Telma’s Mocha flavored Cariot Cereal

תלמה כריות מוקה

I’m not sure how new Telma’s Mocha flavored Cariot Cereal is because I have not read any press release about it. I know Telma doesn’t always put out press releases about their products but from time to time they do. In any event, I saw this Mocha flavored Cariot Cereal on sale at Rami Levi last week. Since I had never tasted it and it says “Limited Edition” on it I thought I would give it a try and write a review about it. If it’s not really all that new and you’ve seen it on the shelf for a long time I guess this will just have to fall into the “new to me category”.

Osem's Thousand Island Chili Dressing and Silan (Date Syrup) Vinaigrette

Osem has two new (limited edition) dressings on the market. One is a Thousand Island Chili Dressing and the second is a Silan (Date Syrup) Vinaigrette.

 I was only going to try the Silan Vinaigrette because it seemed more unique and different to me than a Thousand Island dressing with added chili. But when I saw that Mega Bul was having a special on all the Osem dressings; one was 11.90 NIS but you can get two for 15.00 NIS, so I thought it was worth trying both new dressings.

Thousand Island Chili Dressing

I cut up some vegetables to have with dinner and I drizzled some of the Thousand Island Chili Dressing on top. I think I put more dressing than I would have for the first time I was tasting it but, because I wanted to get a decent photo for this post I ended up pouring more than I think I should have . After I realized how much dressing I added I was worried that if it was too spicy I would not enjoy the salad. I do like spicy foods, to a degree, so in the end I wasn't too worried about giving it a try.
 

אסם וינגרט סילאן לסלט

Yes, the dressing has a kick to it. It was actually exactly what I expected it to be; Osem's Thousand Island dressing with added chili. If you don't like chili or spicy foods I don't think this dressing is for you. It's not the spiciest dressing I have ever tasted but it's absolutely hot and spicy.

I don’t normally buy ready-made dressings, I prefer to make my own. If I ever do use store bought dressing I always go for the low fat version. So to start with I didn’t really care for the full fat Osem Thousand Island dressing. Had they added the chili to their 5% fat dressing I may have enjoyed it more.

Bottom Line: 

I thought the chili in this Osem Thousand Island dressing added a nice extra touch and gave the salad a strong pop of hot and spicy flavor. Even if I didn’t love it, I would say this dressing lived up to exactly what I thought it would be; chili/spicy Osem Thousand Island dressing.

 

Silan (Date Syrup) Vinaigrette

אסם וינגרט סילאן

To me this dressing tasted very much like a honey mustard vinaigrette. I checked the label and low and behold it has mustard in it as well. On second thought, I'm not sure what I really expected it to be. It makes perfect sense that a Silan Vinaigrette would be a "takeoff" on a honey mustard vinaigrette.

I can't say I would have known on my own that they used silan as the sweetener and not honey but maybe people who regularly use silan or those that normally put honey mustard dressings on their salad will be able to tell the difference.

I thought this Silan Vinaigrette was a little peppery; it seemed like a lot of black pepper to me. I think maybe they used a coarse ground black pepper and as I bit into pepper "bits" it gave a slightly stronger black pepper taste than I anticipated.      

Bottom Line: I don’t normally go for honey mustard dressings but I enjoyed this dressing on my salad. I thought it was a decent dressing. If you like store bought honey mustard vinaigrette dressings I think you will also enjoy this Osem Silan (Date Syrup) Vinaigrette.

*****

All of Osem's dressings (and many of their sauces) are now in a bottle with a different cap. I found the new plastic bottle (as opposed to the old glass one) to be both convenient and easy to use.

I liked that the new cap stays on the bottle and you just flip it up to open it.

It has a "tear" shaped opening that I thought was a perfect sized pouring "spout". It makes it somewhat easier to control how much or how little dressing you want to drizzle on your salad.

Sadly glass is not easily recycled here in Israel, so I was very happy that these new dressings are in a plastic bottle and they will be very simple for me to recycle. That’s just one more plus to the new bottles.

290 mL bottle- 11.90 NIS I got them on sale, two for 15.00 NIS    

Kosher Parve Mehadrin Badatz
הרב יעקב משה חרל"פ

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

Fanta Lemonade Soda

פאנטה לימונדה

 As I mentioned in my review of Kinley's Pear-Apple Soft-Drink I have never been a huge fan of carbonated drinks so although I do like "lemon tangy" flavored things I wasn't going to review Fanta's new, limited edition, Lemonade Soda. Then my friend came over to watch a game, the other night, and he bought a bottle of this soda with him so we all had a chance to taste it. 

 I wasn’t so surprised that I didn’t love it; the truth is I didn’t hate it  either. I thought it tasted sort of similar to the orange flavored Fanta. I wonder though, had I not seen the label and known it was Fanta would I still have thought it tasted like Orange Fanta, very possibly not. I should mention that I did taste the lemon flavor, in this Lemonade Fanta, to some degree, but it was far from the tanginess I like in lemonade.

 

My friend who bought the bottle and really likes Orange Fanta didn't agree with me, he said it was very different to the Orange Fanta. He really didn't like this Lemonade Fanta at all. He said the Orange Fanta soda is sweeter and not as tangy. He decided that he will continue buying Orange Fanta soda and skip this Lemonade Fanta. (I have to add that I think this Lemonade Fanta is very sweet too but he's right in that it's somewhat tangier than the orange.)

Most of the others who came to watch the game didn't really care one way or the other about this Lemonade Fanta Soda. They didn’t love it or hate it and would rather drink beer or coke and not really touch the Lemonade Fanta at all.

As with the Orange Fanta this Lemonade Fanta is available in a small ball shaped bottle that Fanta is calling a "FBALL". It may be a cute gimmick but it seems sort of ridiculous that they're charging 5-7 NIS for this 250ml "FBALL". From the photos I think it looks like it would be kind of difficult to hold and drink from it but maybe you're not meant to drink it but rather throw it around and watch it "explode" once you open it, I don’t know, but I can imagine that’s what many kids or teens might end up doing with the "FBALL".

The Fanta Lemonade Soda has no preservatives and is made with all natural food colorings.

 

Bottom Line: This Lemonade Fanta Soda is being marketed as a "summer edition" it will be interesting to see if it stays on the self once autumn rolls around. I for one don't see myself ever buying it but if you enjoy sweet and very slightly tangy lemonade soda this might be the right choice for you.

 

1.5 liter bottle  6.99 NIS

Kosher Parve Landau

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

Nestlé Fitness Cereal with Strawberries

נסטלה דגני בוקר פיטנס - תותים

Nestlé Fitness's latest addition to the cereal aisle is a limited edition whole wheat and rice cereal with big slices of real strawberries that were freeze dried in a new and innovative method in order to preserve the taste of fresh strawberries. Once milk is poured into the cereal the strawberries should plump back up and taste like you just added fresh sliced strawberries to the bowl.

As I think I've mentioned in a past cereal review or two, I much prefer cereals dry, as a snack than with milk, but this Nestlé Fitness cereal is not really intended to be eaten dry, the large slices of freeze dried strawberries just do not taste good without milk. So I tasted it with milk.

The whole wheat and rice flakes are nice and big. They remained crunchy and did not go soggy in the milk. That’s always a plus in my book. I thought the cereal flakes were tasty, but that’s not what's new about this cereal.

The strawberries did plump back up after a minute or two in the milk. I'm not sure if they colored the milk a slight pink shade or more likely that came from the small clusters of cereal that are coated in a wild-berry flavor. Regardless of the "culprit" it wasn’t so aesthetically pleasing to me, but it may not bother everyone.

Although they are "real and natural" I would not say they tasted like fresh strawberries. To me they tasted like a soggy artificial strawberry. Then again the artificial flavor could possibly have come from the powdered fruits on the clusters, I mentioned before. Maybe Fitness should have just left those clusters out all together, because I didn’t particularly enjoy how much that flavor overpowered the milk and cereal as a whole.

This new Nestlé Fitness Strawberries Cereals is geared toward women who want a healthy, satisfying and low fat cereal with 12 vitamins and minerals that are important for women; like folic acid and calcium.

Bottom Line: I think Nestlé Fitness had a good idea in wanting to add real strawberries to their cereal but for me this freeze drying process didn't do the trick. For now if I want cereal and milk for breakfast I'll stick with Kellogg's Special K Oats & Honey Cereal and I may possibly add in some fruit. So far I don’t think there's a good replacement for slicing fresh fruit into a bowl of cereal and enjoying it the way "nature" intended.

360 gram box – 26.00 NIS

Kosher Dairy- Bait Din Paris France approved by Chief Rabbinate Israel

אבקת חלב נוכרי - בית דין פאריס ובאישור הרבנות הראשית לישראל

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

         

Osem's Bittersweet Belgian Chocolate Flavored Instant Pudding

Hello my name is Daniela and I'm a bittersweet chocolate addict…. Well maybe not an addict, but don’t all addicts say they aren’t addicted?? Regardless, if you read this blog on a regular basis, firstly THANK YOU! I really appreciate my loyal readers. Secondly, you may have gathered by now that I really really like high quality, rich bittersweet chocolate. Therefore I was thrilled to see a press release announcing Osem's New Bittersweet Belgian Chocolate Flavored Pudding.

אסם אינסטנט פודינג בטעם שוקולד בלגי מריר

I actually saw the press release a few weeks ago but I could not seem to find it in any of my local supermarkets.  Finally, the other day I saw it on the shelf and was excited to get it home and try it. I made sure to buy some milk and 38% whipping cream, as per the packages instructions.

When I opened the instant powder package I could immediately smell the rich chocolate flavor. I poured the cold cup of milk (200 ml.) and the carton of cold whipping cream (250ml) into a bowl and added the pudding powder. I then whipped it together with the electric mixer. It was very easy and quick and within a few moments I had a very rich creamy chocolate pudding ready to serve.


The taste of this Bittersweet Belgian Chocolate Pudding was a bit richer and more "bittersweet" than Osem's regular chocolate pudding.


I was a drop disappointed that the pudding didn’t have a more powerful bittersweet chocolate taste. Maybe because of the milk and whip cream the bittersweet chocolate flavor got somewhat lost. I kind of thought the bittersweet taste became secondary to the overall chocolate milk flavor.

It could be it was just a matter of expectation, I was anticipating a very strong bittersweet chocolate flavor that, for me, just wasn’t there. I did enjoy the pudding but, as I mentioned, I thought it was only slightly different to the original Osem chocolate pudding. It's possible that someone who's not as enthusiastic about bittersweet chocolate as I am, may very well think this tastes extremely bittersweet and way different to that of Osems regular instant chocolate pudding.

Perhaps, had I prepared it with water as opposed to milk I would have gotten a more bittersweet chocolate flavor but, for the purposes of this post I wanted to follow the directions on the box "to a T", so I can give you a proper review.


Osem's Bittersweet Belgian Chocolate Flavored Instant Pudding has no artificial food coloring and no preservatives added. There is no cooking involved in preparing this pudding.

Bottom Line: I liked Osem's Bittersweet Belgian Chocolate Flavored Instant Pudding just as much as I like their original chocolate pudding. I didn’t think this new version was amazing or extraordinary but it was a touch more bittersweet. I hoped the bittersweet chocolate flavor would have been stronger and richer, but it wasn't. If it stays on the shelf, yes it’s a limited edition product, I will probably try it again, either alone prepared with water and not milk, or as an icing for a cake/filling for a pie. If after that my opinion changes, I'll be sure to add an update to this post.

95 gram box – 5.00 NIS

Kosher Badatz

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

     

Tnuva's Yoplait Cheesecake Flavored Yogurt with Cookies "On Top"

Like all the dairy companies here in Israel, Shavuot is Tnuva's busiest time of year. Their sales dramatically rise the week or so before the holiday, as everyone buys all sorts of milk products for festive meals. It's no surprise that Tnuva releases many limited edition and special products for Shavuot.

יופלה "און טופ"  עוגת גבינה ופירורי עוגיות

One such item is from their "On Top" line of Yoplait yogurts, it's a cheesecake flavor yogurt with cookie bits to add in. In that way it's similar to Strauss-Danone Yogurt with Cranberry Granola that I reviewed back in February.

As with the Danone yogurt this Yoplait container seemed quite empty, I understand that they want to leave you room to add in the topping but I still think they could make a slightly smaller container or put a little more yogurt in it than they do.

This cheesecake flavored bio Yoplait yogurt, like many yogurts, had a slightly sour taste, not too sour, but it was clearly yogurt. I did think it resembled a cheesecake flavor to some degree. Without the cookie topping, it was an enjoyable sweet, but not overly so, smooth and creamy yogurt.

I thought the cookie pieces "on top" were very dry and almost seemed to have a slightly burnt taste to them, which I didn’t really enjoy all that much.

They're a nice sized chunk of cookie, not crumbs, like you would get as a topping or base of a real cheese cake. Somehow I would have preferred more of a Petit-Beurre/ tea biscuit type of cookie but these chunks didn't go soggy when I added them to the yogurt and I am guessing the Petit-Beurre /tea biscuit would have.

So if you are looking to get the cheesecake flavor this Shavuot without all the calories of a real cheesecake, this 3.7% fat bio yogurt might be a nice treat to enjoy on this Shavuot holiday.

Bottom Line: Aside from my slight disappointment over the taste of the 17 grams of cookies "on top", this Yoplait Cheesecake Flavored Yogurt with Cookies, was pleasant enough. But I still much prefer the 2 yogurts I reviewed a few days ago; Tzuriel's Goats-Milk Yogurt & Muller's Yogurt with Dark-Chocolate Shavings.

If I want a low calorie cheesecake I might attempt to make this Ultra Light Cheesecake recipe I saw on Pragmatic Attic's wonderful blog.

Two 150 gram containers of Yogurt – 9.70 NIS

Kosher- Dairy Rabbi Whiteman

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

This weeks Haveil Havalim blog Carnival is now up over on

 Frume Sarah's World

Tzuriel's Goats-Milk Yogurt & Muller's Yogurt with Dark-Chocolate Shavings

With Shavuot just around the corner there are a few new yogurts on the market, 2 of which intrigued me and I decided to try them.

Firstly, we have Tzuriel's Mildly Sweetened Goats-Milk Yogurt

צוריאל יוגורט עיזים

Tzuriel Dairy is a private fresh-farm dairy located in Israel’s Lower Galilee region. According to their website, Tzuriel's goal is to develop healthy, natural products with an outstanding taste. This yogurt is the first product of theirs that I have tried. I have to say I think they absolutely succeeded in this case.

I thought this Mildly Sweetened Whole Goats-Milk Yogurt was exactly that. It has a wonderful rich and creamy consistency. This yogurt is not too sweet but not very sour either. I found it very enjoyable and refreshing.

I think it was delicious just as is, but it's also a great base yogurt, you can surly add some granola, fresh fruit or anything else you like in your yogurt.

Tzuriel's Mildly Sweetened Goats Milk Yogurt has about 3.3% fat.

I also noticed Tzuriel's new peach, strawberry and wild-berry goats-milk yogurts in the store refrigerator.

Bottom Line: I really like Tzuriel's Mildly Sweetened Goats-Milk Yogurt. It definitely lived up to what they promised it to be. Since I really enjoyed it I'm likely to try their other products and see if they are just as good.

150 gram container – 5.69 NIS

Kosher Dairy Badatz

Next we have Muller's Bianco Yogurt with Dark-Chocolate Shavings.



מולר יוגרט קרמי עם שוקולד

I mentioned in my review of the Dark-Chocolate Egozi Bar and in my review of Fitness's Dark Chocolate Cereal Bar (and maybe a just a few 100 more times on this blog J) that I really like bittersweet-chocolate so a creamy bio yogurt with dark-chocolate shavings sounds perfectly wonderful to me, and truthfully it was.

Muller's Bianco Creamy Yogurt with 60% Dark Chocolate Cocoa-Solids shavings was sweeter than Tzuriel's goats-milk yogurt but, it was not overly sweet, I thought it actually had a nice sweet to sour balance.

This Muller yogurt was not as thick as Tzuriel's yogurt but I'd say the consistency here was wonderful too.

Muller was generous with the amount of dark-chocolate shavings they added to the yogurt. The chocolate added a nice, rich bittersweet flavor yet at the same time it didn’t overpower the yogurt. For me it was a perfect combination of flavors.

Muller's Bianco has no artificial food coloring and no preservatives added. This yogurt has 5.7% fat.

Muller Bianco Yogurt with Chocolate Shavings is also available in an orange or cherry yogurt.

Bottom Line: Being a big fan of bittersweet chocolate I really enjoyed Muller's Bianco Yogurt with Dark-Chocolate Shavings. I think it will make a wonderful snack or even healthier dessert for Shavuot and beyond. At the moment it’s a limited edition product but I really hope it will become a permanent addition to our store shelves.

150 gram container- 4.90 NIS

Kosher Dairy Badatz

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

Neviot+ Flavored Waters: Strawberry-Banana & Raspberry-Vanilla



נביעות פלוס
תות-בננה, פטל-וניל, משמש-אננס

 Just in time for summer, Neviot has added 3 new, limited edition, Flavored Water to their, ever growing, line of Neviot+ Flavored Waters. The new waters have a combination of 2 flavors per bottle whereas, if I'm not mistaken, all of their other flavored waters are a single flavor.

The new flavors are; Strawberry-Banana, Raspberry-Vanilla and Apricot-Pineapple.

Flavored waters seem to be very popular these days. I see more and more companies selling flavored waters or flavored soda-water like the Kinley Pear-Apple Soda-Water I reviewed recently. I personally think there is nothing more refreshing than a cold glass of pure natural water. I've never been a huge fan of Flavored Waters but this new line of Neviot+ Flavored Waters intrigued me because of the interesting flavor combinations.

Seeing as I didn't really enjoy Spring's Pineapple-Lychee Soft-Drink I decided to not try the Apricot-Pineapple Neviot+ Water so I tasted the Strawberry-Banana and the Raspberry-Vanilla waters.

Strawberry-Banana Neviot+ Water

This water smelled and tasted very much like the popular strawberry-banana nectar or soft drink that many companies, like Spring or Prigat, have had on the market for years now.

It was an enjoyable enough drink but it was not refreshing like a glass of water usually is. If I want a strawberry-banana drink I would rather buy one of the many strawberry-banana soft drinks available or preferably, blend my own strawberry-banana smoothie from fresh fruit and not drink a water that has flavor extracts and a tremendous amount of liquid fructose added to it.

Raspberry-Vanilla Neviot+ Water

I don’t think I have ever tasted a raspberry-vanilla drink before. When I read the label I thought it was an original and interesting combination and really wanted to taste it.

I was somewhat disappointed that the vanilla flavor gets lost; all I really tasted was an artificial raspberry flavor. When I concentrated I did eventually notice the vanilla aftertaste but had I not known it had vanilla in it I most likely would have missed it. The raspberry is the overpowering flavor without a doubt.

Again this Raspberry-Vanilla water was not refreshing like a regular cup of water. It also has the liquid fructose in it so I don't think I will be buying it again. Had the vanilla flavor made the water unique or extraordinary I may have considered drinking it from time to time, seeing as vanilla is one of my favorite flavors and aromas, but this water was just not special enough in my opinion.

Neviot has added vitamins including 5 B vitamins and folic acid to the Neviot+ Flavored waters.

While these limited edition Neviot+ waters are available in stores Neviot is running an internet campaign were the public can vote as to which of these new flavors they would like to see permanently on the store shelves.

Although "on paper" I think the combinations are creative when I tasted them none of them impressed me enough, so I don’t care that they are only a limited edition product.  

Bottom Line: I do understand that many people find water to be "boring" and seeing as it's very important to drink lots of fluids, especially in the hot Israeli summer, I get why flavored waters would be a nice change. So it's not surprising to me that flavored waters are popular. For me personally I would rather drink pure fresh cold water or juices made from real fruits and skip these Neviot+ Flavored Waters.

Bottle- 0.5 liter – 5.00-8.00 NIS

Bottle -1.5 liter – 6.00-7.00 NIS

Kosher: Badatz

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

Telma's "Finer" Cornflakes

תלמה קורנפלקס מעודן

Telma who recently gave us Cariot Nougat filled Pesach Cereal and a Kosher for Pesach Cornflakes (that I did not taste/review), now have a new, limited edition, "Thinner" Cornflake on the market.

As I mentioned in my review of Klik's Passover Chocolate Covered Cereal I thought the cornflakes in the chocolate covered Klik's were Telma's Passover cornflakes. I'm not 100% sure that they were Telma's, but I did think those cornflakes tasted stale. I can say that I was never a huge fan of Telma's "original recipe" cornflakes. I always found them to be too fluffy and thick. To me cornflakes should be very thin and flaky, like Kellogg's Cornflakes, and not puffy and full of air like Telma's, so I was interested to try these new thinner Telma Cornflakes and see if they are closer to Kellogg's version.

First, I tasted the New Telma Cornflakes dry without milk. If you've read my review of Nestle Duo Crunch Cereal or my Kosher for Passover Cereal review, you may know that I prefer cereal dry; as a snack, and not necessarily with milk as a "breakfast".

When I ate them without milk, I thought these New "Finer" Telma Cornflakes were a major improvement over Telma's "original recipe"; they are definitely thinner and less "fluffy" then the original. They are dry and crispy and they have a nice delicate flavor. I liked them better, but they still are not close to what I consider a thin and "perfect" cornflake.

With rice milk the New Telma Cornflakes got soggy right away and the texture was very much like the original Telma cornflakes. I did not like the taste or the texture at all.

Telma's new cornflakes have no preservatives or food coloring. They do have gluten but Telma does have a gluten free cornflake available as well.

These new Telma Cornflakes do have sugar in them; it's actually the second ingredient after maize (87.6%) but they are not too sweet at all.

Bottom Line: I think Telma's New Thinner Cornflakes are a step in the right direction toward my "ideal" cornflake, but they still missed the mark for me. I'll stick with Kellogg's Cornflakes for now.         

750 gram box 17.90 NIS

Kosher- Parve Beth Din London approved by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

Lindt Lindor's (Stracciatella) White-Chocolate Truffles

Lindt Lindor has a new, limited edition, White-Chocolate Truffle.

These White-Chocolate Truffle Balls have milk-chocolate cocoa shavings mixed into the white-chocolate shell and are filled with a soft white-chocolate filling.

Lindt is known for their excellent quality chocolates. As I mentioned in my review of Dark Chocolate Egozi Bar my favorite chocolate is bittersweet-chocolate. I actually think that Lindt's 60% bittersweet-chocolates are one of the best chocolates I've tasted, so I was anxious to try these new truffles to see if they live up to the quality I'm used to from Lindt.

I took these White-Chocolate Truffles to a dinner party recently and they got some slightly mixed reviews. Most for my friends actually agreed with me that they were a wonderfully rich, high quality, white-chocolate treat. They remarked that the truffles were so delicious & soft and they enjoyed that the white-chocolate filling just "melts in your mouth"! One friend said it was the best white-chocolate bonbon she had ever tasted and it had become her new favorite. Others at the dinner party thought the truffles were way too sweet but agreed they are made from a nice quality chocolate.

These truffles did spark the age old debate of whether white-chocolate is truly chocolate?  I found this answer on Lindt Lindor's website J

"A much debated question but the answer is yes. Real white-chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar, milk powder and flavourings, and with the cocoa butter being an ingredient in the recipe, it is considered “chocolate”. All Lindt white-chocolate products are made with a high percentage of cocoa butter."

Lindt Lindor's White-Chocolate Truffles are individually wrapped in a pretty light-blue & white foil and plastic wrapper that I think would look beautiful on any Yom Ha'atzmaut dessert table.

Bottom Line: I thought Lindt Lindor's new White-Chocolate Truffle lives up to the Lindt name. It's a rich, sweet and enjoyable white-chocolate bonbon. I hope Lindt will decide to make them a permanent product and not just a limited edition.  

200 gram box – 28.00 NIS

Kosher - Dairy Rabbinate

אבקת חלב נוכרי 

Triangle K Dairy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.