White Choc & Rasp Granola - Sainsbury's Free From Range [@NLi10]

 I had a look for a new exciting cereal, and unexpectedly found one in the 'free from' section.

My main issue with granola is that it tends to be a bit heavy for breakfast, but I wondered if this would work out as a slightly lighter alternative.

It's basically just normal granola which has been made in a gluten free environment.

Milk free white chocolate alternative is the only real concern - plus the fact that the choc looks like it's melted into huge lumps.

Quite pretty, but but has resulted in clumping - lets see what it's like.

Sticking to the dairy free theme I've gone with Oat Milk as my Alt Milk (I get whichever is cheapest usually) and it worked pretty well.  

The grain bits have crunch, there is a decent variety in them too. The choc stuff is actually a highlight - the not-milk helps it blend in with the rest.  There isn't much of the red fruit bits - but what is there is good quality and strong tasting.

With a handful of blueberries or something to balance the lack of fruit bits then this would be perfect.

I think I can eat this happily on relaxed weekend mornings but I do love a larger bowl of cereal on a week day so see how it goes.

Asda Christmas but Free From Gluten & Milk [@NLi10]

 My Mom tends to eat gluten free food so we keep a look out for exciting variations on seasonal things.  My partner spotted these on a trip to Asda and so I thought I'd share here too.

I do like a chocolate tart, and adding Orange and cotrus peel to the top is a definite win.

While a little small these do look particularly luxurious.

And they have a hidden squidgy layer right at the bottom.

Very hard to see here.

These are pretty lovely though.  You'd not know that the pastry was gluten free, and the chocolate dairy free.  Ignoring the special dietary needs I'd have these again happily.

I don't like mince pies at all so didn't try these but my Mom did.

She said that the pastry was good again and that the filling was great too.  The size here mattered a little more (the choc one was about right due to the sweetness) and if you only had this with a tea you might not feel in full Christmas spirit, but again - a really good Gluten Free option.

I'd been advised that Asda really got their gluten free stuff right by someone else (who uses them for cheaper ingredients) so it's good to have that confirmed.  Maybe I'll make up a mini Christmas Gluten Free hamper for my family.

Gluten Free Dairy Free Milky Way Magic Stars - No Fun, Just Chocolate [@NLi10]

 Looking at the speciality chocolates I spottd a definite oddity.  £1 gets you a Gluten Free Dairy Free Milky Way

This is odd, as having a dairy free product with milk in the name is a little confusing, especially when Milky Way is all about the fluffy interior.  This doesn't have an interior, but it does have potatoes.

The ground tiger nuts that rescue this bar and make it less dark are in the potato family!

It also has chicory root so tastes a little like the disappointing 80s vegan chocolates.

It actually has stars on it so it's not quite as boring as I'd feared.

And it doesn't have a fluffy core.

I think this needs to exist as a brand name is sometimes important to children, and it sucks not being able to eat specific things due to allergies.  But - it's just not that great a bar.  There are definitely more adult styled dairy free chocolates that are creamy enough for childish tastebuds, and I'd probably just buy those and put them in more suitable containers as treats.

I'd start with the (also confusingly named) Buttermilk range that is also in supermarkets and Holland & Barrett.

That said - absolutely overjoyed that the main brands are trying to make life easier for parents and given a few years they might actually get it right!

Buttermilk Artisan Confectionary, Padstow - Orange Chocolate Buttons, but Vegan @Buttermilk_uk (@NLi10)

Occasionally you see a new brand in a shop window and have to wander over and take a look.  At first glance this was just one of the many (many) fudge shops here selling their wares - but with a few pre sealed bags to try.

Except Buttermilk is the shops - own brand - confectionary.  They've been here so long, and had so many fans that they can justify some neat packaging and flashy pictures.  It'd be rude not to queue and go in!

I chose the chocolate orange flavour - which is my default for this sort of things.  And it's pretty darn 'free' of the modern contaminants that creep into our sweets.  

There are even more on the back - and there is a button on top for proof of it's Mega status.

Recyclable, vegan, no gluten or palm oil - this is the kind of thing that should eventually show up in all the health food shops (and probably does locally).

I mainly did the pack shot like this to show you that they are all in tact - these haven't been bashed around as they've not travelled far (well until we drove them back to the Midlands I guess). 

This isn't the full portion by the way - this was one of those occasions where the dairy-free chocolate was passed round twice and people took seconds.  This is 100g the good stuff!

The flavour was quite sparkling for an orange chocolate - there is some texture going on here to prevent the goo that often comes from removing the dairy.  And while these didn't naturally melt in the same way that traditional chocolate would I didn't find the experience a negative one.  I'd say that the strong flavours caused me to stop at two on my first try - not the textures.

All in all a win - and something that I'll be looking for locally in the health-focused snack shops (or buying online) but that apparently is stocked in Tesco!  A great little shop, and a fab brand that deserves to go far.

And it looks like they do Advent Calendars...

PieMinister - Gluten Free Moo, Steak & Ale (@NLi10)

We are big fans of Pieminister in this house, so much so that we have a massive stash of the VIP points ready to cash in.  Luckily my partner saved them  - there are actually some good things to be redeemed for!

You'd need to basically buy two pies a week for a whole year to get to the good stuff though - which is luckily something that I (almost) manage to do!

Ocado had some of the newer Gluten Free pies in stock for this month's order so I jumped on board!  My partner had a Heidi.

So far so normal.  The gluten free one comes in a tray as if it's pretending to be a Higedy pie.  Maybe it's a little crumblier.

And they bake up fine too.  It looks a little less Pieminister than usual, but it's still a good pie.

And the inside is still the same - come to think of it - why wouldn't it be!  

The pastry has almost a more short-crust feel to it, a little drier and crispier.  It's actually a nice change in texture, and not detrimental to the experience at all.  I'm not sure that Gluten free helps anyone that isn't gluten intolerant (there isn't much evidence to support it) but if me buying this and enjoying it means that my friends who are sufferers can find the crucial brands on the shelf a little easier then I'm happy to join in - especially when they are as crispy as this!  Yum!

Walls Cornetto - but Vegan & Gluten Free! (Ocado) by @NLi10

Everyone loves a Cornetto, but it does exclude a few people in the modern world. So here Walls have thoughtfully made an alternative, more inclusive version that is Gluten and Dairy free.

As you can see it is soy based, but let’s see how that translates in practice.

So far so standard. It’s a box of multipack size Cornettos!

And here we have the ice cream itself - looking exactly like a Cornetto! The chocolate and nuts are indistinguishable. The white stuff, isn’t quite as sweet as a regular Cornetto but is frankly really nice. This isn’t the kind of change that they are going to force on all consumers, but I doubt the majority of people would notice. It’s still a mini size summer snack, and it’s still really tasty. 

Mom - if you are reading this - I’ll save you one in the freezer!

Rude Health Brown Rice Drink (Waitrose) By @SpectreUK

Admittedly this Brown Rice Drink has sat in the fridge for quite sometime. It was bought way back when I was trying to be healthy in January. It tells me off every time I open the fridge, "Why haven't you tried me yet?" It exclaims. "I just don't fancy you!" I exclaim back, which is probably what the guy who sits next to me in the office should say to the woman who keeps wondering over from way over the other side of the room to bug him. Well it's fish or cut bait time; with the Brown Rice Drink and not for my troubled colleague. I'm just going to twist the plastic cap of this carton and hope for the best…

There was a slight anticlimax on finding the inner ring pull cap followed by a slight temptation to put the carton back in the fridge for another day. Temptation over and deadline for this blog encroaching, I pulled the ring. Warning here! The contents of this carton literally fill the carton, which means pull the ring carefully. A certain amount of sticky white Brown Rice Drink over my laptop screen will attest to that.

The Brown Rice Drink just looked like milk to me. It tasted somewhere in between rice, milk and water, but was refreshing. From the ingredients, calories and fat content, it's pretty healthy too. It would probably go well in a coffee if you can't use milk for dietary reasons, maybe even tea, but I'd recommend a strong black leaf tea, such as Assam or Ceylon, and or one of the smoky varieties, such as Darjeeling or Keemun. As refreshing and healthy drinks go; I'm not sure this would be my first choice, but it certainly wouldn't be my last.

Information on the carton;
The 500ml carton contains 60 calories per 100ml, with 1.4g of fat, 4.8g of sugar and 0.1g of salt. Ingredients are gluten and dairy free, with no added sugar, and included; natural spring water, organic brown rice (17%), organic cold-pressed sunflower oil, and sea salt.

Nature’s Store Tomato Corn Rolls (Sainsburys) By @Cinabar

First I’d like to start by wishing everyone a very Happy 2018. I have to be honest and admit that 2017 was a bit of a tough year for us, but I have high hopes for the year ahead. It is only day one and we already have many exciting things planned. Starting on Friday (eek) with a house move! The daily blogging here at Foodstuff Finds will continue though, as it always does, and we hope to pack the year full of tempting treats and interesting products for you to look out for and for us to taste test.
First up then is this bag of Tomato Corn Rolls from Nature’s Store. They are also Gluten Free for those that needs snacks with that accreditation.
We poured some out to share with lunch and have to admit there weren’t as many in the bag as we had hoped for, Spectre still got the largest portion, but he always does! The corn rolls have a sprinkle of seasoning and smelt pleasantly spiced. The flavour wasn’t a sweet tomato, it was a little bit tarter, but was lifted by nice seasoning that meant these are easy to munch on. I particularly liked the corn roll element, this gave them a lovely crunchy texture, and a nice corn background flavour. I’d buy these again, but if you are sharing in a group I’d suggest two bags.
Happy New Year everyone - have a fabulous 2018!

Green’s Gluten Free Pilsner (Co-Op) By @SpectreUK

I've drank a few gluten free beers before. They are generally made with corn maize, or other cereals, instead of malted barley, which do not trigger an autoimmune response in celiacs, although some brewers limit the amount of malted barley by using rye. Although tasting slightly different than full-on gluten beer, the gluten free beers I've tasted in the past have always been pleasant, but usually missing something (of course). Having said that I am rather partial to red rye beer with its spicy flavour.

This Green's Gluten Free Pilsner was produced in Belgium. At 4.5% volume this beer sports a hoppy and citrus aroma on the label with a hint of vanilla. Unlike many gluten free beers, this beer was made with malted barley, but with the gluten removed. On opening the 330ml bottle I was certainly greeted with a hoppy smell with undertones of citrus and a slight sweetness at the back of the smell. This joyously fizzy golden pilsner filled my waiting beer glass with welcome bubbles and a cheeky white head.

On taste bitter citrus hops bashed at my tastebuds first, closely followed by the malted barley and a hint of the bottom fermented yeast that makes it a lager, and differs it from top fermented yeast for making ales. This is a very tasty lager, not too bloatingly fizzy like some lagers can be. Its obviously taken a great deal of care and attention to make it, rather than some other mass produced big burping lagers that 'grace' the shelves of so many supermarkets. This is great stuff, I'd recommend it, and it certainly didn't taste like it was missing anything!

Hello Kitty, Candy Kittens & Spooky Plates @CANDYKITTENS_UK (@NLi10)

I know it's not Halloween yet, but sometimes you see something that's really perfect for trick or treaters and you have to share ahead of time.

Holland & Barrett have lots of really healthy treats with which you can disappoint Trick Or Treaters on the night (mmm Carob) but here I found something that I'd actually be happy to finish if no one came round, tucked on the bottom shelf in my local H&B store.

I think this bag was about £3 (I really must take more pictures of things on store shelves!) which seemed a little steep but as my sister likes Hello Kitty and we were visiting that evening I decided it was too good to pass up.

These are also Vegan, veggie and gluten free so you aren't going to have any parents complaining that little Johnny swelled up like a balloon after you gave him mysterious sweets.

They are also all natural flavours and colours (which is what you'd hope from something that is mostly sugar). I always hope for things that say 'all supernatural flavours/colours' but I've yet to see this.

It's official Sanrio licensed stuff which explains the slightly higher price.

Spooky Plate Ghost approves!  As you can see they are nice little cat head shapes (!) with CK for Candy Kittens on them which is a nice touch, but I'd expected more HK branding inside.  Not really disappointed though because these tasted great! The texture is much more to my liking than 'normal' jelly sweets and are similar to gummy things I had in my childhood (I'm sure that my parents avoided the gelatine back then too), and the flavour is strong but not overpowering.  

These are something I'm hoping to buy again (I got the last bag!) before Halloween but as I ate these in September I've got a few weeks yet before I need to pick them up.  I'm not sure how easy it is to hand these out at the door, but a bag on the table with four of us eating them lasted all night with a few left over so it's a decent sized portion.

Well worth hunting for, especially if you have vegan/gluten free ghouls to feed or just like the Hello Kitty style.

San Miguel Gluten Free Beer (@DegustaboxUK) By @SpectreUK

Although I fortunately don't have Coeliac disease giving me an intolerance to gluten, I was intrigued to find out if this gluten free San Miguel lived up to the original, or in fact that it just tastes the same. I do like San Miguel and had a conversation with a guy on the train recently coming back from York who was going on and on about how much he liked his Spanish beer. I commented that if he checked on the back of the bottle he was drinking out of, he'd more than likely find that it had been brewed in Scotland. When he did, he almost fell off his seat, much to his wife's amusement and the couple that they were with. So, to this bottle…

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this gluten free San Miguel had in fact been produced in Spain. However, on opening it did smell slightly like regular San Miguel, but with something missing… Hmm… Could it be the wheat? I hear you say. Yes, replaced with maize. On pouring admittedly it looked just like a golden San Miguel and had plenty of jolly bubbly fizz to it. On taste the maize was apparent, with a slightly different initial taste than a beer made with wheat. However, it certainly tasted fine to me and the beer washed around my mouth pleasantly, with the slight sweetness from the malted barley and bitterness from the hops combined into the aftertaste. Having said that, if I saw both bottles on a shelf in the supermarket, I'd likely plumb for the regular San Miguel through personal taste and fortunately no need for necessity.

Scarborough Fair IPA Beer (Waitrose) By @SpectreUK

It's been a hot sunny day today, which makes a glorious change to the usual dark cloudy, damp and dreary ones we're used to. This Scarborough Fair IPA reminds me of summer, which isn't too far away. Produced by the Wold Top Yorkshire Brewery, the 6% volume Indian Pale Ale reminds of a few sunny holidays we have spent on the north east coast. The ruined castle and Great War gun emplacement up Tut Hill in Scarborough, the fair on the seaside, the lovely sandy beach and nearby rock pools. It's certainly a 'fair' place to visit and I'd recommend the Crown Spa Hotel if you fancy staying a few nights and a trip on the cliff railway to the beach below.

Anyway, this gluten free beer is brewed with pale and Wold grown malt, as well as maize, and triple hopped for bitterness. On opening the bottle I could instantly smell the citrus from the hops followed by the pale malt. This summery blonde ale gave and retained a decent head on account of the maize. There was an instant snap of bitter flavours from the trio of hops. The pale malt and a light sweetness follow into the aftertaste. This is a full-blooded Indian Pale Ale that screams to be heard above the waves and summer cheer along the sun kissed beach. Definitely one to be enjoyed with a good book in the garden if far from the coast, and or washing down something spicy, or a good fish and chip dinner.

Eat To Live - @DrFuhrman (by @NLi10)

A short while ago one of those awkward epiphany moments happened.  I spotted online that one of the Celebs i respect most - Penn Jillette - had shed 100 pounds in a bit to help with his medical problems.  At first this was a bit of a curiosity, I'd obviously not been paying attention - this clearly must be something he'd been working on for a good while. Turns out he'd lost that weight between December and April this year - as someone who works in Public Health this was suddenly professionally interesting.

Granted, a lot of people will go on short term diets and lose weight, but I'm familiar with the way Penn thinks from books and podcasts, and this would have been a well thought out and carefully documented process (indeed - there will be a book).  Through the podcasts I found out that he was under the tutelage of Ray Cronise - a self taught fitness and nutrition researcher (ex NASA).  This however isn't publicly available yet, although the first paper has been published.  

The food portion of Ray's super regime is based on years of research by Dr. Joel Fuhrman - who first published the Eat To Live series 10 years ago, but updated them in 2012.  So I started to investigate this.  There is a lot online that can give you a quick overview, but I wanted to do it properly.

I'm a tall skinny guy, and only recently got my mythical BMI score up to what the charts consider 'normal' - and that took discovering an underlying illness.  It's not typical behaviour for such a slender guy to be picking up diet books with his birthday money, but that's exactly what I did.

You see unlike most of the unsuccessful diet regimes that I've seen people try, here weight loss is just something that happens on the way to health - and health is something we all need.  I have a chronic respiratory condition, and frequently suffer from blocked sinuses.  It really does feel like I permanently have a cold - could something like this help me?  Also - if this truly is a better way of eating then surely I'll be able to gain weight and more importantly energy?

After digesting the podcasts I've been buying fruit on a weekly basis to eat at work and have forgone the stodgy sandwiches and disappointing canteen food.  One of the main take away messages of the Nutretarian way of thinking is that you can't eat too much raw, fresh fruit and veg. Granted the 'diet' went out of the window on holiday in Spain, but now I'm back and the books have arrived I can give it a proper go and see what happens.

Well - once I've finished reading - the first step is to read the WHOLE book.

But with incentives like this at the end of it all

who could refuse?

Triskys - savoury rice crisps - Spain [by @NLi10]

Sometimes you worry what you are going to get when you buy snacks abroad - but this assured me that it was !Los Auténticos! So my mind was put at ease.

I picked these up for cinema snacks in Spain and took them to see Jurassic World in Spanish. My Spanish is good enough to understand screams and dinosaur names so it was fine.

I did notice that these were gluten free and rice based, but that didn't really influence my decision. These, it turns out, are rather like a savoury breakfast cereal. Let that sink in for a moment - salty chereos, umami cornflakes - it's both disturbing and intriguing at the same time right?

The first few, I wasn't that keen on. I'd just been drinking something quite sweet and the juxtaposition didn't really sit that well. The automatic lizard part of my brain just kept on eating anyway and I was soon rather enjoying them.

The texture is much rougher than hula-hoops, and the crunch a little less because of this, but I'd still rate these as a genuine option. I didn't get to go back and see if there were multiple flavour options (salt and vinegar hopefully) but I'm fairly confident that they wouldn't have let me down.

Another nice supermarket find!

Mrs Crimble’s Home Bake Pancake Mix (Avail Asda) [By @Cinabar]

It is really not long until Pancake Day! Shrove Tuesday is 4th March. Every year we have pancakes on Pancake Day, really enjoy them, and say that we aught to have them more often. Then a year later we repeat the cycle!
This year the folks from Mrs Crimble’s got in touch and asked if we wanted to try their Home Bake Pancake Mix, which was an excuse to at least have pancakes on two occasions this year! We gladly said yes, and wondered what their take on pancakes would be, as they are gluten-free.
The box is 200g, and states that it makes 10 pancakes. We managed to make 9 from ours, but I guess it depends on your pan size.

All you have to do is tip the contents of the pack into a large bowl, add two eggs and 400ml milk and whisk. You then pour just enough of the mixture into a hot oiled pan and cook on both sides until golden.
From this point you can choose to go savoury and add tuna with sweetcorn, go traditional with lemon juice and sugar or my personal favourite spread them with jam before rolling! Ice-cream on top is then optional.

These were easy to make, and certainly looked the part, taste wise they were spot on too. Despite the ingredients including maize, rice and potato starch they tasted just like regular pancakes. The texture was right, fluffy, but just needed a little effort to break apart with a spoon. If you hadn’t told me they were gluten-free I wouldn’t have know, so that does make them a total success. So if you or a loved one is gluten intolerant and is worried about missing out on the great Shrove Tuesday tradition, you needn’t be as Mrs Crimble’s Pancake Mix gets a total thumbs up.
The only very slight negative point, and it is me being a bit pedantic is it is called Home Bake Pancake Mix, and there wasn’t any baking, as such, involved. :-D

By Cinabar

Lovechock Mulberry & Vanilla // Pineapple and Incaberry (@detoxyourworld) [by @NLi10]

A little while back (I'm still stuck in the summer backlog!) a site called detoxyourworld got in touch about review samples. Nothing new there, healthy sites often run promos past us and want to share the latest not-quite-science miracle cures past us, but this place was a bit different - specialising in the raw and organic products that I often nab from the small local stores.  In fact it appears to be run out of one of those stores.  Their products show that it's more about not sticking the toxins in to your body in the first place than taking them out via dubious means!

Importantly this offer arrived just after I'd tried Ailey Mae's raw chocolate and totally fallen for it - and on their site they had to new to me brands that offered similar delights.  Here is a link to their Raw Cocoa section.  Today we look at the first - lovechock

Here we see Baskerville guarding the chocolate at work.  I've started taking more things in to share because snack-mountain is starting to get faintly ridiculous at home.

Each small bar is 4 segments long which means its hard to share and still have a lot left to eat for yourself.  Both varieties come with what appears to be life advice, and are in fully biodegradable packaging.

First up we tried the Mulberry and Vanilla.  The texture was a lot more coarse than I was expecting after the lightness of the previous raw chocolate experience.  There was an awful lot going on with the flavours too.  The chocolate was about 80% dark (vegan friendly) with a very high quality flavour and the fruit was muted but noticeable.  I shared this with three others and all were overcome with the powerful flavours.  it also contains what it describes as lovechemicals (things that make you happy) and all of the fruity bits are from super foods.  This is one of the first things that an office sampling has had my normally quite reserved boss stating that he'd happily buy some of which is quite a recommendation!

For the second bar on the following day of Pineapple and Incaberry I decided to be more frugal and only share it with two others - afterall it was really really nice! This one is sweeter than the first (not from sugar, but coconut blossom!) possibly due to the choice of fruit.  The flavour mix is similarly well balanced under the strong chocolate, and interestingly the amount of bits in the bar hive it another harsh texture.  It really is more like a non-sticky nougat bar in that it's full of decent sized proper bits to get stuck into.

After eating I noticed that the boxes open up and their plain exterior hide inside a world of wonder.  This could just be the lovechemicals talking though...

This is definitely one I'm ordering more of - and as I've not seen this dutch creation anywhere else in the UK yet I guess I'll have to go back to the same site! All in all a pretty unique bar, packed full of surprises.

Kallo - Rice and Corn Cakes, Blueberry & Vanilla, Caramel [by @NLi10]

There are a lot of low calorie foods out there, the most tasteless of which is the rice-cake.  This in it's original form was essentially styrofoam with a bit of flavour sprayed on.  Fast forward to the present and we find that the product has evolved, past the point at which it was merely edible and has arrived  as we se it above - a premium product that people who aren't even concerned about calorie intake may consider.

Kallo are a brand I'm not all that familiar with but appear to have been around a while.  These are part of a wider range of other rice-cake based snacks of a variety of flavours and sizes. As snack popcorn is becoming quite popular I can see these being a hit, but are they any good?

The only real way to test low-calorie food is to take it into work and see what happens.  As expected not everyone would try one - many are likely to have been scarred by previous texture free tasteless versions - but those that did were usually happy to try the second flavour.  I shall talk about them in the order that I tried them.

Being a fan of fruit over most things I went for the Blueberry and Vanilla first.  The disks are similar in appearance to other brands, if not a little more haphazard in the grain of the surface.  On these this is a purple sheen which got a few people more interested.  They look more edible than expected and the mixed grains give  more interesting texture and are much more pleasant  than I'd thought likely.

The vanilla flavour is really just a hint and not as noticeable as I'd hoped but this isn't an issue.  The Blueberry is zingy enough to banish all thoughts of tastelessness. In fact the rice/corn combo actually has a flavour of it own that works as a complementary base.  Overall this is a light snack that is tasty enough and enjoyable enough to eat.  Sure - the big disks are a bit unwieldy but as a desk snack this isn't a problem.

The second flavour is apparently caramel, but everyone who tried it said it was basically pop-corn.  I'm not a massive fan of caramel or pop corn but I have to say I enjoyed this too.  THe almost burnt caramel flavour worked well with the natural grain, and due to the production method there was no hard kernels to battle with.

While I wouldn't take the large disks to the cinema I think that you could find the smaller varieties and take those quite happily.

The general consensus was split - people were fans of both. Some didn't like one or the other, but most liked both.  I fully expected to eat one of each and then to consign these to the communal food area where they would sit for a few days.  I've taken them to lunch to share for one day only, they are now kept on my desk so that not only can I have more tomorrow, but I can take the remaining home to share with family.

They are only 36 and 40 calories so it's no good eating these to get energy, but if you want something to fill that gap and tide you over til the next actual meal then these are surprisingly good.

Rocky Rice - gluten free snack bar [@NLi10]

After the excesses of the festive season our monthly snacks at work have taken a somewhat lighter angle.  Instead of the usual haul of biscuits and cakes there was a lot of fruit and seeds and these interesting little bars.  Weighing in at only 16g I scoffed at the idea that this would be a decent snack, and looking like a Snack-a-jack that had a one molecule thick layer of chocolate sprayed on suggested that it may be a challenge to review politely.

Turns out that it's actually quite tasty.  I think strawberry might be pushing it but there is certainly an nice enough flavour and the chocolate is just enough to mitigate the packing foam texture that usually accompanies these rice products.  Admittedly it is a little on the slight side, and I wasn't really that satisfied by the whole thing, but that's not really what this is for.

If you wanted a lighter, low calorie snack then this is a surprisingly edible version.  It's gluten free, and  has no wheat in too which broadens it's appeal.  There were two flavours available but unfortunately I'm not sure who was on 'cake rota' duty so am not sure which of the big UK supermarkets this was bought from.

I wouldn't buy or eat these again (my idea of a healthy snack is peanuts, or the fruit itself as I suspect this lacks any form of nutrition and not just calories!) but I may pick them up for my mother who avoids wheat and likes light snack bites.  A welcome evolution of the Snack-a-jack!

Doves Farm Organic Gluten Free Lemon Zest Cookies [@Dovesfarm] (Red Kite Health Foods Bromsgrove) [By @Nli10]

A while back I flirted with the gluten free range of products in my local supermarket to mixed success. While there were some genuinely nice and new experiences none of them were totally invisibly gluten free.

This however is different. I picked these up from Red Kite Health Foods just because they were biscuits, no review or special angle in mind. I had to double check the package to make sure that they were indeed gluten free and when I tested them on my fiance she couldn't identify why they were 'special'. They are more snappy than normal biscuits and not as crumbly which some people may not enjoy, but the crunch is quite nice. The lemon flavour tastes authentic and really zingy and makes these a little overpowering for with tea so a couple as a snack is my recommendation.

I'm not sure how prolific this brand is, but it's another reason to go diving into your local health food shop - it's not all potions and remedies these days!

By NLi10

Riceworks: Salsa Mexicana and Sweet Chilli (Waitrose) [By @spectreuk]

On reading the title “Riceworks”, I at first couldn’t tell if the manufacturer of these rice snacks either had a factory solely producing rice snacks or they were trying to convince me that rice really does work for a snack food. Regular readers will know that I am always on the look out for new healthier snacks. The packet boasts that they are a third less fat, with no cholesterol, are gluten and wheat free, and they are made from natural whole grain brown rice with no preservatives. I have to admit my fat tummy felt smaller just reading the packet, but would the flavour and crunch match up to the usual Dorritos brand we dip in chilli con carne?

Salsa Mexicana flavour

After quite a struggle to open the tough packet and some funny looks from my colleagues, I was a bit disappointed at how many rice snacks were in the bag. However, how many rice snacks can you expect to see in a 35g bag? This aside, it was initially hard to stop putting these crunchy tasty snacks in my mouth to actually type up the review. They really are crunchy and big on Mexican Salsa taste from the first bite. There was a slight worrying moment in my mind during eating each snack that my mouth may go dry, but that passes as my mouth began to water with the mixed tomato, pepper, paprika, garlic, onion, and parsley (amongst other ingredients). These rice snacks easily match any Mexican flavoured crisps I’ve eaten in the past and they’re so good for you. Dorritos watch out…. They just need a bigger bag for sharing.

Sweet Chilli flavour

Instead of struggling to open this bag, I attacked it vigorously with my penknife. After the pleasant surprise from the Salsa Mexicana flavour, I was fully expecting the crunch. Although these rice snacks are supposed to be sweet chilli, there is a powerful garlic punch to start with that never leaves your palette during eating. I was glad I didn’t have any meetings in the afternoon, but I doubted I’d receive a kiss from Cinabar when returning home. However there was a sweet chilli taste in the background to these snacks, once I’d waded through the fields of garlic, but more like spicy tomato. I certainly didn’t dislike these snacks, but I do like a warning before I eat that much garlic. Perhaps calling them “Garlic Tomato” flavour would be better?

I enjoyed both of these rice snacks and was impressed by their healthy feel and crunchy big flavours. I am intrigued by the sound of their Sea Salt flavour and Sesame Soy flavour rice snacks and may hunt them down. So as far as I’m concerned, rice really does work!

By Spectre