Friday 29 November 2013

Cadbury Flake Mint

Despite its long history of sales in Australia, Cadbury's famous Flake bar was actually created in Ireland in 1920. It's now sold all over the world, and ha come in several variations over its time. (Check out the last seasonal release, Flake Snow.) Flake Mint is in the same style as the classic Flake bar, but created with mint-flavoured milk chocolate.


Head after the jump to read on!

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Mentos New Rainbow

Mentos have switched things up a bit by making some changes to one of their favourite products, the Rainbow roll. I'm not entirely sure if this will be a permanent change to this flavour, or if it is to be sold alongside as the seasonal release.



The package doesn't indicate it is a limited release, but that isn't usually a safe way to get that sort of information. We've seen 'Limited Edition' items get added to the regular lineup, so it can be hard to tell sometimes!


Normally, the Rainbow roll contains seven flavours: strawberry, pineapple, grape, cherry, raspberry, orange and watermelon. In the new roll, pineapple, cherry and watermelon have been subbed out for three new flavours: kiwi, cranberry, and yuzu, which is a small citrus fruit from Japan. Flavour of the fruit is described as being very tart and similar to grapefruit, with a tinge of mandarin. (Mentos have used this flavour before in their Aqua Kiss 3D Gum in Yuzu-Grapefruit-Orange flavour.) Having never tried a yuzu, I won't be able to comment on the realism of the flavour, but I'm curious to try it! Unfortunately the pack only contains two pieces of each flavour.


Strawberry is a light rosy pink colour. It is sweet with a floral flavour that doesn't point at any particular berry.

Apple is the darker green dragee in the pack. Mentos released a limited edition roll of Green Apple not long ago, which I enjoyed for its juicy, tart and refreshing flavour.

The 'purple' pieces are grape, though really they are more of a muted mauve colour. The flavour is along the lines of Hubba Bubba Grape - sweet and sugary with a strong faux grape taste.



Orange is the easiest of the roll to identify. It has a mild, sweet orange flavour (think orange icy poles) that is unoffensive and refreshing. There's no citrus tang, but I'd still buy a whole roll of this flavour.

Kiwi is light green in colour. I don't know what sort of kiwi fruit the flavour creators at Mentos have been trying, because this is so far from right. The flavour is hard to describe, but it has a weird sort of tarty aspect to it that reminds me a little bit of lemonade. I wonder if there is mint in this piece because I get a little of that 'fresh mouth' feel afterwards. I don't know what it is, but it sure isn't kiwi fruit!

Cranberry is the final pink piece that has a bit of orange in its colour. The flavour on this is definitely sweet, but with some great tarty notes that got my mouth watering. I found these excellent, and a good representation of sweetened cranberries. Putting these in a roll with the other berry flavours would give the whole roll great dimension.

The yellow pieces are yuzu. The flavour is quite a bit like grapefruit, but toned down and sugared up. There's also a little bit of lemonade in there too. It's not very tart, but very refreshing. Even though I have no idea what a real yuzu tastes like, these are delicious.

Although it was let down by kiwi, I found the roll contained a good mix of flavours. I'd love to see both cranberry and yuzu combined into future Mentos mixes.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars.

Mentos are made in China and contains milk and glucose products.

Friday 22 November 2013

Nestle Wonka Chocolate Tales

Part three of the Nestle-owned Wonka blocks is Chocolate Tales. See reviews of Triple Chocolate Whipple and Caramel Hat Trick.


Like the rest of the 170g blocks in this release from Nestle, the Wonka packaging is a smart maroon cardboard box, housing the chocolate block wrapped in patterned gold foil. For those simpler cravings, the Chocolate Tales variety consists of 'creamy and smooth Wonka milk chocolate'. No strange additions, just smooth milk chocolate.


And also like the other blocks, Chocolate Tales has its own unique block mould that has inspired the name (or perhaps it's the other way around). The block is shaped like an open book, with a short story spread across the 'pages'. Each piece contains a few words as part of the story, and the pack reports that there are five different tales to be found. Click on the picture to few the story on this block up close.


The chocolate is a little lighter in colour that Cadbury Dairy Milk, and smells a bit less  milky. This chocolate contains a minimum of 22% cocoa solids and 25% milk solids (whereas Dairy Milk is more in the region of 26% cocoa/28% milk, but this can vary between varieties). The grooves in the block make for a clean snap with a minimal amount of crumbs. And like the other Wonka blocks, they have a low profile to fit in the slender box, measuring just 7mm tall.


In the mouth, the chocolate is beautifully smooth and melts well (perhaps encouraged a little by the 30 degree heat here today). It is not too sweet, and has a mild flavour without much depth. This would be a good accompaniment to something more complex in flavour, like a coffee. I can't find anything wrong with this chocolate, but I think it is made to be served alongside something, not just by itself.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Nestle Wonka Chocolate Tales contains milk and soy, and is made on equipment that processes products containing peanuts, tree nuts and wheat.

Monday 18 November 2013

Cadbury Dairy Milk Raspberry and Lemonade Limited Edition

Several readers alerted me to this mystery limited edition block before it ended up on the west coast. Cadbury sure have been busy! This block doesn't debut a new flavour, per se - about five or six years ago, the Cadbury Freddo twin packs (which are two Freddos joined together, and used in Cadbury's fundraiser boxes) was released in this lemonade and raspberry combination. I couldn't find any photos, but there are a couple of mentions online about them, plus one of our readers also mentioned them. It's not a flavour I had tried, so I'm looking forward to his!


The block weighs in at a solid 220g, and contains a mix of raspberry and lemonade filled pieces. The flavours are separated out. Interesting note about the pack - it doesn't carry the new title case Dairy Milk logo, but uses the all-caps version. I'm beginning to wonder if the title case version was developed specifically for the Bubbly range.


The outer chocolate layer is thick, but contains the flowing centres well.  My block was a little crushed, as you can see, but thankfully wasn't a mess when it was unwrapped. The chocolate coating has a lovely semi-gloss coating, and smells sweet. There's less of the usual milky note there too.


Raspberry pieces have a bright red centre.  Combined with the chocolate, it's an interesting taste. I find it a lot like the classic Strawberry Freddos, in that it has a vague berry taste to it. It's less sweet than strawberry, and if I concentrate really hard there's a very faint bit of tang there, but I couldn't immediately pick the flavour as raspberry.


Lemonade I found bland and boring. I couldn't taste anything over the outer chocolate layer. It was a very sweet piece. Even by itself, I would have guessed that the filling was unflavoured, rather than lemonade.

Eaten together, I found the flavour of the centres was extremely overwhelmed by all the chocolate. I really struggled to be able to taste either of the flavours at all. If the proportions were better (less chocolate), or the centres flavoured more strongly, this block may have fared better.

Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Limited Edition Raspberry and Lemonade contains milk, wheat glucose syrup, soy and egg. It may contain traces of wheat, peanuts and tree nuts.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Tic Tac Grape Envy

Back in May of this year, Ferrero Australia released a limited edition pack of Tic Tac called 'Fruit Adventure'. As the name suggests, it contained a medley of fruit flavours: passionfruit, green apple, cherry and orange. While cherry and passionfruit might have been new to the Australian market, both orange and green apple are not. Orange, of course, is available in a single-flavour box (although the pieces are white in an orange-coloured pack), and has been available for many years.

 
Green apple, on the other hand, is a bit different; Grape Envy is the third time green apple has been available in a limited edition pack. (Previously it had its own single-flavour pack in late 2012, and it was also in Fruit Adventure.) As far as I can tell, Australia has never seen grape flavoured Tic Tacs, although the flavour was available in the US briefly in 1976, until it was removed over concerns about the red dye colour used as it was a suspected carcinogen. As Tic Tac Grape Envy is made in Australia, I would place my bets that the grape pieces in this pack use a safer dye source now (although I don't have any proof as they are not listed with an ingredients list on the Ferrero website).


As for what apple has to do with grape? Don't ask me. I do wonder if perhaps Ferrero overestimated the popularity of the Green Apple limited edition, and this is how they are gradually using up their excess stock. All speculation, of course. The pack has a purple and green themed label on the clear plastic pack, with a terrible font choice for the word 'Envy' (to me it reads Erevy). The pack weighs 24g, and mine contained more green apple than grape pieces.

I've already reviewed the green apple pieces from the Fruit Adventure pack, and found the same result with the pieces in this edition. Green apple is refreshing and tart, and quite realistic. I enjoyed these.


Grape is purple, with a white centre. Unlike the green apple pieces, grape gives me no flavour from the shell. Only on crunching the piece do I find a mild red-grape taste. It's a little tarty and reminds me of cordial. I found it refreshing, but a bit dry in the mouth. The flavour is weaker than green apple.


Together, the green apple overwhelms the grape at first, but later on they harmonise together well for a sweet, refreshing combo. Even though there is no raspberry flavour here, I'm reminded a lot of a apple and raspberry combination - they just work well together, far better than alone. I just wish I had more grape pieces in my pack!

Score: 4 out of 5 stars.

This flavour isn't yet on the Tic Tac website, but the FAQ notes that they "contain corn gluten but not gliadin gluten from wheat, barley or rye grains. The source of the maltodextrin is corn."

Wednesday 6 November 2013

Cadbury Dairy Milk Golden Biscuit Crunch

Another new addition from the 'Joyville' subbrand, this block of Cadbury Dairy Milk Golden Biscuit Crunch sneaked in under my radar. I spotted it on a low shelf under the other Cadbury block at Coles, and I think it may be an exclusive there as I haven't seen this flavour available elsewhere. I also suspected that this might have been imported stock from the UK, but the info panel on the read reveals that it is made in Australia. EDIT: This information is wrong; a reader has pointed out that the block is actually made in Austria, not Australia. That will teach me to speed read! Thank you, Anaonymous, for bringing this to my attention.


There are two other points of interest about the packaging. First, the Dairy Milk logo is still all caps, and not in title case like we've seen on the revamped packaging for the Bubbly range, And secondly, the block is presented in horizontal/landscape format - it's even packed into the display boxes this way. It's similar to the Cadbury Dairy Milk with Oreo mini blocks you might have seen floating around at Woolworths.

The image on the front shows a block jam-packed with filling. On the back, the block is described as 'Dairy Milk milk chocolate with vanilla and choc flavoured creme filling and vanilla biscuit'. The name initially made me think of one of the UK versions of the Nestle Wonka blocks, 'Millionaire's Shortbread', but I can see now they they are not at all similar.


Despite containing a filling, the block's pieces are shaped slightly differently - the scoring between each piece isn't as deep, perhaps to make up for the filling which seems to flow throughout the whole block, rather than piece to piece. The block is the standard physical size of most Cadbury blocks, and weighs in at 200g. The outer chocolate layer in a little on the thin side, and smells faintly milky. It also doesn't smell as sweet as usual, perhaps because there is less of it.


Breaking open the open reveals that the filling does cover the whole block. The majority of it is the vanilla biscuit (which appears separately baked as it has the lovely crisp and slightly darkened edges), and then atop the biscuit is a layer of white cream, which fills the dome of each piece. The biscuit is lovely and fresh; it has a faint sweet note that the chocolate compliments.


The cream top, by itself, doesn't seem to have much of a flavour to it. It's lovely and smooth, and melts splendidly, but I for the life of me could not determine any flavour out of it. Thankfully, when paired with the biscuit base and the chocolate coating altogether, the piece isn't too bad. The biscuit has a great texture, turning this from a block of chocolate to more of a chocolate-coated biscuit. The flavour is pleasant and unoffensive, not overly sweet but also nothing special. Nothing in particular stands out. It's not a flavour I would expect from Joyville as it's not original, and likely has similar cousins around the market. I expect it might be popular with the older crowd of chocolate lovers.

Score: 3 out of 5.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Golden Biscuit Crunch  contains milk, wheat, soy and spelt. It may also contain traces of egg and tree nuts.

Monday 4 November 2013

Gossip: Mentos New Rainbow

Who has spotted the brand spankers Mentos New Rainbow roll about town? Kiwi, cranberry and yuzu (a citrus fruit from eastern Asia) are the three additions to the standard rainbow flavours. Will you be trying it?


Saturday 2 November 2013

Cadbury Boost Toffee Crunch

Earlier this year we saw Cadbury release a new seasonal version of their Boost chocolate bar in 'Max Choc' flavour. Max Choc is slowly moving off the shelves, but the next flavour is already here! 'Toffee Crunch', in its bright orange and gold packet, has been out for a few weeks now.


A lot brighter than its cousin Max Choc, the Toffee Crunch version of Boost comes with toffee-flavoured caramel, and a chocolate flavoured centre packed with 'crunchy bits'. Careful analysis of the ingredients list unfortunately didn't give any hints as to what the crunchy bits are. In the original Boost, these are biscuit pieces. I would have expected toffee chips, given the theme of the bar, but I guess Cadbury doesn't think like me.


Weighing in at 55g, the bar is solid! It's enrobed with milk chocolate that smells sweet right out the pack. In appearance the outer chocolate layer seems a lot thinner than the coating on the original Boost bars. Mine was unfortunately a little cracked at one end.


One of the things I've loved about Boost bars is the assembly. They are a bit like a Magnum Ego ice cream in the careful layering of products. It makes for a far interesting bar to photograph! The toffee-flavoured caramel is thin but stringy, and pale tan in colour. I had trouble getting it to by itself to see if it was indeed toffee flavoured. Whatever it is that Cadbury have put in as the crunchy bits, well, they sure are crunchy! They are crisp and shatter a little bit like boiled lollies. The pieces are assorted shapes and sizes, and are a creamy opaque colour. They might not exactly be toffee chips, but the taste is pretty similar.


As a whole, the bar is quite nice, and surprisingly not as sweet as the original Boost (but still sweet enough that I could only eat half the bar). There is a faint salt note that adds interest, and balances out the flavour. The faux toffee chips in the centre add a great texture to the chew, although you may find that they stick to your teeth a little. There is a good hint of toffee in the overall flavour as well, more than I expected considering just the chips and the caramel is flavoured.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars.

Cadbury Boost Toffee Crunch contains milk, wheat glucose syrup and soy. It may contain traces of peanuts, tree nuts and wheat.

Friday 1 November 2013

Gossip: New Milky Way

Since I tend to frequent supermarkets now, rather than corner stores, my first encounter with the new Mars Milky Way Choc Top was in the large 'funsize' share packs. It has eventually turned up in single bar size, but it took its sweet time!


The 25g bar combines chocolate and vanilla flavours of whipped nougat, layered neatly, and then enrobed in smooth milk chocolate.

Have you tried it yet?

Mod post: Not dead!

Hello, dear readers!

I'm sorry for the slight hiatus in posts - I've been sick and there have been several other factors affecting my ability to post. But never fear, I have a backlog of lollies and chocolate to review for my sweet-toothed fans!

Hang tight - more will be up shortly.

Danielle