Starburst – Strawberry Flavour Milk [By SpectreUK]

This Starburst Strawberry Flavour Milk was manufactured by Mars, in Dublin. It marketed itself as “school friendly”, which meant it met government regulations for schools in England and Wales as it had at least 90% milk and no more than 5% added sugar. The suggested 200ml portion had 144 calories, with 21g of sugar, and 3.2g of fat. The only problem was that this Strawberry Milk was packaged in a 350ml bottle, which was one and three quarter portions! Besides, as a grown man (well sort of... more outwards than mentally) I figured a portion for me (and my big gut) would have been more like 500ml; fortunately I had two bottles in the fridge. Not bothering to measure out one (Spectre sized) portion I decided to greedily drink both bottles! The milk was mainly UHT, which was Ultra Heat Treated to kill germs for a longer life. The pinkish liquid was not thick or gloopy like some flavoured milks. It tasted just like a chilled strawberry ice cream, not too sweet or sickly, and very refreshing. My greedy tummy was very glad of the two bottles. I’d like to see larger bottles of this so I can really pig out... er... in a healthy way! The slogan on the bottle stated; “Chill well, shake well...” and I’d certainly like to add “drink well”. ;-)

By Spectre

Primula – Burger Cheese [By @Cinabar]

I have good memories of having Primula cream cheese as a kid. My favourite was always the cheese and chive, and I used to claim the whole tube by squeezing the stuff straight into my mouth as a small child. Obviously this was frowned upon by my mum, but that never quite seemed to stop me!
So Primula is a brand that predominantly makes cream cheese in tubes. As far as ‘squeezy cheese’ goes in the UK, Primula cream cheese is probably about it, and it generally bares no correlation to what the Americans think of as squeezy cheese... that is until now. As a slight diversion from their usual cream cheeses they have launched a Limited Edition Burger Cheese, in a tube.
It may feel like a bit of strange concept for the British market, but it is only one step away from popping a slice of processed cheese on a burger in a bun, which is a more regular occurrence.
I opened up the cheese and was pleased to see that it still had its star shaped nozzle, which means that any cheese squeezed from the tube has pretty patterns along the edges. We were having burgers so I traced a circle of cheese on each one.

As the burger warmed it up, the cheese started to melt a little and turned it more into a splodge shape. This effect would be far more impressive if used on a barbecue, but as the weather doesn’t want to play ball ours were grilled, and I only added the cheese after they were cooked.
The flavour was lovely though. It had loads of rich cheddary tones, and a nice warmth from some chilli too. I’m not going to lie it did have that processed cheese flavour, but frankly I’d have been disappointed if it didn’t. After all that is what it was promising to do on the tube! I liked the novelty of squeezy burger cheese, but it was the playful spice that made this product for me. It gave the burgers a lovely edge, without being too hot. I felt it added a nice gourmet touch! ;-)
If the rain ever lets up, this will be a fab product to have during barbeque season, and I quite fancy trying it on hot dogs too! I have no idea why it has been so long since I last bought Primula cheese, and now have every intention of buying some more of the cream cheeses in tubes too. I suspect there have been some new additions to the range since I last bought any, so I'll report back if I find an interesting new flavours.

By Cinabar

Mr. Kipling Puddings, Raspberry & Lemon [by @NLi10]

An absolute age ago I spotted a few new 'steam' puddings in my local paper-shop and decided to give them a whirl. They sat in the fridge for ages, hot puddings that look a little stodgy are not what most days call for.

After dinner one day I thought I'd give them a shot so put them in the microwave for the very specific 50 seconds each and then revealed them onto the plate.

Smaller than I'd expected and with a lovely aroma these were not the school puddings I feared. They are very soft and moist and the sauce actually tasted of what it was supposed to! This was a shock as I'd feared that they may not be of amazing quality at 90p each. While not up to the M&S Xmas range standards these are things that could be eaten at a party without too much shame. I'm looking forwards to eating the remaining ones now and shan't wait so long to do that.

The individual portions, long shelf life and interesting flavours mean that you can shove these in the pantry and add a little pudding to any meal quite easily.

By Nli10

Golden Wonder HP Sauce Flavour Crisps (Waitrose) [By @SpectreUK]

I found these new HP Sauce Flavour crisps in the local supermarket. There must be a run on HP Sauce at the moment, as I recently reviewed Heinz HP Sauce flavour Big Soup. I decided to have these crisps with my Sunday lunchtime sandwich. The 25g bag had 130 calories in it, with 7.7g fat, and 1g sugar. The ingredients included; potatoes, sunflower oil, and HP Sauce seasoning, which was made from; barley malt vinegar, wheat flour, caramelised sugar, clove, ginger, white pepper, tomato, lemon and paprika, amongst other things. I noticed there were no molasses listed in the ingredients, which is a flavour that stands out in HP Sauce. On opening the bag the crisps had a good HP Sauce aroma. Flavours that stood out on tasting were the barley malt vinegar and tomato, with a mild hit of paprika mixed with ginger and garlic. I must admit I did miss the molasses from the overall flavour of these crisps, but having said that, they tasted great and left a pleasant mild HP Sauce aftertaste in my mouth. I would definitely have these again, and would like to see big sharing bags of these crisps, so I can fill a big bowl and munch them through a good long movie.

By Spectre

Walkers Baked Stars (Crisps): Mild Sweet Chilli (Asda) [By @Cinabar]

Healthy crisps seem to be popular at the minute, perhaps it’s the hope that summer will be with us shortly and just maybe that will mean the weather will be warm enough for skimpier clothes. This new range from Walkers looks like it is aimed at the younger market though, but still states that it is 70% less fat. Each crisp is a smart star shape, with a sprinkling of red seasoning and the packaging is rather child friendly, clearly not wanting to put off the younger audience by looking too healthy!
I was a little bit worried that the reference to the spice being mild in the description might have meant that it was going to be a bit of plain taste. Children’s products have a way of dumbing down flavours so as not to offend delicate taste buds. I was pleased to discover that the flavour was quite full on, even if the heat was lacking. There was a lovely sweet tomato taste, a nice hit of warm paprika and the mildest hint of chilli. The taste works very well, they are quite moreish, and the sweet flavour mixed with the gentle bit of heat just works perfectly. They almost have a hint of barbeque about them, they are just lacking a smoky edge.
The texture was impressive too. These are baked crisps, so as you can expect are a little dryer than regular crisps, but they aren’t too bad at all. They are good and crunchy, and felt quite satisfying to munch on. As healthy treats go, it has to be said these are very tasty and the bag filled me up nicely. It’s definitely a crisp I’ll be buying again as they make a good lower fat lunch time extra with a sandwich.

By Cinabar