is a smooth ice cream broken up by quite a swirl of peanut butter and a few random sized Peanut Butter cookie dough pieces. At (locally) $5.99 a half gallon, this Edy’s ice cream is an affordable, mid-range ice cream. This is a new, limited edition of Edy’s ice cream, so it has not hit every market yet and is not necessarily going to be made a part of the regular line after its limited edition run ends.

Ease Of Preparation

Edy’s Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice Cream is a light ice cream with two overpowering additives. As an ice cream, preparation is ridiculously simple: one need only open the top of the container, scoop out a half cup and consume! There is no trick to preparing or eating the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice Cream.

Taste

The Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice Cream has a strong peanut butter scent to it. The aroma to this ice cream effervesces quite a bit, even when the ice cream is completely frozen. This is not one of the ice creams that requires it to near the melting point to develop an inviting bouquet.

In the mouth, the Edy's Peanut Butter Cookie Dough ice cream is dominated by the generic sweet cream flavor. The average bite of the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough ice cream is sweet without any real distinction. The peanut butter swirl in the sweet cream ice cream is dry and peanut butter flavor in a way that instantly overwhelms the ice cream. The chunks of actual peanut butter cookie dough are dry and grainy and distinct in their peanut butter flavor. The squishy blobs of frozen cookie dough are flavorful and they are so overpowering in the mouth that they establish the a dryness in the mouth that is very different from the flavor of the ice cream.

The Peanut Butter Cookie Dough ice cream has a fairly strong, dry aftertaste that lingers in the mouth for about three minutes after the last of the ice cream is consumed.

Nutrition

The Edy’s Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice Cream is a generally smooth ice cream with a substantial cookie dough additive. The one and a half quart container represents twelve half-cup servings. In the half-cup serving, there are 120 calories, 35 of which are from fat. The four grams of fat represent 6% of the RDA of fat, with 8% of one’s RDA of saturated fat coming in the 1.5 grams of saturated fat in this ice cream. One serving has 5 mg of cholesterol (that’s 2% of the RDA!) and 55 mg of Sodium (2% RDA). The only other real nutrient is three grams of protein, though there is also 8% of the RDA of Calcium and 2% of the RDA Vitamin A in the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice Cream.

Edy’s has decent ingredients, which is nice. Made primarily of Non-Fat Milk, sugar, and corn syrup Peanut Butter Cookie Dough is a decent ice cream! There is nothing unpronounceable in the ingredients list, though the last few ingredients are more preservatives and coloring agents than anything one might find in a grocery store. There are allergy warnings for milk and peanut ingredients. It is not marked as Kosher.

Storage/Clean-Up

Edy’s ice cream is both a frozen and a dairy product, so it is pretty obvious that it must be kept frozen in order to remain viable. Kept frozen it remains fresh for months; the container we bought last week had an expiration date of January 2018.

The Peanut Butter Cookie Dough ice cream is very light, but will certainly stain light clothing and some darker clothing. When the ice cream melts and gets onto fabrics, it will require one to wash it right out. On nonporous surfaces, the ice cream wipes off exceptionally easily.

Overall

Edy’s Peanut Butter Cookie Dough ice cream is good, but for those who love more flavorful things, it is likely to underwhelm a little more than thrill.

For other Edy’s ice creams, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Limited Edition Twinkie Ice Cream
Mint Brownie Ice Cream
Mint Cookie Crunch

5/10

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

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Good, But Not Chocolate Flavored, FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks Are Good!

The Good: Great ingredients, Flavorful, Decent nutritional value
The Bad: Expensive, Does not taste even remotely like chocolate
The Basics: Made In Nature FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks are a pleasant enough organic snack, even if the "choco" and "crunch" elements are hardly represented by the fruity snacks!


Despite being pretty reticent about liking the things I like, I have discovered that I am pretty open to new experiences and products. For the right price, I'll try just about any new product and I find I enjoy reviewing products that stretch the limits of what I would normally experience. When it comes to snacks, I am pretty open-minded, especially as I have aged and nutrition has become more of a factor in my snacking decisions. When a package of Made In Nature FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks arrived in front of me, I thought nothing of trying them.

Actually, that is not entirely true. Having recently had a lousy experience with Larabar Fruit And Nut Bars (reviewed here!), I was a bit gun-shy toward snacks that were fruit-based, but promising to be something more flavorful and interesting than flat-out fruit. Fortunately for me, Made In Nature FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks were quite good . . . even if the "Choco" in their name implies a chocolate flavor that does not at all materialize in the snack.

Basics

Made In Nature is a health food company and the Made In Nature FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks are the first product I have tried by the company.

The package of FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks is a 1.6 oz. foil pouch that holds five snacks. Each FiggyPops fruit & nuts snack is an oblate spheroid roughly 1 1/4” in diameter by 3/4” thick. The FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks come in various sizes of pouch - from 1.6 to 4.2 oz bags. The treats themselves are reminiscent of macaroon cookies with coconut on the surface of the soft sphere.

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Made In Nature FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks is simple. After removing five snack spheres from the bag, simply stick them in your mouth (one at a time!). There is no challenge to eating this snack or preparation required; these are an entirely ready-to-eat food!

Taste

The FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks have a smell of coconut and chocolate. The scent of cocoa in the bouquet is inviting and intriguing. The combination of chocolate and coconut in the aroma of these snacks is enough to give the consumer hope that the treat will delight anyone who loves fruit and chocolate.

In the mouth, though, the Made In Nature FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks are dominated by the flavor of the coconut. The dry fruit flavor of coconut is immediately evident and very strong. Breaking the coconut shell that surrounds the soft snack spheres, the consumer is overwhelmed by a sweet and sour flavor of dates and cherries. The fruity flavor is dry and the sweetness of the cherries is not enough to overcome for long the coconut on the snack's exterior. The flavor is not bad at all, but there is no real chocolate flavor in these snacks. Instead, these are ideal for someone who wants a fruity snack with a fruit and nut texture to it.

The FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks leave a slightly sour and dry aftertaste in the mouth that lasts for about five minutes after the last of the snacks is consumed.

Nutrition

Made In Nature FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks are intended as a healthy snack and they are quite good on that front. Each 1.6 oz. Made In Nature FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks pack represents a single serving and they are made of decent ingredients and loaded with dietary fiber. Made primarily of organic dates, organic pepita seeds, and organic figs, the ingredient list is made of entirely recognizable ingredients. These snacks were produced on equipment that processes tree nuts and there is a warning that some might contain a pit, but I did not encounter pits at all in mine. These are certified organic, appear to be Vegan-compliant (though they are not so noted) and I cannot see why they would not be gluten free based on the ingredients.

Made In Nature's FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks have 190 calories, 100 of which are from fat. A full serving represents 25% of one's RDA of saturated fat, but they are cholesterol-free. Surprisingly, they are comparatively low in sodium with only 85 mg (4% RDA) per serving and there are 5 grams of dietary fiber. Consumers also get 4 grams of protein from each serving of the snacks. These snacks give consumers 4% of the RDA of Calcium and Vitamin A and 10% the RDA of Iron, but not much else.

Storage/Cleanup

As a healthy snack, Made In Nature FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks remain fresh so long as they are kept in their sealed bag. Our bag had an expiration date of May 1, 2018, so these do not have the best shelf life for a snack of its type. The only real clean-up for the Made In Nature FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks comes from wiping up crumbs, though I also found there was quite a bit of shaved coconut left in the bag after I was done consuming them!

Overall

Made In Nature FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks are quite good, so long as one does not go into the experience expecting anything even remotely chocolate-flavored. The expense of the package of FiggyPops Choco Crunch Supersnacks is a bit high, but for the quality of the ingredients, it is on par with other high-end snacks. The result is a fruity snack that is likely to satisfy its target demographic, if not the general public!

For other reviews of random foods, please check out:
Frosted Orange Crush Pop Tarts
Uncle Ray's Maple Bacon Potato Chips
Good Thins The Oat One Sweet Oat & Flax snacks

6/10

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

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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