Carman's Original Fruit Free Muesli (Wholefoods Market & Sainsbury's)

Sometimes it's dangerous to get what you wish for, like in those fairy tales where someone’s wish is granted far too literally and it all goes horribly wrong. On twitter I was discussing my dislike for raisins and sultanas from previous muesli reviews and I got a couple of messages about it - one from someone in Australia talking about how much I'd love Carman's fruit free range. This resulted in a short exchange of messages and a box of the muesli appearing from Australia!

As this is a muesli with no fruit, not even the nice ones like all the berries AND no chocolate flakes AND very few nuts I was worried that I'd had my wish over granted and that I'd got a box of flavour free oats. This wasn't to be the case, there are hints of other flavours, and like the Dorset Cereals there are lots of lovely seeds that burst with flavour to find hiding in your mouth for hours after breakfast . I'd fully expected to be adding some of my dried cranberries and strawberries to this after the second bowl, as I have done with the own supermarket brand mueslis in the past, but I think that would spoil the delicate balance of flavours. This is designed to be eaten without fruit and is perfect for anyone as picky as me!

In the commonwealth games of cereals I'd say that this is the most elegantly done of the plain mueslis I've tasted, and is more similar to a granola in flavour as there is a definite roasted taste hiding in there. It deserves a place in the UK luxury cereal market and hopefully will find its way into more supermarkets so more people can try it out.

I also have the Carman's cereal bars but will save those until after Xmas I think!

Bacon Gumballs [By Spectre] (CyberCandy)

Seriously? Who thought of these? Accoutrements, that’s who, but that doesn’t answer the “why?” question. Accoutrements have been around for twenty-five years making weird and wonderful products from novelty toys to Yodelling Pickles, Absinthe Lip Balm, and Coconut Monkey Mints to name but a few. They pride themselves on being as bizarre and interesting as possible through desperation not to bore their customers. They have a variety of bacon products ranging from Bacon Bandages to these Bacon Gumballs. I have to admire Accoutrements’ brave (or foolish) originality, but it doesn’t make me feel better about trying these crazy sounding gumballs.

Okay, there are apparently twenty-two of these gumballs in the smart red tin box. Ripping off the outer wrapper I was hit immediately by an overpowering salty bacon smell. That smell was before I even opened the tin box. Twenty-two gumballs! I was seriously wondering if I could eat one, let alone twenty-odd. Opening the box the salty bacon smell instantly made my hair curl. Partly because it proudly stated on the front of the metal box that there were twenty-two gumballs inside and partly because I was avoiding trying one of these rounded pink sweets for as long as possible, I counted them! Hah! There were twenty-three! I can only think that Accoutrements were being either over generous or just plain trying to get rid of these gumballs. I took a deep breath and popped one in my mouth. Urrrgh…. is the only way to describe the taste. The salty smell is replaced at first by a sweet taste, as I chewed for a few moments it started to taste like a blunted smoky bacon flavour. A smell like an old man’s boiler room assaulted my senses. It reminded me of the steam fair in the city park that I drag Cinabar to every summer, where old traction engines and vintage cars congregate amongst brick-a-brac stalls and rickety fairground rides. I chewed this gumball for a good ten minutes and the strange rounded smoky bacon taste just wouldn’t budge. I tried to blow a bacon bubble, but couldn’t seem to manage one. I never thought I’d actually write a sentence that included “I tried to blow a bacon bubble”. I can honestly say it’s one of the weirdest, most original, horrid, yet fascinating things I’ve ever tasted. I shared a couple around and got the same sort of “Urrgh!” response. Not sure what to do with the rest? Stinky bacon marbles anyone? Now there’s another sentence I never thought I’d write!

By Spectre

McVities Christmas Festive Fruity Spice Cake (WH Smiths)

I asked recently on here and on twitter about what Christmas products people thought were worth hunting down for Foodstuff Finds. I got quite an interesting list of goodies I will be keeping my eye out for them all. The first one came via a recommendation off Twitter, and was found in a small branch of WH Smiths. This cake isn’t really the sort of thing you’d expect to find in WH Smiths, but I have learnt over the years to scan the shelves in all the shops I go in, it’s a sort of skill (or obsession). ;-)
And what a find this is! I do like fruit cake, but find that the richness of some Christmas cakes can be a bit off putting. The sponge in this festive cake is lovely, soft and light, with a moist feel which stops it from being too heavy. The taste is sweet, has an element of brown sugar and a nice helping of Christmas spices. I do love the flavours that the sponge contained, with its cinnamon and nutmeg, adding their lovely warming touch. Also packed inside the sponge was decent helping of fruit, there were currents and cherries, each one still soft and moist and adding patches of extra sweetness.
I totally confess that I love cinnamon and spices, so it will be no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed this cake. It is just such a fab Christmas treat, ideal with a cup of tea to bring warmth to our wintery afternoons.

Cake & Biscuits - Various small enterprises [By @NLi10]

As a grand finale to the Indie food reviews I thought I'd summarise all the good ones I've found over the past week.

Bake Me A Cake - Coconut Cake

I happened to be in town after work one day and noticed a bunch of craft stalls over by the Cathedral that I hadn't seen before. Amongst the jewellery and soft furnishing stalls was one selling cakes and biscuits! It turns out that this stall was run by a friend of mine I used to work with and that she was a pro-baker now, going by the name Bake Me A Cake. Eschewing the fancier options I opted for the coconut cake which turned out to be a good choice.

The slice was ample and really filling and while cake isn't the ideal outdoors December FoodStuffFind (it's a bit cold, and needed a hot drink accompaniment) it was a great bit of cake and full of flavour. Rachel uses eggs from her own hens so it's even closer to the independent food seller ideal than I'd originally imagined.




Biscuits from Centre Parc - Oval Alberts & Lemon Biscuits

While on holiday I spotted these in the on site supermarket and thought they made a nice end to it all. These are by two smaller companies but appear to be stocked beyond the range of normal farm-shop/cottage industry products (Capitalism Ho! indeed). This doesn't really matter though because both of these have the similar personal touch to the product that the previous offerings had, even though they lack the freshness of the other offerings. Biscuits are ideal for upscaled, small businesses as they tend to travel better and have decent shelf lives.

The Oval Alberts (made by Cottage Delight speciality foods) are a savoury biscuit that they suggest having with their pheasant pate. As all forms of pate (even vegetarian) make me feel a bit queazy after eating I stuck to having them just by themselves, although I did dip one in my tea to great effect. Their oatyness and crunch are quite welcome and while they snap quite easily are very pleasing to eat. I do like a good oatcake, a top winter biscuit.

The Lemon biscuits (made by traditional farmhouse biscuits Ltd) are harder than I expected and a lot more lemony but not in an artificial way. I'd say that these are a perfect size too as I've been eating them one at a time without feeling like I should have a 2nd. They'd make great tea party sides to plates and I got to wondering if they also did a vanilla variety. They have a great crunch to them like most 'home baked' biscuits do and the flavour of lemon shortbread was quite compulsive and loved by people at work when I took the remaining box in.

I'm glad that the Xbox Indie Game Uprising made me think of tenuously linked foods that came from similar humble beginnings. I've had a great time and some fantastic flavours and probably been more ecologically sustainable by eating locally. That said my next review was flown over from Australia and then I've really got to get on those Hot Chocolates before the weather realises that it's sent the snow to Britain instead of the rain...

By @NLi10

Chocolate Flava Shaka [By Spectre] (Westmoreland Service Station)

Cinabar looked at me like I’d gone mad when I picked up this chocolate milkshake in Westmoreland Service Station (on the M6 near Penrith) and said; “Is this new?” Apparently it was one of her favourite drinks when she was a child. We were on the way back from a few days away visiting Hadrian’s Wall before the snow set in. The service station is the only independent service station in the UK. It has a marvellous farm shop selling everything you could ever want that you couldn’t buy anywhere else, amongst everything else you would find in a usual supermarket. It was a veritable Aladdin’s Cave for Cinabar and it was almost impossible to tear her away. We ended up staying so long in the shop that we had dinner there also. I had a particularly good cottage pie and Cinabar enjoyed her fish and chips. The service station was so good that I’ve promised Cinabar that we’ll swing by that way on the way back from another holiday we have planned in Northumberland in April next year.

The Chocolate Flava Shaka is made from a mixture of sterilised skimmed milk and cocoa powder. The seaweed extract Carrageenan is used as a stabiliser. On first tasting I noticed the flavour of chocolate cake mix (before baking). There was also something else in the taste that I could only identify as Battenberg Cake. It’s a bizarre mixture, but it strangely works. Having said that, even after shaking well before opening there was quite a bit of chocolate sediment at the bottom of the bottle on finishing. I enjoyed the chocolate milkshake’s unique taste, but I wouldn’t rush 175 miles for another. However, Cinabar would have me rush back to the Westmoreland Service Station everyday!

By Spectre