It's been years since I posted any reviews to this blog. But there is a long backlog [1] of reviews. For a lot of them, I'd written my thoughts, but not an intro. Rather than write an intro for each one (especially since it's been years since I tried these products), I'm going to give you several reviews here in one go. As a preview: lychees, Cadbury Creme Egg, Snyder's of Hanover Bacon Cheddar Preztel Pieces, Alma Kräuterschatz cheese, Bon Fire Maverick Salt and Vinegar Chips, Häagen-Dazs White Chocolate and Raspberry Truffle Ice Cream, Martinelli's Blood Orange, Martinelli's Mango Lemonade.
Lychees. Once, when I was still at BYU and before we had any kids, I forgot to bring a lunch and I was getting awfully hungry. So I took Leann on a date to a Thai restaurant near BYU. You could order lychees as a side. Even though I tried a lychee drink, once, I couldn't remember what they tasted like. So I ordered some. They came out in a bowl filled with juice. They looked like soggy, bloated white cherries.[2] They were pretty good and tasted a little like bubblegum.[3]
Cadbury: Creme Egg. When I was little, I remember watching Easter commercials that featured the Cadbury Creme Egg. Someone in the commercial would crack open the egg and the creamy center with a false yolk would ooze out.[4] They looked fantastic. I don't remember the Easter Bunny every bringing me one, though. So, if memory serves, it wasn't until I was in college and had to feed myself, that I actually bought a Cadbury Creme Egg. Watching those commercials, I imagined that they would taste rich and savory, like a raw egg yolk, but also sweet because of the chocolate. While these didn't match the taste I'd imagined for them, they weren't a disappointment (though I attest that few things that are waited for for so long actually live up to the fantasy), I still think they're delicious. Not so delicious I'd want to eat them all the time. But every Easter, definitely. I don't much care for the caramel variety, though.
Snyder's of Hanover: Bacon Cheddar Preztel Pieces. I have long enjoyed the regular cheddar flavor [5] and the honey mustard flavor, so when these appeared on the shelves I was only too happy to give them a try. At first I bought into the advertising and believed that these tasted like bacon. But then, the more I thought about it, the more I came to conclude that they tasted more like ham than bacon. Don't get me wrong, they're still delicious—they just don't taste like bacon. But this does present a problem: grocery stores are always out of the Cheddar Pretzel Pieces. So now this just means that there are two flavors of Snyder's Pretzel Pieces that I'll never be able to find.
Alma: Kräuterschatz cheese. This is an Austrian cheese [6] with eight spices rubbed into the rind: lemon balm, oregano, savory, thyme, marjoram, parsley, chive, and lovage. As best I can tell, the name means "herbal treasure". The dried herbs were a little unpleasant to chew and I thought the oregano/marjoram stood out the most. The cheese was only slightly stinky (or what connoisseurs would call 'nutty' [7]), but it stayed on your breath after you were done eating it which was unpleasant. It had a few small eyes and I thought the texture and taste were similar to Emmentaler (=Swiss), but Leann said it was more like Mozzarella. Overall, this cheese was just short of okay. Worth trying once, but I probably won't buy it again.
Bon Fire Maverick: Salt and Vinegar Chips. I bought these at the Maverik gas station in Thayne, Wyoming, when we stopped for gas on our way home from free fishing day in Idaho.[8] These are cheap chips. They're thin and the flavor powder doesn't stay on them very well. They have a really strong potato flavor. I'm not sure whether that was due to the potato variety they use or just they way they make the chips, but it was too much. The stung a little, which let me know they had vinegar on them, but they didn't really taste like vinegar. There are better salt and vinegar chips out there.
Häagen-Dazs: White Chocolate and Raspberry Truffle Ice Cream. Some of my friends mentioned enjoying this ice cream, so I decided to try it myself. This ice cream reminded me of a raspberry cheesecake ice cream I once had. I didn't really detect the white chocolate; the chocolate chunks were excellent, though, as was the raspberry ribbon. The ice cream had a nice, smooth texture. I like mint ice cream better, but this was still pretty good.
Martinelli's: Blood Orange. I would usually argue that blood orange isn't going to taste any different from regular orange juice.[9] But this actually had a more complex flavor than regular orange juice—almost like it had hints of pineapple juice and grapefruit juice thrown in for good measure (and who knows, perhaps it does—the ingredient list includes "fruit juice for color" and "natural flavors"). However, orange juice has a somewhat bitter aftertaste and that was even more pronounced here—in fact, it was just like the aftertaste of cranberry juice. If I were to put my money anywhere, I'd say the extra flavor is cranberry.
Martinelli's: Mango Lemonade. I didn't think the mango went well in a lemonade. It made the lemonade seem, for lack of a better term, musty. Actually, it reminded me a little of the aftertaste you get from eating a blue cheese. Alternatively, if you were to think of the mango as being the base flavor, the lemonade made it seem somewhat unripe instead of tangy.[10]
Don't worry! I'll be blitzing you with more reviews in the future.
Notes:
[1] Perhaps this is the real meaning of blog: backlog, since most of us bloggers seem to fall behind.
[2] This may seem odd to you since the photograph shows them looking quite red, more like a raspberry. The red part is a hard shell which must be removed before eating the soft white fruit inside.
[3] According to Wikipedia, some of the complexity of the flavor is lost during canning. Since lychees aren't grown extensively in the U.S., it's almost certain they were canned and I still haven't enjoyed the full experience.
[4] I suspect that the creamy center is similar in substance to the filling of cordial cherries.
[5] You can read my review of the cheddar cheese pretzel pieces (and other flavors) here.
[6] See http://www.bristolfarms.com/blog/2012/04/discover-three-new-austrian-cheeses/.
[7] See http://www.eatwisconsincheese.com/cheese/Glossary.aspx?fc=N.
[8] See my post Free Fishing Day.
[9] e.g., see my review of Bundaberg Blood Orange soda here.
[10] If you're interested, you can also read my review of Martinelli's Prickly Passion Lemonade here.
Image attributions:
Lychees on the vine is by Asit K. Ghosh, available at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lychee Brewster01 Asit.jpg.
Lychees. Once, when I was still at BYU and before we had any kids, I forgot to bring a lunch and I was getting awfully hungry. So I took Leann on a date to a Thai restaurant near BYU. You could order lychees as a side. Even though I tried a lychee drink, once, I couldn't remember what they tasted like. So I ordered some. They came out in a bowl filled with juice. They looked like soggy, bloated white cherries.[2] They were pretty good and tasted a little like bubblegum.[3]
Cadbury: Creme Egg. When I was little, I remember watching Easter commercials that featured the Cadbury Creme Egg. Someone in the commercial would crack open the egg and the creamy center with a false yolk would ooze out.[4] They looked fantastic. I don't remember the Easter Bunny every bringing me one, though. So, if memory serves, it wasn't until I was in college and had to feed myself, that I actually bought a Cadbury Creme Egg. Watching those commercials, I imagined that they would taste rich and savory, like a raw egg yolk, but also sweet because of the chocolate. While these didn't match the taste I'd imagined for them, they weren't a disappointment (though I attest that few things that are waited for for so long actually live up to the fantasy), I still think they're delicious. Not so delicious I'd want to eat them all the time. But every Easter, definitely. I don't much care for the caramel variety, though.
Snyder's of Hanover: Bacon Cheddar Preztel Pieces. I have long enjoyed the regular cheddar flavor [5] and the honey mustard flavor, so when these appeared on the shelves I was only too happy to give them a try. At first I bought into the advertising and believed that these tasted like bacon. But then, the more I thought about it, the more I came to conclude that they tasted more like ham than bacon. Don't get me wrong, they're still delicious—they just don't taste like bacon. But this does present a problem: grocery stores are always out of the Cheddar Pretzel Pieces. So now this just means that there are two flavors of Snyder's Pretzel Pieces that I'll never be able to find.
Alma: Kräuterschatz cheese. This is an Austrian cheese [6] with eight spices rubbed into the rind: lemon balm, oregano, savory, thyme, marjoram, parsley, chive, and lovage. As best I can tell, the name means "herbal treasure". The dried herbs were a little unpleasant to chew and I thought the oregano/marjoram stood out the most. The cheese was only slightly stinky (or what connoisseurs would call 'nutty' [7]), but it stayed on your breath after you were done eating it which was unpleasant. It had a few small eyes and I thought the texture and taste were similar to Emmentaler (=Swiss), but Leann said it was more like Mozzarella. Overall, this cheese was just short of okay. Worth trying once, but I probably won't buy it again.
Bon Fire Maverick: Salt and Vinegar Chips. I bought these at the Maverik gas station in Thayne, Wyoming, when we stopped for gas on our way home from free fishing day in Idaho.[8] These are cheap chips. They're thin and the flavor powder doesn't stay on them very well. They have a really strong potato flavor. I'm not sure whether that was due to the potato variety they use or just they way they make the chips, but it was too much. The stung a little, which let me know they had vinegar on them, but they didn't really taste like vinegar. There are better salt and vinegar chips out there.
Häagen-Dazs: White Chocolate and Raspberry Truffle Ice Cream. Some of my friends mentioned enjoying this ice cream, so I decided to try it myself. This ice cream reminded me of a raspberry cheesecake ice cream I once had. I didn't really detect the white chocolate; the chocolate chunks were excellent, though, as was the raspberry ribbon. The ice cream had a nice, smooth texture. I like mint ice cream better, but this was still pretty good.
Martinelli's: Blood Orange. I would usually argue that blood orange isn't going to taste any different from regular orange juice.[9] But this actually had a more complex flavor than regular orange juice—almost like it had hints of pineapple juice and grapefruit juice thrown in for good measure (and who knows, perhaps it does—the ingredient list includes "fruit juice for color" and "natural flavors"). However, orange juice has a somewhat bitter aftertaste and that was even more pronounced here—in fact, it was just like the aftertaste of cranberry juice. If I were to put my money anywhere, I'd say the extra flavor is cranberry.
Martinelli's: Mango Lemonade. I didn't think the mango went well in a lemonade. It made the lemonade seem, for lack of a better term, musty. Actually, it reminded me a little of the aftertaste you get from eating a blue cheese. Alternatively, if you were to think of the mango as being the base flavor, the lemonade made it seem somewhat unripe instead of tangy.[10]
Don't worry! I'll be blitzing you with more reviews in the future.
Notes:
[1] Perhaps this is the real meaning of blog: backlog, since most of us bloggers seem to fall behind.
[2] This may seem odd to you since the photograph shows them looking quite red, more like a raspberry. The red part is a hard shell which must be removed before eating the soft white fruit inside.
[3] According to Wikipedia, some of the complexity of the flavor is lost during canning. Since lychees aren't grown extensively in the U.S., it's almost certain they were canned and I still haven't enjoyed the full experience.
[4] I suspect that the creamy center is similar in substance to the filling of cordial cherries.
[5] You can read my review of the cheddar cheese pretzel pieces (and other flavors) here.
[6] See http://www.bristolfarms.com/blog/2012/04/discover-three-new-austrian-cheeses/.
[7] See http://www.eatwisconsincheese.com/cheese/Glossary.aspx?fc=N.
[8] See my post Free Fishing Day.
[9] e.g., see my review of Bundaberg Blood Orange soda here.
[10] If you're interested, you can also read my review of Martinelli's Prickly Passion Lemonade here.
Image attributions:
Lychees on the vine is by Asit K. Ghosh, available at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lychee Brewster01 Asit.jpg.
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