The Great Foodstuff Finds Mince Pie Taste Test - Results - By @Cinabar

If you were wondering "who ate all the pies," I can confirm: it was us! We have taste tested and rated most of the high street Mince Pies on sale this year. We have been around all the shops, from Aldi to Marks and Spencer, and even stopped off at Greggs on the way. We took into account pastry, filling, and design and packaging, collated scores, and gave a percentage rating to all of them, and now the results are in:

 

Aldi Holly Lane Mince Pies - Rated: 57% 

(£1.09 for 6, equivalent to 18p each)

I really wanted these to do well; we all root for the underdog, and to be honest, these weren't bad pies at all.They came last on our list as the filling wasn’t very generous and the pastry was dry.

M&S 6 Iced Topped Mince Pies -  Rated 69%

(£2 for 6, equivalent to 33p each)

The pastry was nice, but there was not enough mincemeat and the icing was too thick.

Sainsbury’s Mince Pies - Rated 72%

(£1.25 for 6, equivalent to 21p each)

These ones were really nice; the pastry was a bit thick and a little dry, but the filling was really good.

M&S Lattice Mince Pies - Rated 82%

(£2 for 6, equivalent to 33p each)

The pastry seems thick, but it is soft and tasty. There is orange peel in the mincemeat, which was absolutely lovely. 

Mr Kipling Mince Pies - Rated 82%

(£1.85 for 6, equivalent to 31p each)

Well these are the classic British mince pie through and through. The pastry is a little thick, but there is plenty of filling too; they are wonderfully generously filled and well flavoured. 

Iceland Mince Pies - Rated 82%

(£1.20 for 6, equivalent to 20p each)

These are the best budget mince pies we could find. They look a little smaller overall, but they have good pastry and a nice filling that is sweet and well spiced. 

Tesco Iced Topped Mince Pies - Rated 92%

(£1.75 for 6, equivalent to 29p each)

These were so well balanced: a nice layer of icing, not too thick, and a decent pastry with a tasty filling.

Greggs Mince Pies - Rated 97%

(Sold individually for 60p each)

These pies are rather generous, bigger than the boxed versions from other brands. They are baked fresh, and the pastry is spot-on buttery, not too thick, and still has a bit of crunch. The mincemeat is juicy with plenty of fruit, these are a proper treat.

And the winners are...

Walkers of Scotland Mince Pies - Rated 100%

(£5 for 4, equivalent to £1.25 each)

Yes, these pies got 100%; that is, every person gave them full marks in every single category. They were by far the most expensive pies we purchased, but what can I say, they at least met our expectations.The filling was juicy and flavorful, and there was plenty of it. The pastry was next level; it was so buttery and biscuit-like and an absolute joy to eat. Everyone was just saying "mmmm" while they ate them. They are a bit good, and from the scores, you can see they are actual mince pie perfection.

Have we missed any pies you think should be rated too? Let us know! Which ones are your favourite?

Twirl Breakaway (GB Gifts) By @SpectreUK

I'm being showered with import chocolate at the moment. Cinabar has bought a stockpile of chocolate from GB Gifts. Last week it was the Cadbury's Flake Luxury. This week it's a Cadbury's Twirl Breakaway. Well, I did mention how much I like Cadbury's Twirls, so it seemed a natural choice for Cinabar to buy from the website.

A Cadbury's Twirl Breakaway is two fingers of chocolate, not in an 'up your's' sense, but more of a lean towards the traditional Cadbury's Twirl. These fingers or sticks have swirls and curls of chocolate in between layers of crispy wafer coated with Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate. It sounds pretty good, eh? Well, only if you like wafer. The trouble is... I don't like wafer. I'll likely eat a wafer if someone insults a cone of ice cream with one, but I'd prefer a Cadbury's Flake in a cone of ice cream any day. Having said that, in one ice cream shop I had a stick of fudge added to my ice cream cone, which was amazeballs!

At around 108 calories per stick this Cadbury's Twirl Breakaway is fairly healthy. Having said that, an original Cadbury's Twirl weighs in at 114 calories per stick, so not much difference there. I have worked out quite a bit in the kitchen gym, so I have an original Cadbury's Twirl to eat also, as a sort of compare and contrast.

On opening the Cadbury's Twirl Breakaway there was a crunch from the crispy wafer at the top of the bar. As you can see from the photograph, there is wafer just under the milk chocolate coating at the top and bottom of the Cadbury's Twirl Breakaway stick. The curls and swirls of chocolate give a Dairy Milk Chocolate creaminess mixed with the chocolate coating. The wafer melted in my mouth pretty quickly.

These Cadbury's Twirl Breakaway are a very tasty alternative to an original Cadbury's Twirl, which I rather enjoyed straight afterwards. Both Cadbury's Twirls variations complemented each other very well indeed. Although in a taste versus calories battle I'd go with an original Cadbury's Twirl on its own. They both were washed down with a white hot chocolate drink. Pure bliss.

Ginger Fever! Fever Tree Premium Ginger Ale and Premium Ginger Beer (Sainsbury's) By @SpectreUK

It's times like these that I realise that I can be pretty ignorant. I do love ginger ale, and the nose hair ticklier (yes, I know that's not a word) the better. However, I actually presumed that the terms ginger ale and ginger beer were interchangeable. A little bit like beer and ale. Although ale and lager are different due to their types of yeast and their fermentation process, which is 'top' for ale and 'bottom' for lager. Ginger ale and ginger beer to me were the same. I guess I've never given it much thought, just popped the can open and drunk it. I have had alcoholic ginger beer in the past though. I've even blogged about a few. The clue is in the title… Ginger beer is fermented (brewed like beer!), whereas ginger ale is not, it's ginger flavoured carbonated water. Who'd have (good ole Urban Dictionary) 'thunk' it? These two bottles from Fever Tree made me think again.

Now to the drinks themselves… The Premium Ginger Ale is a slightly coppery colour. The blurb on the back of the label states that there is natural ginger in this ginger ale and also botanical flavours for a traditional ginger ale taste. I'm used to mass produced ginger ale, big on fizz and even bigger on nose hair tickling flavour. On opening the 500ml glass bottle this Premium Ginger Ale was definitely big on fizz. There was a mild smell of ginger and it didn't make me sneeze like my regular favourite brand if I suddenly masochistically sniff it. On taste this Premium Ginger Ale is very easy to drink. The botanicals they mention taste a little like those within a traditional cola, and the natural ginger is a little understated. It did tickle my nose slightly, but not to sneezing stage… not that the label promised it would provide super ginger heat like some other drinks do. If you prefer a more subtle ginger ale than this is definitely for you.

The Premium Ginger Beer is a cloudy white in colour. The label states that this drink has a blend of ginger roots, and again with the botanical flavours. There was a decent fizz on opening the bottle, only this time I could smell a heady blend of ginger root. It almost made me sneeze. I had a feeling I was going to like this drink. On taste this is a completely different drink to the Premium Ginger Ale. All subtlety is out of the window. There is oodles of ginger root in this drink. It jumps out of the drink as you take a swig and slaps you around the face screaming "ginger". I must admit I got a pretty runny nose from drinking this Premium Ginger Beer. They could definitely put 'fiery' in front of the ginger beer on the label. Not too sweet in flavour, the botanicals take a back seat in this drink, and the ginger root is very much full throttle. As you've probably guessed, this was my favourite of the two. Premium Ginger Beer for the win!

Twin Peaks (@Poundland) by @NLi10 #TwinPeaks

Nope - it's too snowy to go to work today, even for bloggers.  Here is a snow owl instead.  Merry Christmas.

Yup - that's in my kitchen.  It's far too cold to go outside! The carrot was too big to use as a nose, the pasta looked like a beak. The artisan bespoke organic peppercorns for eyes compliment it well.  It's in a jus of melted snow owl because the heating is on - I'm not crazy!  

What do you mean that isn't sufficient for a lazy Sunday submission? Look at his cute scarf!!

Gah.

Good job I went to Poundland on Friday before I got snowed in.  They had packs of Knoppers for a pound - you don't know how happy that made me.

And these:

Apparently there was a little controversy with these the first time these were announced.  They agreed to use a different colour packaging and to still sell Toblerones in store (in fact the originals were much easier to find in store than these were) and apparently they only made 500,000 - and I bought three.  After all - chocolate that there has been a legal row over must be good!  I only found out it existed because regular folks were talking about it on FaceBook.  I felt behind the snack curve and had to rectify it immediately.

So what's the deal?  Toblerone announced it'd change its shape to make it more convenient to eat, people who rarely buy a Toblerone went mad because you'd technically get a bit less chocolate, Poundland announced a version similar to the original size in similar packaging - and chaos ensued.  But! Now we have a frankly brilliant colour scheme (looks like a 70s F1 team) and two peaks and a back-story.

It looks very pretty.  You can tell why the originals come in a cardboard box - all the bars had snapped half way so I was convinced that it came in two bits.

It's still an absolute pain to eat though.  I like Toblerone most in the individually wrapped chunks or tiny bars.  Even this Fauxblerone is an awkward beast to deal with unless you snap it into the smallest bits you can.  It is a more natural 4 bite experience though as the dip between the hills allows you to bite after the first snap.

It contains all the similar alpine bitty bits that you'd expect (maybe a bit smaller) and the chocolate is a little less milky than the normal one I think, which is nice.  Everyone knows black Toblerone with it's Dark chocolate is the best one in the selection box.  When Poundland do that I'll be stocking up again.

As for this - it's a success.  It got me to do some Christmas shopping in PoundLand and find a few things that I'd not expected to see there.  The bar is not disappointing - it's chunky, chocolatey and very good value at a pound.  The packaging is funky enough that you could give this for Christmas as a stocking filler (especially if the recipient knows the back-story) and the person opening it would be happy.  Although they would know it cost a pound the limited nature adds to the appeal.

If you like the big brand version you should certainly make a trip in to find them - they are by the tills - but do have a wonder round while you are there as you'll probably find some hidden gems like I did too.

Burton’s Fish and Chips Snacks: Red Sauce vs Brown Sauce (Asda) [By @Cinabar]

There is an important vote coming up. One that could change lunch boxes up and down the country. I’m referring of course to the Red Versus Brown vote that Burton’s Fish and Chips are having in order to decide the best new snack flavour. ;-)
They have released their Fish and Chip snacks in both Red Sauce flavour and Brown Sauce flavour for the nation to decide which they prefer. I’m always up for a Foodstuff Fight so bought a bag of each (okay and a bag of the Salt and Vinegar and a bag of the Chicken ones too). I gave them the taste test to make my choice.

Brown Sauce Flavour - Burton’s Fish and Chips
I have to confess I don’t usually eat brown sauce. I like ketchup and the brown sauce bottle isn’t something I’d naturally pick up. So I was quite surprised to find I really enjoyed these crisps. They have a brown sprinkle of seasoning and the taste was fruity and spicy and really every pleasant. This stumped me I was sure I wouldn’t like them but I happily munched my way through them and am looking forward to the other packs in the bag. It even made go back and retry brown sauce from the bottle, and it was a much better flavour there too than I’d remembered.

Red Sauce Flavour - Burton’s Fish and Chips
The crisps had warm red seasoning on the them, which meant the two flavours were easy to tell apart visually. I picked up one of the Red Sauce fish in the packet and gave it a try and was overwhelmed by just how nice the flavour came through. There is a fabulous sweet tomato taste and just a nice aftertaste of mild spice. The flavour is quite full on, but it is just pure tomato goodness. These hit the mark completely for me, and anyone who likes tomato based flavours will love them.

Results
I was surprised by how good the Brown Sauce Fish and Chips were, I thoroughly enjoyed them. However the Red sauce ones were out of this world, and if I was going to vote it would be for the tomato ones. So for me it was a win for Red, but a nice surprise that Brown was so close. Some of this may be bias though as I do like Ketchup. Have you tried both, which do you prefer?

By Cinabar

High Street Coffee Foodstuff Fight (Greggs vs Costa vs Starbucks)

The lovely folks at Greggs asked if I wanted to try out their coffee and see how it compares to their rivals. They wanted a fair review and comparison. This meant I had to go and get caffeinated, and had Lattes from Greggs, Costa and Starbucks.
I do like Lattes and often have them a treat at the weekend, so I thought it would interesting to do this direct comparison.

First up I went to Costa and ordered a “medium” Latte. I know size varies, but I thought I’d ask for medium and just see what I got. The coffee was made freshly in front of me, with a fresh espresso being stacked into the machine. I noticed that the lady who went on to make it used the heated milk from the previous customer without re-heating it for me. Consequentially my Latte was not hot. I asked for take-out which I think needs special consideration for temperature, if any drink should be hot it is this, the customer intends to walk somewhere with it. A warm latte is such a disappointing thing and I have to say it isn’t the first time this has happened to me in Costa.
On a more pleasant note the drink had a nice flavour, it was very smooth and creamy and quite mild in terms of the coffee. I’d have preferred a stronger flavour, but the coffee was fresh. The takeout cup was good, it was deeply coloured, and had corrugated wrinkles to keep the heat. To be honest the drink needed all the help it could get with this.

Costa
Cost for a medium: £2.55 2 / 5
Temperature: Warm 1 / 5
Taste: Mild 4 / 5
Fresh: 5 / 5
Smell: 3 / 5
Aesthetics: 4 / 5
TOTAL: 19

Next up I went to Starbucks, and ordered a medium Latte and waited for my drink. As I was standing in line I noticed that the tables weren’t cleared and that people sitting down had stacked up mugs and plates on the one remaining empty table. It is such a simple thing to keep the tables clean and it makes the experience when it comes to having a drink out on a Saturday afternoon.
The drink came quickly enough and felt nice and hot. Again it was made with a fresh espresso and in a traditional machine, the milk being heated separately, but this time it was good and hot.
The paper cup wasn’t corrugated, so it actually had the opposite problem to Costa’s, it was hot to handle. The cup was just thin card but had the Starbucks logo on it.
I very much enjoyed the drink. The coffee was stronger, and the milk made the drink smooth, so again a very good Latte.

Starbucks
Cost for a medium: £2.60 1 / 5
Temperature: Hot 5 / 5
Taste: Rich 5 / 5
Fresh: 5 / 5
Smell: 3 / 5
Aesthetics: 2 / 5
TOTAL: 21

Greggs was up next. When I saw the prices of Lattes I opted for a large, but have noted the price below for a medium, it is significantly cheaper than the other two shops. My latte was made in a machine, which seemed to add the milk itself via the button. The coffee is fresh though as there was a sign saying it used fresh coffee.
The cup it came in was just thin card, with the logo neatly on it, and the coffee (and therefore cup) was good and hot. The flavour was good, the coffee was strong and the milk plentiful. I think the coffee was of good quality but the hot milk aspect wasn’t quite as frothy as in the other drinks. It was a good Latte though, and the coffee did stand up to its competitors.

Greggs
Cost for a medium: £1.75 4 / 5 (I went for a large as it was only £2)
Temperature: Hot 5 / 5
Taste: Flavoursome 4 / 5
Fresh: 4 / 5
Smell: 3 / 5
Aesthetics: 2 / 5
TOTAL: 22

On a side note I was asked to rate the drink on aroma too, which as you can see I have done. I think with Lattes their aroma isn’t very strong and as such none of the drinks received high points. I think it is a Latte thing, I’m guessing Espresso or Americanos would have a far more aromatic smell.

So the winner then was Greggs. I think this stems from the fact that the drinks were all quite similar in taste, there wasn’t much in it at all. Don’t get me wrong I think I’ve learnt to ask for ‘extra hot’ in Costa, but taste wise it was all good. The major difference was price, and these days when we are all watching the pennies it is a significant factor.

By Cinabar

Hot Pickled Onions - FIGHT! (Aldi & Waitrose) [By @SpectreUK]

I know it's the season to be jolly, but it's also the season of pickles and what better way to celebrate than two hot pickles fighting against each other amongst a snowy backdrop? Well, I know there's no snow in the Midlands just yet and to be honest it's actually fairly warm for this time of year. Damp of course, but enough about the weather... Pickles... Hot Pickled Onions in fact. Bramwells Hot & Spicy Pickled Onions against Waitrose rather posh sounding Hot and Tangy Spiced Pickled Silverskin Onions. So how hot are they both? Well let's find out... Get in the ring! FIGHT!!

Waitrose Hot and Tangy Spiced Pickled Silverskin Onions

There's no doubt that Waitrose is a posh shop, so why not make their pickles sound posh? In the pickle jar dancing around with the Silverskin onions were mustard seeds, green peppercorns, crushed red pepper, red chillies and a dash of salt. Sounds pretty hot to me. And wow to the delightful pickled sweet and sour smell on opening. The jar was brimming with pickled onions and almost overflowing with peppercorns, bits of chilli and loads of chilli seeds. The smell made my mouth water. The presentation made me salivate and also slightly fearful. On tasting the first Silverskin pickled onion there was a sweetness to start with and then a light peppery flavour to the onion which merged very quickly with a red chilli burn. I couldn't help but try another one. The sourness and chilli heat made my nose itch. The warming chilli spices gave my insides a good afternoon glow. I could feel my nose starting to run a little with the chilli heat. I can't emphasise enough how tasty these Hot and Tangy Spiced Pickled Silverskin Onion were. I also couldn't help wishing for a big block of cheese, Cheddar or Red Leicester, to sit down and enjoy with this pickled onion treat. Forget the "on the side with a good sandwich accompaniment". I just wanted these pickled onions and cheese and a little time to polish off the jar. Okay, maybe some crackers too...

Information on the jar;
295g with a net drained weight of 170g. Per 100g has 96 calories. Ingredients included; Silverskin onions, sugar syrup (water and sugar), spirit vinegar, water, salt, mustard seeds, green peppercorns, crushed red pepper, crushed red chillies, and preservative sodium metabisulphite. Allergens; mustard and sulphites.

Bramwells Hot & Spicy Pickled Onions

Bramwells always sounds like something a kindly Granny makes in a homely kitchen, but what if that Gran was pretty evil and wanted to teach a rotten teenager a lesson? This is where she brings her Hot & Spicy Pickled Onions into play. "Sit down, Dear, and have a nice pickled onion." She says with an evil glint in her eye. Silverskin pickled onions (but they don't bang on about it like that posh lot above), this time black peppercorns, mustard seeds and Birdseye chillies! Crickey from what I know about Birdseye Chillies is that once you've tried one you can hit a bird in the eye a hundred feet up when the seeds shoot out of your nose!

On opening the jar I could see these Silverskin onions were slightly bigger than those in the Waitrose jar. There wasn't so much sweetness in the odour also. The jar didn't seem so busy without the multitude of chilli seeds too. There was a blob of red chilli on top of one of the onions which stared at me rather menacingly though. I decided to avoid the red chilli pickled onion just incase and went for the one next to it. It didn't matter anyway. The pickled onion almost blew my head off. Hotter than Barry Norman's Hot and Spicy Pickled Onions, which I didn't think was possible, these Bramwells Hot & Spicy Pickled Onions were clearly born in the fires of the hottest furnace. My eyes were still watering five minutes after eating one. I could feel nose running too. So I blew it half expecting to see my brains. Seriously if you're stuck in a snow drift a jar of these Bramwells Hot & Spicy Pickled Onions will keep you alive and warm for a week. If you can't eat them you can probably start a fire with them or feed them to the person next to you and put them in the middle where the fire should be, as their glow will keep you all warm anyway! There was little sweetness to these pickled onions and some cheese would have been good with it, although if you put a pickled onion next to cheese on a plate it would probably melt the cheese, the sandwich next to it, melt through the plate and the table underneath it! Very tasty, but the chilli burn comes almost straight away merging with the mild sour pickled onion flavour, slightly taking over from the taste and then burning mouth, tongue fire... Help! Help! Eat with caution or you may die! Although I did have a second one about ten minutes later after I'd recovered a little and the burn just mixed with my already ruined senses. Pretty enjoyable actually, in a mad tasty heat fueled masochistic sort of way... Nasty Granny should be proud!

Information on the jar;
340g with a drained net weight of 215g. Per 100g has 20 calories with 0.5g of fat and 1.7g of sugar. Ingredients included; Silverskin onions, water, spirit vinegar, acetic acid, lactic acid, black peppercorns, salt, yellow mustard seeds, malt barley extract, dried Birdseye Chillies, and preservative sodium metabisulphite. Allergens; Mustard, gluten, barley and sulphites.

Aldi Seal Bars - Chocolate Biscuits (@AldiUK FoodstuffFight) [By @Cinabar]

There is a branch of Aldi near where I work, consequently lots of us pop there quite regularly at a lunch time. There aren’t as many of the common branded goods compared to other supermarkets, but there are still plenty of goodies to be had. I picked up a pack of Seal bars to add to the work biscuit supply tin. These biscuits are individually wrapped and consist of two layers of chocolate biscuit, a chocolate fondant in the middle all coated in milk chocolate. Not dissimilar to Penguin bars, and as such the conversation arose at work about whether we could tell the difference. The next day one of the ladies brought in some actual Penguin bars, and we set up a taste test. My Foodstuff Finds ego, and history of Penguin bar consumption as kid made me confident I’d be able to tell. The challenge was set, the bars were broken up and offered as ‘Sample A’ and Sample B’. Secretly I hoped I couldn’t tell the difference, as I wanted the Aldi version to be as good, and for the underdog to win.
I tasted the two samples carefully and immediately realised that one sample did taste better than the other. One was more chocolatey and richer and tastier. I admitted to the team that I liked one better than the other. Another taste tester participating agreed, and we both thought ‘Sample B’ was the better quality product. The surprise here was that ‘Sample B’ turned out to be the Aldi Seal bars not the Penguin bars! Wow - we were totally surprised. We roped in some more taste testers and low and behold they too thought ‘Sample B’ was the Penguin bars when they were in fact the Seal ones! The results were unanimous.
I hadn’t really intended to write this little taste test experiment up, but the results were rather unexpected so I could resist! If you are looking for a chocolate biscuit fix I can heartily recommend Aldi’s Seal bars, and I think I’m going to have to explore their other ranges further too.

By Cinabar

War of the Salted Fudge [By @SpectreUK]

I've always been a big fan of clotted cream fudge and vanilla fudge ever since I was a small child. I know, I know... Some of you may be thinking that I've probably liked fudge for a very long time indeed in that case. I guess you'd be right! What I haven't been a fan of though is any other type or flavour of fudge. Yes fudge to me is something that should be plain and sweet with no flavouring or chocolate coating, and to put sea salt even in the same area as a piece of sweet luxurious fudge would be sacrilidge. It's like salted popcorn. It's just wrong! Knowing my (probably strange) sentiments on this, Cinabar brought me these two sea salted fudge packets to have a good old fight over. I said at the time that there could be no winners in this battle, only the sweet yet sea salty devastation of mankind!

Bon Bon’s Fudge - Premium Collection - Caramel & Sea Salt

Caramel and Sea Salt flavoured fudge! The packet stated "Hand broken butter fudge with caramel and a pinch of Cornish sea salt". Presumably sea salt from elsewhere tastes differently? And presumably "hand broken" means that either someone had their hand broken for adding sea salt to the recipe in the first place? Or to make the thick slab shaped pieces of fudge, someone broke up the fudge with their hands rather than stamping on it as it came out of the oven?

This fudge was made by Bon Bon in Wetherby, Leeds, and some kind soul had hand packed rather than kicked this oddly flavoured fudge into the 160g packet. There was a sweet smell of caramel on opening the packet with a hint of salt at the end of the sniff. As there was the lightest hint of salt in the smell I began to relax a little. The fudge had a soft bite to it. Although there was a hint of salt in the sweet fudge odour, the salt flavour was definitely present all the way through eating the fudge slab and there was a bit of a salty aftertaste. There was still a sweetness from the caramel so the all round flavour of the fudge was certainly not unpleasant. As I ate more and shared a few pieces with Cinabar we agreed that the Caramel and Sea Salt flavoured fudge slabs had a balanced, rich and luxurious flavour to them. We could really appreciate the quality of this fudge, so much so that I even began to warm to the concept of salted fudge!

Monty Bojangles Scrummy Sassy & Natural Sea Salt Infused Butter Fudge

Produced in the UK this cube shaped butter fudge came in a posh, yet strangely designed cardboard packet with a cat theme to it. This Sea Salt Infused Butter Fudge was personally selected by Monty Bojangles, who "is the cat in charge". A cat sounds like the perfect boss to me as you'd probably never see them or at least only around lunchtime, and they would be pretty easy to bribe with a bowl of milk and a plate of salmon! Presumably the 110g packet wasn't paw packed by Monty Bojangles, due to the hygiene risk of moulting and also cats have a habit of licking themselves all over to wash, which you could bear in mind next time you kiss, lick or stroke one!

There was a butter fudge smell on opening the packet. Through the buttery smell there was a light smell of salt that tickled my nostril hairs. It was the pleasurable childlike kind of smell that you could probably sniff for hours. There was a scrumptious butter fudge flavour all the way though eating and then an almost violent kick of salt at the end, which moved through to a salty aftertaste. This Sea Salt Infused Butter Fudge was very nice indeed and was surprisingly moreish for someone who couldn't bear the concept of adding salt to fudge in the first place.

Conclusion - Personally I liked the Monty Bojangles sea salt fudge the best, but it was very close. There was no sitting on the fence as cats often do to elevate themselves to their own illusions of self importance. The cat had the edge on the taste! The pure buttery flavour complemented the sea salt rather than the addition of caramel, although the Bon Bon’s did have a good caramel taste to them.

Another surprising result is that I actually enjoyed the addition of sea salt to the fudge recipes, and I received another reminder that I should always stay open minded about my snacking in the future!

By Spectre

Battle of the Green Teas [By @SpectreUK]

I've tried plenty of green teas in the past and even blogged about a few, such as my favourite Jasmin Tea. Green tea is supposed to help with digestion, so I like a good cup of green tea after lunch at work or after dinner especially when I've eaten something spicy. I love Japanese restaurants, such as Mount Fuji, for their fine food and selection of green teas such as Sencha and Houjicha. I also love regular green teas, such as green tea from Twinings. I found these two boxes of green teas languishing on the Foodstufffind's shelf and thought I'd let them fight it out after a trip to the local Chippy for some heavy greasy food to digest.

Mao Feng Green Tea (Westmorland Service Station)

This Mao Feng Green Tea was produced by Teapigs, in London, which are a favourite brand of mine, as they are the only company so far that I have found that can produce chocolate flavoured tea that I like! Just a quick look on Google told me that Mao Feng comes from the Anhui Province, in China. Apparently Teapigs use the whole leaf in their tea temples, which are perfectly spacious for the three minutes suggested infusion using one bag per mug. The shredded tea leaf filled the tea temple as I poured freshly boiled water over it in my tea mug. As it infused there was a definite bitey green tea smell from the light green liquid that tickled the hair in my nostrils. The taste was a smooth almost enchantingly delicate green tea flavour that soothed my stomach after my tasty yet slightly greasy chips and battered sausage, even leaving a soothing aftertaste to wash the grease away. I also felt a calming and relaxing effect from drinking this tea that soothed my mind and senses, not to dozing off point, but at least to ease the incessant buzzing of thoughts that constantly drive my head. I could have drunk one cup after another of this Mao Feng Green Tea all afternoon, which is rare for me as I hardly ever drink tea (he snorts tea out of his nose as he lies terribly!).

Information on the box;
15 Biodegradable tea temples, which weighs 37.5g. Ingredients included; green tea (keeping it simple, I see...)

Green Tea Chai

Looking at the ingredients of this Green Tea Chai produced by Higher Living, in West Sussex, I could see that this was certainly a more complex drink than the Teapigs' Mao Feng Green Tea. The question crossed my mind as to whether this more complex green tea would add to the relaxing effect that green tea should have on the mind and the belly (and my belly is pretty sizable to get the whole thing relaxed), or could its complexity take away some of the experience? I noticed on the box that Higher Living only uses ingredients grown to the highest standards and avoids using synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, which is good to know as these can be harmful to wildlife.

There was a definite mixed spice odour from the tea bag, with cinnamon being the most dominant smell. I undertook the suggested four to five minutes infusion, again using one teabag in my tea mug. The mixed spice smell from the teabag seemed to change on infusion to a predominate cardamom smell, with cloves and cinnamon in the background. The odour transcended to the taste with an initial mixed flavour of cardamom and cloves soon replaced by a fiery bite from the cinnamon. This was a very warming drink that didn't particularly relax me whilst drinking it as the brutish cinnamon thwack at the end of the flavour exploded between my senses, but the cold weather outside begged me to drink more. I would more likely drink this tea to warm myself up before leaving for the Chippy and sitting on a cold park bench to enjoy my greasy salty chips and battered sausage.

Information on the box;
20 tea bags in a 40g box. Ingredients included; green tea (56%), cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves.

Verdict: I enjoyed drinking both of these green teas very much and realised on tasting them that they were both at different ends of the spectrum where flavour and venue were concerned. For an all year mind and after lunch or after dinner belly soother I'd happily drink gallons of the Mao Feng Green Tea, whereas for a winter green tea warmer I'd pick the Green Tea Chai with it's fiery spice to heat me up against the chill outside.

By Spectre

Pirates Versus Gingerbread Men (New @McVities #Biscuits) [By @SpectreUK]

Memories of my childhood consist partly of late Saturday afternoon's after shopping spent at my Auntie and Uncle Fred's house. My Uncle Fred taught me the basics of woodwork and bought me toy cars, whilst my Auntie started my love of Walker's Ready Salted crisps, this was before I tried them washed down with beer, and fed me Animal Biscuits whilst I watched the football scores. Not that I knew what was going on or ever supported any teams, but I have always strangely found the announcer's voice soothing and sometimes still watch the football scores today! This is why Cadbury's Animal Biscuits are the favourite biscuits from my childhood. Cinabar occasionally buys me a box now and then when I've been good, so it's quite a rare occurrence! When she bought me two boxes of McVitie's mini chocolate biscuits I knew something was up. "'Pirates versus Gingerbread Men', sounds like a great title," she said, ever the taskmaster!

McVitie's Mini Pirate Crew

McVitie's have brought out these new Mini Pirate Crew biscuits, which are a different take on Cadbury's children's chocolate biscuits. As you can see from the photograph there was four crew members joined together for "crack' n' snap" fun. There was a fun Snakes and Ladders type game on the back of the box. There were six packets in the 155g box, with two crews in each handy lunchbox sized packet. The biscuits were covered on one side with lovely milk chocolate, and the biscuits were slightly crunchier digestive style biscuits than Cadbury's Animal Biscuits. These biscuits made for a fun and tasty alternative lunchbox sized chocolate biscuit treat that I'm sure would appeal to children and parents alike. If you don't like pirates there's always McVitie's Mini Jungle Friends crack 'n' snap biscuits to try, though these may be a little overly reminiscent of the Animal Biscuits variety.

Information on the box;
Each pirate crack 'n' snap crew biscuit contains 65 calories, with 4.5g of sugar and 2.8g of fat. No artificial colours or flavours, and no hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ingredients included; wheat flour, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, dried skimmed milk, butter oil, lactose, soya lecithin, vegetable oil, milk solids, salt, sodium bicarbonate and ammonium bicarbonate.

McVitie's Mini Gingerbread Men

Now I like Gingerbread Men just like most other people, especially in the cold winter months as ginger has its spicy warming effect. Give me a large Gingerbread Man and I can happily torture him for a while, biting his limbs off one after the other before the finishing bite to his neck! Sounds gruesome I know, but if you say you haven't done it you're probably lying. Just like anyone who say's they haven't bitten the top off a Fizzy Cola Bottle and pretended to drink it!

Covering half of each Gingerbread Man with milk chocolate sounds a bit out there to me. Besides how can I torture a Mini Gingerbread Man anyway? These biscuits are Animal Biscuit sized and the days of biting daintily into most sized biscuits have long since passed me by. I usually dump a good wad of Animal Biscuits in my mouth at a time. The only reason I crack 'n' snapped the Pirates was so I could play the Snakes and Ladders type game on the back of the box! Anyway, I digress... There was a mild smell of ginger on opening the silvery packet inside the box. These smiley Mini Gingerbread Men had a mild spice from the ginger and a milky sweetness from their half covering of milk chocolate. The 25g serving suggestion quickly went out the window and I devoured most of these ludicrously moreish Gingerbread Men in one sitting and in not so dainty handfuls.

Information on the box;
100g box. Each recommended 25g serving contains 120 calories, with 9.6g of sugar and 5g of fat. Ingredients included; wheat flour, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, dried skimmed milk, dried whey, butter oil, soya lecithin, partially inverted sugar syrup, molasses,vegetable oil, ground ginger, salt, sodium bicarbonate and disodium diphosphate.

Both boxes of biscuits were very tasty indeed. The Mini Pirate Crew can give Cadbury's Animal Biscuits a warning cannon shot across their bow, with a "Shiver me timbers!" They also had the fun Snakes and Ladders game on the back of the box, which I'm sure I saw one similar on the Animal Biscuits' box when I was a child. If I was to pick between the two though, Animal Biscuits would win as I prefer the softer less crunchy biscuit. If I was to pick an alternative to Animal Biscuits with a spicy edge, the Mini Gingerbread Men would be my first port of call. Just like Animal Biscuits I just couldn't put the packet down. So much so that I didn't mind the crunchier biscuit or the fact that I couldn't torture the Gingerbread Men, I had to finish them off quickly and on mass instead!

By Spectre

FoodStuffFights! Chocolate Creme Oreo Vs Choccie Dodgers

FoodStuffFights! Chocolate Creme Oreo Vs Choccie Dodgers

Two and a half years ago I came up with a great idea for snack articles - FoodStuffFights.  In a nutshell you take one existing product and one new product in the same range (or budget in store versions) and test them together to see if the king has been dethroned.  It was so successful that I decided to try to do it on a larger scale and ended up with 8 different types of custard cremes that I couldn't tell the difference between.  It took months to eat them all - I didn't have the heart to write it up.  I spotted both of these chocolatey chocolate biscuit sandwich snacks both on special offer at the same time and decided now was the time to rekindle the original idea:

FIGHT!

I decided that the Oreos had to be the reigning champ - they even have their own review.  Choccie Dodgers are the 'new' to market product that I suspect doesn't copy the Oreo but has a common biscuity ancestor (like us & chimps) - the humble bourbon biscuit.  While both of these are much more complex affairs the similarities of the biscuit and creme with multiple flavours of chocolate is quite definite evidence.


The Oreos have the most interesting texture - they crumble quickly and have a pattern on them which is pleasing to the tongue.  You can easily separate the halves and the biscuit portion tastes identically to the original flavour vanilla creme Oreos. The strong cocoa flavour of the biscuit overpowers the creme inside which is a shame - the vanilla sticks out due to its difference but this just melts into the chocolaty flavour in general.  I do enjoy these, I'd have picked them up from the special offer section without any prompts, but maybe I'd say that the vanilla version is better overall.  These are a good American style bourbon and something I will eat again.

The Choccie Dodgers are a different proposition entirely.  The biscuit is a hard, crunchy kind and really quite morish, its not as strongly flavoured as the Oreo.  I'd say that it's even crisper than the normal Jammie Dodger variety which has a tendency to crumble when eaten.  The jam centre in most versions of this biscuit is just a different flavour, but here it really is a chocolate creme.  This feels like it's cheated the Dodger's brand a little until you bite into the middle and the softness of the creme gives it the same crispy and squidgy feeling of the original.  This is a good hit.  The creme itself is maybe slightly stronger or darker than the biscuit and works better because of it.

It's clear then - the Choccie Dodgers are the new Champions and the title comes back to the UK (if that's where these things are made - I lose track these days)!  These really could become a whole new legitimate brand in the Dodger's range which suffered in the past a bit from continued special editions.  As proof of this I offered around the biscuits at work after talking about them at lunch and the remaining 5 in the packet were vanished by colleagues.  I still have Oreos left - but I think that if I had offered similarly based soley on their mighty reputation these would have gone too.  At the moment I still have half a packet on my desk, for another break-time...

Cathedral City Cheddar and Lighter Cheddar (Tesco) [By @cinabar]

Cheese on toast is one of my favourite snacks, its quick easy to prepare, and darn tasty. Sometimes simple food just works and you don’t have to go to great gastronomic levels to have an easy dinner. Recently I have started making cheese on muffins, which is a similar concept – but I can pretend I’ve gone up market!

It’s arguable as to the best cheese for grilling, but we do like cheddar. I tend to buy full fat cheese for the purpose, but thought I’d give the new Cathedral City Lighter a try and compare it to the original variety.


I decided to start with the new Lighter edition, piling some cheese on the base and popped it under the grill. I noticed it that there wasn’t much fat dripping off the edge, and that it browned nicely and looked really good. Once cooked the cheese had a smooth look, with an appetising brown finish in the centre. The taste was rather nice. The brown/golden section was very flavoursome, and the hot melted Cheddar has a good strong flavour that worked well with the bread base. I would never have been able to tell that it was low fat, and I was really pleased with the final result.


I repeated the experiment with the regular cheddar, and popped it under the grill. Notably there were splodges of fat from the cheese on the grill plate, which had dripped off the edge. There were transparent drips as well as the cheese from the sides. The cheese looked cooked a whole two minutes before the Lighter lower fat version, but it had a bubbled finish even then, meaning it may have got a little too hot. It just liquefied far quicker than the other variety, which will be due to it being full fat cheese. The flavour was still seriously good from the cheese, but because it didn’t have the brown sections it was missing that cooked taste.

In conclusion the cheese on both versions was very good with lots of flavour. Both cheeses had a nice creamy aftertaste after the cheddar tang, and both delivered a very similar experience in flavour. The main difference was how they cooked, and it has to be said the Lighter version just worked so much better. There were no drips of fat on the grill plate, and it browned perfectly. The fact that it is lower in fat is fantastic news, and I’m very pleased to have discovered it grills so well. It gets a hearty thumbs up from a big cheese on toast fan. :-)

By Cinabar

Sweet and Salty Popcorn (Sainsbury’s) [By @Cinabar]

Sometimes I go out of my way to find a Foodstuff Find, other times I’ll just spot something in the supermarket, but on this occasion it was a bit of fate. I ordered a (okay four) bags of my favourite Tyrrell’s Sweet & Salty Proper Popcorn from Sainsburys online, but when the delivery man came he brought this bag instead. They were out of stock, and this was a replacement item. I almost said no to the exchange, but then thought I could review it... so here we are!
This is a much larger bag than the Tyrrells, clearly aimed at a group wanting to share. The bright pink bag is fun, and looks perfect for a night in with a movie. The popcorn is lovely and fluffy but still mildly crunchy, exactly as it should be. There is a lot of topping on the pieces, so the flavours were good too. There is a good mix of sugar and salt, and I loved not knowing what the predominant taste would be on each piece. It is so very moreish!
In fact I was pleased with the replacement that Sainsbury’s sent, and I thoroughly enjoyed the contents. I would give it a decent 8 out of 10. I still give Tyrrell’s a 10 out of 10, and it is based on the oil content. The Tyrells bag is lower in fat, and I like it because it is a healthier snack without loss of taste. The Sainsbury’s version has a flag (top right on the bag) that notifies us that it is high in fat with a red warning. Although it tasted lovely, I did notice the build up of oil on my hand as I snacked on it too, which was a bit of a sign.
They both tasted lovely, but I think the version with the lower fat has to win on this occasion. Still, if Sainsbury’s bring me these as a replacement if the Tyrell’s are out of stock, I’ll be happy to except.

By Cinabar

Thornton’s Tasting Collection Vs Hotel Chocolat Rather Large Cracker

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas, and that Santa brings you all that you want in the morning! As everyone tries not to over indulge too much – you can all watch me do the exact opposite. ;-)

Here is a very Christmassy Foodstuff Fight, with the Thortons Vs Hotel Chocolat Christmas mega gift sets.





Thornton’s Tasting Collection:
I have to say the box is very different to the usual Thornton’s offerings, it is modern and patterned and very elegant to look at. To open it you remove the lid, undo the ribbon and slide the doors open. A selection of trays appear sliding out from underneath each other, each tray has two layers of chocolates within them. This is a very elegant box of chocolates, and one of the prettiest gift boxes I have seen in a long time. There is a very definite full marks for packaging for this set, it really does have the wow factor.
The chocolates are a lovely selection form the Continental ranges, and have some of my favourites such as the Vanilla Truffle and the Viennese Truffle. Also mixed in on the layers, which makes it the tasting adventure, are some of Thornton’s chocolates I have never tried before. The Panna Cotta was remarkably creamy, contrasted perfectly by its dark chocolate coating. I also have to give a special mention to the Valencia with its tangy orange and warming brandy flavour, it is a complete treat. All were gorgeous, sweet and very flavoursome. The quality of the chocolates is, as always with Thornton’s, very much up to standard and the packaging is immaculate.





Hotel Chocolat Rather Large Cracker:
This may not have the posh element of the Thornton’s box set, but it certainly is novel, very Christmassy and rather fun. I’m sure that if this was taken to any seasonal dinner, all guests would be rather impressed by this remarkable looking pack. It is effectively a giant cracker, and by ‘effectively’ I mean a genuine working giant cracker! To open this fine object, just like a regular cracker, you pull either end and a pleasing bang cracks in the air and the goodies are released!!! Could this be any more cool if it tried!?!
Inside the cracker are golden paper crowns, some corny jokes, and 40 chocolates; mostly packaged in pairs. I loved the selection of chocolates as they had a decent seasonal spin. Even the Crunchy Praline was decorated with a Santa’s hat, and there were chocolate set Christmas shapes; such as white chocolate snowmen. I really loved the Mulled Wine truffle, it was lovely and warming with a decent Christmas spice flavour. The Billionaire’s Shortbread was also a favourite with is sweet, rich caramel flavour and its crunchy cookie topping. This chocolate selection could not fail to go down well, there isn’t a bad one in the bunch! And the clever novelty of the cracker will ensure it is a gift not forgotten.

Conclusion
Both packages of chocolate are exceptional and will certainly be enjoyed by all. The chocolate in each are of high quality, and the flavours are all excellent. Hotel Chocolat gains a bonus point because their selection does have a Christmas theme, with wonders such as the as the Cinnamon Praline and the seasonal cast shapes. The thing I really liked about the Thornton’s set was not just that the box was so beautiful, but it is also practical. If you didn’t finish all the chocolates in one sitting, you can tidily pack the chocolate back in their neat box. So, if you are after a stand out seasonal after dinner treat go for the Hotel Chocolat Rather Large Cracker, but if you are looking for an impressive, but more classical gift, choose the Thornton’s Tasting Collection.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!!!

By Cinabar

Pickled Egg Plant versus Pickled Galanga in Brine (Day In Supermarket) By Spectre

I get the munchies during films or those travel TV programmes where someone goes off on a big adventure somewhere far off where I've never visited or would probably never do so. I generally turn to crisps and chocolate first, but regular readers may remember my quest to find a healthy snack food. I love olives, pickled eggs and my latest favourite are pickled onions from Morrison's called; "The Best", and I assure you they are. A while back I had Pickled Makok, an almost inedible hard as nails fruit that hardly melted in my mouth.

I took my self down to the same Chinese supermarket to see if I could find anything softer than makok. The first jar I picked up was Pickled Eggplant. Wikipedia told me these are classed as berries and native to India (although some citations were needed in places....!). Eggplants are also richer in nicotine than any other edible plant, though smokers don't get too excited, as it would take 9kg of eggplant to match the nicotine level of one cigarette. I could see why they call them eggplants from the little cream egg shaped berries in the jar. Eggplants come in all shapes and sizes, in cream and in black. The eggplants in the jar where about half the size of an actual chicken's egg. Popping one in my mouth I found the berry itself almost as hard as Pickled Makok, but just as bitter and as I tried to mash it with my teeth it became a solid inedible blob in my mouth that I just had to spit out. Not an experience I'd like to repeat, unless stuck in the wilderness in some Asian country and faced with eggplant or death.

Pickled Galanga or Blue Ginger is a Rhizome or root of plants of the genus Alpinia originating from Indonesia (good old Wikipedia...). After eating I learnt that this root is mainly used for cooking, and is used in Tom Yum soup, which is one of my favourite soups of all time. As the root has been cut into small slices they look like small cream coloured hard rounded slabs. On eating the Galanga I found it was even harder than eggplant and makok. There is a bitter, but not as bitter as ginger, and slightly soupy taste to Galanga. Once chewed a few times it turns into the same hard inedible type of mush similar to the eggplant. It's much like eating oddly flavoured carpet. I had to spit this out also, and decided that I'd stick to olives, pickled eggs and pickled onions for healthy snacks from now on. I'm not sure my teeth or my poor tummy could take any more pickled oriental weirdness...

By Spectre