Today's Review: Haribo Jelly Babies

The jelly babies are one of the best parts of the Haribo Super Mix, seeing as I'm not a big fan of the Bassetts ones these really hit the spot. This dedicated bag of Haribo Jelly Babies has been around for a while, but they seem to have been rebranded as "The Juicy Wuicy One". so I wondered if the formula had changed.

These are different to the jelly babies you find in the Super Mix, they're substantially fatter, and with that comes a bit more filling that is very juicy. My main concern with the "classic Bassetts babies is that they're just too dry and chalky, and the ones in this bag seem to rectify that problem even more than the Super Mix babies. I'd have to say these are pretty perfect, a hard, chewy shell that gives way to a nice juicy jelly. A great bag of Haribo.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Euro Shopper White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies

In the lull between Christmas and New Year, I've been too lazy to go out and get a proper food shop, so I popped down to the corner shop instead today, looking for snack-like sustenance. After all, the diet starts in a couple of days, right? I found myself perusing the packets of biscuits, and finally settled on these generic brand cookies, which contain white chocolate and cranberries. I thought they were mainly reserved for the supermarket in-store bakery cookies, but no, here they are packaged up for a reasonable price.

Turns out there's a reason for the reasonable price. These cookies are not too good. They're cookies, I'll give them that, and they're not awful, but they are a little gritty, and the chunks of stuff that are in there are few and far between. The chocolate is slightly noticeable, giving these a slightly creamy texture. The cranberries are very dried, and while they provide a slight fruity burst, it's not enough to make these worth bothering about. This pack of cookies is just bland, I'd go for the good stuff in the bigger stores.

My rating: 2/5

Today's Review: Manomasa Tomatillo Salsa Tortilla Chips

I've gone back and gotten myself some more Manomasa chips. Last time I was mightily impressed with the lemon and peppercorn, this time I went for the salsa flavour, because we all love a bit of salsa, right? The chips contain red and white quinoa, and are flavoured with green tomato. These guys like using fruits that are different colours than usual apparently. There are some cheeky chillies popping out of the top of the chip there too, so I was looking forward to a bit of spice.

These chips have a good texture to them. Not quite as good as the lemon and peppercorn, they're a little on the dry side, but the quinoa gives them a nice grittiness and flavour. As for the salsa taste, they do a pretty good job. The tomato is very bold, but not too overpowering, it's a nice clean flavour that works very well with the texture of the chips. The chilli is a great addition, it starts off not too noticeable but builds up to a very satisfying level of heat. Spicy tomato salsa, in a chip. Another very nice flavour in the range.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Chilli Wizards Insane Ghost Pepper Peanuts

I do like my spice, but often I find products that claim to be spicy fairly lacking. So I was quite looking forward to this pack of peanuts flavoured with ghost pepper, one of the hottest chillies in the world. Of course, there was the possibility that these would let me down, but the warning plastered on the packet gave me some hope.

Oh boy, these are hot. Very hot. I guess that's what you can expect from a novelty product designed to be ridiculously spicy, but they've done a good job here. They've perhaps gone a little overboard on the spice, it does compromise the taste of the peanuts. But the spice is the point, and the peanuts are still noticeable, so it's not all that bad. I can imagine these would be quite intense for a lot of people, I can only really manage a few at a time before I need to wait for the heat to fade. But the form in which they're presented works in their favour. The spice may be very strong, but in peanut form it's somewhat manageable. This is a good bag of peanuts for anyone who loves a bit of heat. Or a lot.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Pez Hedz Bearz

That's a lot of "Z"s there, these sweets must be cool. I found this interesting little bag in Home Bargains, and while it sports the Pez name there's nothing particularly Pez about them. While they're distributed by Pez, they're made by Katjees, who are known for their gelatin free, gluten free sweets, and the Pez link is tenuous at best. Apparently they're in the shape of what the head of a Pez dispenser could look like. Right...

These are chewy sweets in various fruity flavours, and are similar in appearance and texture to the classic Percy Pigs from M&S. These aren't quite as good, but still, they're not bad. The gums themselves come in peach, grape or cherry flavour, and the ears possess fruity flavours of their own. They taste somewhat like the fruits but not really, pretty much how you expect an artificial version of the fruit to taste. Not awful, but definitely not natural. The texture is pretty good, slightly chewier than a Percy Pig, but pretty pleasant, and there is a slight tang to the overall flavour that does conjure up images of Pez. Otherwise though, the reference doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and all you're getting is a fairly average bag of chewy sweets. Quite nice, but nothing special.

My rating: 3/5

Today's Review: Manomasa Green Lemon & Pink Peppercorn Tortilla Chips

I've tried out some Manomasa chips before, and found them to be not all that great. But they were still on offer in Tesco, and there were a few varieties I hadn't tried, so I figured I'd keep going. This one sounded pretty damn good, and a little on the fancy side too. Green lemon and pink peppercorn, because the regular colours of those weren't good enough for some reason.

You know, despite the chipotle & lime being pretty average, these ones are pretty damn good. The texture is a lot less dry than I found in the other chips, and they're helped along with some fantastic flavours. The lemon lends a great zesty citrus taste, and the peppercorn is very bold and sharp. They complement each other very well, with neither overpowering the other, and all in all it's a very well rounded flavour, the flavouring is very generously applied. This is a great bag of chips, and it's restored my faith in the range. I'll be going back and grabbing up some of the others before the price goes up again.

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Rubis Chocolate Wine

Merry Christmas, y'all! I've eaten a whole lot of stuff today, but this is an interesting little number that stood out the most today. It's a chocolate wine, which I must admit sounded a bit disgusting, but I figured I'd give it a go anyway. So here's a quick little review before I collapse into a food coma.

This is actually some pretty good stuff. It's very rich, probably as you'd expect, and the heaviness does work against it a little, but all in all it's a pretty delicious wine, with fruity hints and a very well done chocolate flavour. It doesn't overwhelm the senses, it's a fairly delicate chocolate hint that blends in nicely with the red wine and makes for a good, full flavour. A good attempt at a quite different bottle of wine.

My rating: 4/5