Confirmed sighting: Creme Egg Twisted
Posted: 12:31 Thu 08-May-2008. Price: 55p. Location: WH Smith, East Kilbride, Scotland. Nutritional unusualness: Sunset Yellow included to make the kids go loopy.
There's been
varying opinions voiced on this through the week, but Zeddy managed to provide a better-than-usual photo of the blighter, reporting: They should include a helpline for those who have become disenchanted at Cadbury's cynical manipulation of their brands to the nth degree. Absolutely, positively nothing different except for "Egg Goo" covered in ridged chocolate.
Take a look at the marketing BS.
...Sadly I haven't sampled this myself, but it'll be interesting to see how different the experience is to the Dairy Milk Creme Egg Bar (after all, Cadbury's Wispa is genetically identical to Dairy Milk Bubbly, but people still prefer the former?)
Elsewhere, there's no sign as yet of the similarly-named Starburst Twisted (in Strawberry and Lime, Cherry and Lemon or Blueberry and Banana), but "grotbag" points out Mars are confusing matters further by "Bringing back Opal Fruits [to ASDA] for 3 months on 10 May, with the classic orange, red, green and yellow colours. They've gone all consumer-conscious on us though and removed the artificial flavourings so whether or not they will taste was good remains to be seen" - presumably to compete with the "real fruit juice", "30% less sugar" and "coloured by nature" credentials of Chewits Truly?
Confirmed sighting: Heinz Taste of Home Gorgeous Classic Creamy Custard
Posted: 14:21 Thu 01-May-2008. Price: 35p. Location: Netto, Leicester. Sub-flavours: Delicious Creamy Rice Pudding, Scrumptious Strawberry Jam Pudding, Super Sticky Treacle Pudding, Irresistible Sticky Toffee Pudding, Delightful Spotted Dick Pudding, Indulgent Chocolate Puddings (phew).
"Nick T" reports: Fresh from the laboratory, this Heinz 'Taste of Home' custard is fair enough but leaves a slightly odd metallic tang in the mouth. Good value though and gives the excellent Aldi custard a good run for the same price. The Taste of Home range also includes rice pudding (not tasted yet).
...No kidding, "Nick" - apparently the full range comprises seven new and six re-launched products in Taste of Home packaging (eg the tinned Indulgent Chocolate Pudding looks a lot like Heinz's old Cadbury's branded one). Heinz are also launching a gourmet Special Blend tomato ketchup at around £1.75/bottle but, returning to puddings, Zeddy's whole family are getting in on the act with this White Chocolate version of last year's Aero Double Chocolate Swirl - apparently: "Zeddy jnr spotted these and made his demands known. The label reads 'White chocolate mousse with swirls of chocolate'. Would that be milk chocolate, Nestle? It is, I can see brown stripes in it. Zeddy jnr thinks they are good but then kids will eat any old rubbish."
Confirmed sighting: Thorntons Mini Chocolate Brownies/ Penguin Triple Chocolate Wafer Bar
Posted: 14:28 Thu 24-Apr-2008. Price: £1.69. Location: Morrisons, Hamilton, Scotland. Sub-flavours: Thorntons Toffee and Chocolate Marbled Cake; Mini Chocolate and Orange Cakes; Mini Toffee Cupcakes. Nutritional unusualness: 67 kcal per square.
And top of today's triple decker is Zeddy with the Thorntons Brownies that he "Spotted today in Morrisons (that Alan Hansen is a dick, isn't he?) and, having a weakness for chocolate, they were a no-brainer (a bit like Hansen, really, but in a different way). Nice and soft with fudge inside and a chocolate covered base. Cheapest of the new range. I do fancy the
Toffee cupcakes..."
Elsewhere, "Kate" paid £1.49 for a pack of Penguin Triple Chocolate Wafer Bars in Morrisons, Southport, and "Loved them. They taste like across between a Montana bar and a Taxi bar. Very much worth the price," while "Chubworth" bagged an elusive Snickers Cruncher in the Uffizi Gallery cafe, Florence (Italy), marvelling: "Never seen before or since - basic Marathon with added crispy rice. Didn't need the crispy rice. Not really worth doing. Made in Holland which may explain lurid orange wrapper."
...In other continental confections: the Nestle Chokito was by far the highlight of this selection that my brother recently brought back from Switzerland (note that the Choc Ovo gets its name by being "gefullt mit Ovomaltine"); and no-one seems particularly excited about the UK arrival of the Kinder White Bueno, not when you could be spending as much as £2.49 on 3 Green And Blacks Organic Cereal Bars, or saving your pennies for Maryland Munch or Jammie Dodgers Snack Bars (both around £1.59).
Confirmed sighting: Gatorade UK
Posted: 23:11 Thu 17-Apr-2008. Price: £1. Location: Sainsbury's, vending machines. Sub-flavours: Orange or Lemon.
Once again, I've been scanning the shelves for
Red Bull Simply Cola, Nestle Boost Smoothies and Pomegranate and Raspberry, Mango and Mandarin, or Apple and Dragonfruit Fruitiser, but "David" has identified the official British launch of a brand that's been sponsoring UK events for at least 5 years, reporting: "Spotted 2 variants of Gatorade in a vending machine the other day so I took a look in Sainsbury's when I was next in there. They had the same 2 flavours, Orange and I believe the other was Lemon or Lemon and Lime. The bottles are tall and thin containing 500ml, quite odd for anyone who has had the drink in the USA! They have released a UK website for it, gatorade.co.uk. When will they do the same with Mountain Dew?!"
...In other supposedly life-giving liquids: it's good to see Lucozade Alert Mental Edge (89p/ 250ml) advertising its "45 calories per pack" credentials but, at 99p/500ml, I think I prefer Rockstar Juiced's genuinely fruity response to Relentless Juiced Energy. On the other hand, Ribena 100 Per Cent Pure Juices tastes far too much of real blackcurrant, compared to the much more palatable Tropicana Spirit, whose Orange and Mango variety has exactly the same flavour as a melted Solero Exotic, ice cream and all. And for those above legal drinking age, Strongbow's Jacques Fruit Cider offers a subtler alternative to Kopparberg Mixed Fruit, while the pioneering Poles have succeeded where Holsten Fusion failed, with these convincingly orange, apple or raspberry-flavoured Redd's Beers that I found for 89p each in a Polish food store in Golders Green.
Confirmed sighting: Tayto Cheese and Ham Toasties
Posted: 19:09 Thu 10-Apr-2008. Price: About £1. Location: Pull and Pump pub, Brighton.
Apparently there's a Szechuan Spice version of Walkers Sensations out there at the moment, but
regular Tayto correspondent "robertster" has been persisting with this "Maize snack in a sort of waffle shape. They tasted quite strong, but rather cheap, like something from
Red Mill. However, unlike Red Mill, they came in a massive packet which made finishing them a bit of a struggle."
...I know what you mean, "robertster" - I bought a couple of packs of Tayto's standard cheese and onion in a London pub recently and couldn't believe they were actually intended to be that chewy. Anyway, in other savouries: I'm pleased to report that all three versions of KP Baked and Seasoned Nuts (Thai Sweet Chilli, Lime and Coriander, or Sea Salt and Black Pepper, currently 2 for £2 in Sainsbury's) offer a cheaper and more subtly-flavoured alternative to the likes of Nobby's Nuts, Planters Bakehouse Oak Smoked Nuts (£1.99/180g, also Sainsbury's), or even these fair trade Liberation Oven Baked Cashews (£1.59/150g). Plus, the Sea Salt and Black Pepper tastes a lot like the Magic Corn you can now get from various stalls popping up around the country, which I think just has the edge over Funki Corn's largely similar offering, even though the Funki portions seem larger and have the option of a range of "Sweet" toppings.
Confirmed sighting: Bassetts Jelly Babies Wobbly Lollies
Posted: 20:17 Tue 08-Apr-2008. Price: £1.99. Location: Sainsbury's Nantwich, Cheshire. Sub-flavours: Strawberry, lime, blackcurrant, orange. Nutritional unusualness: 65 calories per lolly.
"DazDude" reports: As I am rather partial to the odd
Jelly Baby I thought I would give these a go. The box which claims contains "8 assorted lollies" in 4 flavours ended up in typical Jelly Babies fashion containing at least 4 green (lime) ones, along with a couple of strawberries and oranges. Most other boxes should contain at least a blackcurrant flavoured variant. A noticeable thing that sets these apart from other frozen lollies is they actually wobble, so don't be alarmed if it looks like they are about to fall off their sticks! Flavour-wise they are actually a lot more fruitier than their smaller sugary cousins but with more than 25% real fruit juice a lolly you certainly can't complain as they are certainly quite tasty.
...I think "DazDude" might be a first-time spotter (rather than the return of this guy) - I'll just mention that I've recently tried (both versions of) Thornton's Ice Cream sticks (£1.40 each in Costcutter Kentish Town), but you should soon also be able to cool down with the likes of Walls' Footballissimo and Cornetto Frutti Disc (65p and £1.10, respectively), Del Monte 100% Juice lollies (£1.99 for 3),
Mars Galaxy Minis (£2.99/ box),
plus the Starburst Smoothie lolly (£1.00), or Galaxy Vanilla and Chocolate Temptation cone (£1.25).
International sighting: Cadbury Dairy Milk Whispers/ Three Wishes bar
Posted: 14:18 Thu 03-Apr-2008. Price: Both about 70 pence. Location: Capetown, South Africa. Nutritional unusualness: 7.3% RDA of protein.
If you've ever wondered how "Zeddy" sends in so many sightings... well, sometimes he has help, as on this occasion when: "My workmate 'Annie-Anne' came back from South Africa with a few Cadbury chocs to try, bless her. The Whispers were quite interesting as they are basically Cadbury's take on Maltesers. Not bad at all but they had me hankering for a proper Malteser with the creamier chocolate."
And you can see the sub-Sahara sunshine glinting off this similarly-priced Cadbury Three Wishes which "Zeddy" discovered to be: "'Dark chocolate and Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate with a milk chocolate truffle centre.' Kinda boring really. I didn't notice the three different flavours of chocolate as I ate it. Still at least it wasn't 'Bournvile' plain chocolate. Incidentally, they put vegetable fat in their chocolate in South Africa too. I wonder if they call it 'Family Milk chocolate' over the border in Zimbabwe? (Ok, they probably don't get much chocolate there right now.)"
...In closer-to-home Cadbury's activities, "Look out for this one, Snackspot," reported "Rose" regarding the post-Easter arrival of Creme Egg Twisted (at the same time as Mars' Starburst Twisted, confusingly), while "Zeddy's" odyssey concludes with South Africa's Beacon Melon Burst, as he admits: "'Annie-Anne' strikes again with this bar of melon-tasting chocolate. No melons appear to be harmed in the making of this product. The top 2/3 is green coloured with milk chocolate underneath. It certainly tastes different to any flavour of chocolate in the UK. Just a shame I hate melon! (Incidentally, I have heard it said if you don't like melon you won't like cucumber and vice versa. It's true for me!)"
Confirmed sighting: Burger King Warm Apple Pie/ Strawberry Cheesecake/ Double Chocolate Twist
Posted: 22:07 Tue 01-Apr-2008. Price: £0.99-£2.29. Location: Wigan. Sub-flavours: With or without ice cream (Warm Pie only), with or without hot drink (Chocolate Twist).
"Wes Jones" reports: Burger King's new desserts menu. Aside from the ice cream desserts and rather bland Diddy Donuts (with their ever decreasing choice of sauce list - used to be three, now only one), BK have discovered that they needed more dessert choices after all. Let's kick things off with the Apple Pie. If you're expecting anything like Mr. Kipling's, think again. This is a segment of Bramley apple pie, with large chunks of apple covered with a lattice pastry. This is served either hot or cold (unlike McDonald's, this is microwaved rather than deep fried). The hot variety can also be served with a generous helping of ice cream for an extra 30p.
The Strawberry Cheesecake is basically the creamy part of the cheesecake, infused with swirls of strawberry sauce on a biscuit base. The overall texture is quite dry though, so you may need a drink to accompany this. Finally, the Double Chocolate Twist. With a flaky pastry similar to that found on a Fray Bentos tin pie, and melted chocolate injected into the grooves, the overall effect of this dessert is sweet AND savoury. Rather bland on its own, but accompanied with either Cappuccino or Hot Chocolate it is delicious. The prices, even though they seem high, are reasonable considering Burger King's recent price uppage. Keep your eyes on me for any new Burger King products as well.
...I'm kind of assuming this is the same "Wes Jones" here, with Burger King's own version of what "third base" is like. Elsewhere, Ginsters are getting into microwavable ready meals, and I haven't yet got up early enough to confirm the non-April-Fool-status of the McDonald's Breakfast Wrap which "DM" claims: "Seems to have appeared in Manc over the last 2 weeks - noticed it initially as a friend was at a cash point and I was NOT looking at his PIN, there was a poster in the Mac window (2pm by then) ...then an ad in my partner's free paper this week - seems to be a tortilla wrap containing a split in 2 'patty', plus egg AND hash brown!! It's got me anyway - I'm getting one."
Confirmed sighting: Thorntons Deliciously Smooth Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs
Posted: 15:34 Thu 27-Mar-2008. Price: £1.19. Location: Thorntons, Manchester Arndale.
"penguin42" reports: I managed to avoid all the egg shaped chocolate today and found this (80g bar) near the back. It's rather nice - very chocolatey (as it should be with 60% cocoa solids) but it's unusual in having one side completely covered in cocoa nibs; a lot of others have some cocoa nibs in but this has lots of them over the whole top surface (9% according to the label).
(On a different topic has anyone noticed the rapidly rising cost of Green and Blacks chocolate - I saw a bar over £2 for 100g the other day in central Manchester). Nice site; I've been watching it for years, but this is the first time I've actually got around to taking a picture and posting!
...Easter's been busy for first-time spotters, but the cloudy weather didn't do "Zeddy" any favours for this photograph of Kshocolat Chilli Almonds (£1.19, Sainsbury, East Kilbride, 13.2g fat per pack), causing him to gasp: "Oh Jeez! These are HOT! The heat steals up on you kinda like the Tango Orange man used to all those years ago. I think the chocolate tastes OK and the almonds are nice but I cannot recall as I have to go drink a jug of water just now." As a slightly downmarket alternative, he also found these Cadbury Toffee Crunch Fingers for £1.25 BOGOF in Tesco, Silverburn, Glasgow, musing: "As Peter Kay might say, 'Les Cadbury Fingeres' now with El Toffee! The toffee flavour is nice and strong making these very moreish. It says 'Season's Collection' on the pack. What season is toffee, exactly?"
Confirmed sighting: Coca-Cola Relentless Juiced Energy
Posted: 18:48 Tue 25-Mar-2008. Price: £1.12/ 500ml. Location: Morrisons. Nutritional unusualness: 50% juice, 10.4g sugar, 0g fat, 0.05g sodium per 100ml.
"John Rosevear" reports: Relentless has done it again, this time in juiced form! Not only were they the first big brand energy drink producers to bring out the larger/higher value 500ml cans to the UK, they've also introduced new flavour concepts such as
Citrus Original, Inferno Orange, and now this new 50% orange and tropical fruit juice version to the much saturated citrus fruit energy drink market which was initially created by the grandfather of all energy drinks, Red Bull.
When I cracked open my first can the first thing that came to mind was the smell of Lilt with its tropical flavour, but pour it into a glass and you'll find an orange juice quality. With its graphically yellow/green jungle-like can design, Relentless Juiced is a refreshing new taste experience with a unique orange and tropical fruit flavour, which offers the energy drink lover a much-needed taste alternative. Definitely worth trying and a great alternative to high-caffeine fans and new energy drink consumers.
...Our regular Relentless correspondent "John Rosevear" sounds a bit like he's writing a press release on this one - though omits the quote from William Wordsworth's notoriously hellraising Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey on the can. Still, it's not like other drinks companies have much going on, with "robertster" shrugging off PepsiCo's Tropicana Smoothie (£2.99 - 2 for 1, Brighton Sainsbury's, in Strawberry and Banana, Blackberry and Blueberry, Pear and Cranberry, etc) as: "Tasty stuff, but not really any different to any other quality smoothie out there. I can't see myself buying this once the offer ends" - and Schweppes launching at least 3 new flavours, including Apple, Pear and Cinnamon, "Classic" Ginger Beer, and Cloudy Lemonade.
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