Baked British Gammon With Winter Berries Crisps #loveeverymouthful @Tesco Finest [By @Cinabar]

It's the time of year when all the Christmas goodies are appearing in the shops, and this means that the seasonal edition crisps are in stock! Okay there are a fair few brands that have the obligatory turkey flavour, but this new variety from Tesco Finest sounded even better. Baked British Gammon With Winter Berries Crisps!
We eagerly opened up the pack to share and could immediately smell some rich meaty aromas. The crisps were fairly thickly cut, they had a nice crunch without being too hard. The flavour was really good, interesting and complex. The ham taste was the first part to appear, it was distinctively that of gammon, with a nice salty meaty flavour, that almost seemed to have a hint of smokiness.
What followed was the fruity aftertaste, I swear I could pick up on a hint of orange, but it wasn't mentioned on the ingredients list. What was clearly there was the Christmas classic cranberry sauce, which worked rather nicely with the meat flavour. The mellow meat taste was enhanced by the zingy acidic fruit that followed, and it gave these crisps the complexity of the flavour. There was also a subtle herby background which gave even more depth.
These crisps turned out to be rather moreish, and the packet didn't last long at all. They were a lovely way of representing a different sort of Christmas crisps. You could just imagine the gammon joint coming out of the oven, covered in orange slices and dripping in a fruity glaze - yum!

By cinabar

Aussiemite - Yeast Extract [by @NLi10]

Mite.  I'm not sure exactly what it means in a food context but it appears in a few significant places.  MarMite is the main one in the UK, VeggieMite in the AUS.  Here we have a new yeast extract spread (new to me anyway) called AussieMite.  This sounds like something that you have to watch out for on holiday (poor guys got an infestation of aussiemites) but does seem to match the naming convention that exists for these foods. Except for Bovril, which may have meat in it or something.

Fairly unassuming and normal so far.  The ingredients suggest that corn is used to feed some yeast and then someone decided to eat the black stuff that comes out.  I'm pretty glad they did though as this is an interesting one.

Seen here on the Co-op's finest 4-for-a-pound bread rolls we have some AussieMite.  I forgot to take the picture before having a bite, but you get the idea.

Essentially this tastes like a less sharp Marmite.  I think that it's more universally loveable as that edge that makes people screw their faces up isn't apparent.  It also somehow has a fruitiness to it that I hadn't expected.  I had two cobs of this and was generally satisfied with the amount I'd put on - I maybe could have gone for more.

While it's no Nuttella (I can't picture many people eating this out of the jar with a spoon) I do think that this is one I won't have trouble finishing the jar of.  I almost want to spring the other jar on relatives so that they can see how it compares to their usual black, suspicious goo but I think i'll have a few more lunches with it first and see how fast my supply depletes.

Koka Noodles – Curry Flavour (Chinese Market – Birmingham Indoor Market) [By @SpectreUK]

The six chillis on the front of this polystyrene cup of noodles were the first thing to catch my eye in the Chinese Market I frequent in search of imported goodies from far off places. Okay, I know that sounded a bit dodgy, but I assure you that I’m there just for food! These Koka Noodles were manufactured in Singapore, which is certainly far away enough from Birmingham, England. The only thing I know about Singapore is that it has an amazing zoo. Oh, and a large amount of British troops surrendered there to the massed ranks of the Japanese army in the Second World War. So that’s two things I know about Singapore, I guess. I’ve always wanted to go to the zoo there and I’m sure I’ll make it someday, with Cinabar in tow both gazing in awe at the wonderful and exotic animals there. The second piece of knowledge made these noodles particularly fitting to munch on during lunch on the 10th November. I know we’ve fought in just about every country in the world and lost brave soldiers and also many people at home during the Second World War through bombing raids that were also fighting to keep this country standing. Yet when after the few moments silence we traditionally have on the Sunday before the 11th November, the origin of these noodles struck a chord in me for the brave men who suffered such hardship in the Far East after their surrender. It may have had something to do with the Commando comic I had been reading that day too, which had British prisoners of war building a road under their Japanese guard’s watchful gaze.

Anyway, I digress, back to the noodles... On peeling back the lid I noticed two sachets set on top of the hard clump of stringy noodles, and the obligatory plastic fork, which I dumped in the cutlery draw in favour of a metal one. One sachet had lots of bits of food in it. I popped it open to find lots of shredded pieces of carrots, some peas, and sweet corn. The other sachet was labelled “curry”, which had brownish powder inside it. There was the usual type of cooking instructions on the top of the pot; add freshly boiled water, stir, blah, blah... So I ignored them, dumped in all the satchets, boiled the kettle and readied my metal fork for stirring. I filled the plastic pot up to the mark and stirred well, but the sauce was still very watery for a good while. The noodles started to soak up some of the liquid and I used a piece of bread to soak up some more. The concoction certainly smelt very nice, I noted the pieces of chives mixed in with the stringy noodles, sweet corn, shredded carrot and few peas. The brown curry powder stirred in well, but was bubbly to start with, which I’ve not seen in a pot noodle before. Tasting the soaked bread there was a decent chilli spice to the curry sauce. Not the hottest pot noodle I’ve tasted though, as that honour still goes to Nong Shim Hot and Spicy. Yet this curry noodle pot was definitely the best “curry” flavoured pot noodle I’ve ever tasted. It was very tasty, and not at all sweet or slightly synthetic as regular pot noodle curry flavours can be. This curry sauce had a decent spice that made my nose sweat a little and it actually tasted like curry. It certainly felt healthy with all the bits of vegetables bobbing around amongst the stringy noodles. I would have this Koka Noodles Curry Flavour again, particularly over any of the British curry pot noodles.

Information on the label;
70g pot of noodles
Ingredients: Noodles: wheat flour, edible palm oil, salt. Flavour: salt, curry powder, flavour enhancers (e numbers), sugar, spices, tapioca starch, flavourings, chives, hydrolysed vegetable protein, and caramel.

By Spectre

Mr Kipling Exceedingly Merry Black Forest Whirls (Tesco) [By @cinabar]

For reasons I don't completely understand the flavour of Black Forest Gateaux seems to have become seasonal, and is getting an association of being Christmassy. At this time of year I don't see that as a bad thing, in fact it means there are loads of goodies for me to lap up, but come next spring I'll be mourning the missing flavour.
As a fan of all things chocolate and cherry when I saw these whirls in Tesco the box went straight into the trolley. There are six in the box, all dusted with a sprinkling of icing sugar.
The biscuits themselves are very crumbly and almost cake like in texture, it was nice a texture though, almost melt in the mouth. They are a bit messy to eat mind, as the crumbs and icing sugar get everywhere!
The cocoa flavour was good, not to overpowering to cover the biscuit taste but certainly enough to add some serious chocolaty goodness. The cherry added a pleasant zingy fruit flavour that I really liked, but Spectre too enjoyed it, as he isn't a great fab of cherries I figured there must be an element of generic fruitiness rather than pure cherry. There was a creamy flavour intermingled with the chocolate and cherry that really gave these the full black forest gateaux experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed one of these with a freshly brewed coffee. In fact everyone who tried them was commenting on how nice they were, so I must pick up another box or two before Christmas and stock up.
In other exciting related news Black Forest Hot Chocolate is back at Costa, get it while you can!

By Cinabar

Bottle Green Blackcurrant & Coffee Cordial (Waitrose @bottlegreen) [By @cinabar]

When Bottle Green got in touch and asked if I wanted to try their new autumn cordial, I have to admit to expecting a fruity affair, so I found this just a little bit different. Yes it contains blackcurrants but paired with coffee? I’ve never seen anything like that before and I just couldn't wait to try it.
As the nights are drawing in and there is a distinct chill in the air I thought I’d try making it with hot water to warm us up after a long Monday at work. When the water hit the cordial the aroma was distinctively that of blackcurrants, and it did smell fruity and pleasant. The drink looked quite dark, even with a healthy amount of water added, I guess its coloured with dark fruit and dark coffee, but it made it difficult to approximate how much liquid to add, so I just filled the mug.
I took my first sip and let the flavours develop. Initially there is a strong sweet but sharp blackcurrant flavour which flowed onto the taste of bitter coffee. The very first so tasted like blackcurrant cordial, but afterwards I was left with the flavour in my mouth like I'd just had an espresso. It's a strange combination, but the flavours complement each other rather well. I admit the first couple of sips took a bit of adjusting to, but after that I was totally convinced. I loved the complex fruity taste and how the coffee flavour, which was dark and strong like an Americano filled the senses. The drink feels perfect for the colder evenings, a proper winter warmer.
It’s lovely to try a new flavour combination that works so well. I certainly recommend it if you are after something a bit different to an afternoon tea or coffee, and it is one I'll be stocking up on as the autumnal weather kicks in.

By cinabar