Strauss Energy Bite-Size "Rice" Cakes

פריכיות ביס של אנרג'י מקבוצת שטראוס

Strauss Energy who I know best for their cereal bars have a new product on the market. They came out with a line of bite size puffed “rice” cakes. I put the word rice in parentheses because they are not made solely of rice, they are technically 5 grain cakes. Along with the rice flour they also have whole corn flour, whole oats flour, wheat and barley. Since I wasn’t sure what the right word to describe these “puffed 5 grain cakes” was; I thought most people call them rice cakes, even if they are not made of only of rice.

Osem Apropo Vinegar & Spice

אפרופו חמוץ חריף

Osem Apropo has added a new flavor to their line of “Bugles-like” corn snacks. This time they went for a spicy vinegar flavor. I've had many salt ‘n vinegar snacks throughout the years, but I don’t remember tasting a spicy vinegar snack any time recently, or maybe ever, so I was curious to see what this snack tastes like.

The first flavor to hit me was a rich balsamic-like vinegar taste. It was a richer deeper vinegar flavor than most salt ‘n vinegar chips I’ve had. It did make me think of a specific salt ‘n vinegar crisps snack I tasted, and enjoyed, when I was in the UK. I just can’t remember the brand name of those crisps, it was too long ago.

Elite's Pre-Popped Popcorn

עלית פופקורן מוכן

Given the new “Popcorn Law”, that just passed here in Israel; As Of January 2013 it will be legal to bring your own snacks into the movie theater, sport arena and other such venues. I was not surprised to see Elite got right on the bandwagon and come out with prepackaged, pre-popped natural flavored popcorn.

I know that for most people getting a fresh buttery popcorn at the entrance to the movie is a huge part of the theater going experience so I was hesitant to think that anyone would want to bring this pre-popped version with them. I figured there's no way it could be as tasty as a fresh bucket from the theater, but when I tasted the bag I was pleasantly surprised how fresh and enjoyable it was. Yes this is a natural flavor and not butter flavor but it was nice and salty and I’m pretty sure they will come out with a buttery flavored one as soon as this natural flavor one has a successful launch. Not that I really prefer butter flavor but I know many people that do.

Osem's Crispy Snacks

 אסם קריספי: סדרת חטיפי קרקר במגוון טעמים

I tasted two of the four Osem Crispy Snacks a few weeks ago and wasn’t going to post a review of them because I wasn’t all that impressed with them and didn’t have much to say about this product. Then the other day I had friends over so I asked them if they would like to taste these cracker/snacks. They all said yes, as it turned out my friends really liked these Osem Crispy Snacks. So I thought it may be worth posting a review after all.

There are 4 Crispy Snacks in this new line from Osem; Crispy Sour Cream ‘n Onion, Crispy Chips, Crispy Corn and Crispy Mini Breadsticks.

Not being a fan of Onion flavored snacks I skipped the Sour Cream ‘n Onion option plus the store I was in did not have the Mini Breadsticks one, so I didn’t get those either.

Osem's Bamba Cream Filled Bamba Snack

אסם במבה במילוי קרם במבה

Osem's Bamba added a new flavor to their cream filled Bamba line. They are calling this cream filling “Bamba cream”. 

Osem Bamba's cream filled line is the same idea as Elite's Shushim Vanilla and Chocolate cream filled ones, that I blogged about in the past, but these are from Osem Bamba and not Elite’s Shushim; “copy” product.

The Bamba cream filling is a sweet peanut buttery cream filling that Osem added to the center of their  Bamba snack. 

Puffed Doritos + Coupon

דוריטוס מנופח

Update: These Puffed Doritos Won a Productof the Year Awards 2013.

Elite has a new Doritos snack on the market called “Doritos Menupach” literally translated to “inflated” but it’s basically a puffed Doritos. It comes in two flavors; Barbeque and Sour-Cream ‘n Onion. I am not a fan of onion flavored snacks so I chose to try the Barbeque flavored one.

I was a drop surprised that the puffed Doritos were smaller than the regular sized Doritos. I was kind of expecting them to be the same size as your average Doritos but they were like a 3cm mini sized triangles. As soon as I thought about it, it actually made perfect sense that they would be bite size. Since they are puffed once you bite into them they fall apart, if they would be full size Doritos they would make a big mess. Turns out I think they are the perfect snack size.

Elite's Shushim Vanilla + Coupon

עלית שושים וניל

In September of 2011 I told you about Elite's Shushim Chocolate filled snack, well now they have added a new flavor to this line of “filled” Shushim. This time its vanilla flavored.

Shush is Elite's version of Osem's Bamba snack. In case you don’t know what Bamba is, it's a peanut butter flavored puffed corn snack. I think it's the most popular kids snack here in Israel. So it’s not surprising that both Osem and Elite (as well as other smaller companies) are always trying to come up with another item to add to this category of snacks. 

Osem's Bissli Yalla

As with the Must Apple Flavored Cube Gum post from the other day, I know I'm a little late posting about this Yalla Bisli snack you may have tried it by now, but this is another one of a few posts I was able to salvage from my broken laptop. Since it was written and ready to go I figured I'll post it just in case there were people out there who would be interested in reading it

 I still don't have a new laptop but hope to have one very soon. Once I do I should be able to get back into the swing of posting on a more regular basis. Till then thank you for your patience

אסם יאללה ביסלי 

Osem Bissli has a new line on the market that they are calling "Yalla". Currently there are three flavors to choose from; Natural, American Barbeque and Spicy. Osem intends on adding other flavors in the future.

Yalla is a popular slang word that basically means "let's go" or "come on"; depending how it's used in the conversation. Like many slang words I find it a little bit difficult to pin point the exact translation of the word but that’s the gist of it. I'm really not sure how or why Osem thought Yalla was the right name for this line of Bissli. I don’t get the connection, but OK, I'm not here to discuss the name, I am here to tell you what I thought of the Yalla Bissli Snacks that I tasted.

Klik Chocolate Coated Peanut Butter Flavored Snack

קליק חטיף בוטנים

Kilk's latest chocolate covered snack fits right into what seems to be a trend at the moment for Israeli snack companies. I'm of course referring to the peanut butter and chocolate combination "trend". Just recently we had Pesek Zman's  chocolate coated peanut butter flavored wafer fingers, shush's chocolate filled "bamba"  and now Klik's chocolate coated "bamba".

I know peanut butter and chocolate combos are not new to most of the world but somehow it feels like the Israeli companies just noticed it and realized how well they work together. I for one am a huge fan of the peanut butter/chocolate combo so I was very happy to try this new peanut flavored Klik snack.

Bagsie A.M. Ha'emek Pizza flavored Snack

העמק באגסי חטיף בטעם פיצה

This past summer, in the throes of the "cottage cheese boycott"/local "high cost of living protests", A.M. Haemek first started selling their Bagsie; bissli-type snacks, for 95 agurot a bag. For one reason or another I didn’t get to review them then. Now that they added a pizza flavored snack I thought it would be as good a time as any to write a post about them.

Just for a price comparison Osem's Bissli 70 gram bags sell for about 3.40 NIS. So being able to buy this Bagsie 40 gram snack bag for 95 agurot is a big difference in price. The big question is whether or not the kids would enjoy the taste of these cheaper snacks. (I should add that all the major supermarkets have a store brand Bissli-type snack for about 2.30 NIS for a 70 gram bag but I have never tasted them so I do not know how they compare to Osem's or to these Bagsie ones)

Tapuchips Kids Ketchup Flavored Snack

תפוצ'יפס קידס בטעם קטשופ

Tapuchips latest addition is a Ketchup flavored Tapuchips Kids potato snack.

Tapuchips Kids is a puffed baked snack made of potatoes that is meant to "melt in your kids mouth" in the way that cheese doodles "melt" in your mouth.

The other Tapuchips Kids products seem to be very good sellers. They even won a Productof the Year Awards two years running, so it makes sense for Elite to add to this line of snacks.

Ketchup flavor is a very logical choice, given that many kids love ketchup so much. I know some kids (of all ages) who would eat almost anything you put on their plate as long as it's drenched in ketchup.

Elite's Shushim Chocolate

עלית שושים שוקולד

Elite has a new chocolate filled Shush on the market that they're calling "Shushim Chocolate"

Shush is Elite's version of Osem's Bamba snack. In case you don’t know what Bamba is, it's a peanut butter-flavored puffed corn snack. I think it's the most popular kids snack here in Israel. I've heard that Bamba is often the first "solid food" for many Israeli kids.

Sometime ago, Osem introduced a nougat filled and a Chalva filled Bamba. So now Elite is trying to "compete" with those snacks and have introduced a chocolate cream filled Shush.

In my opinion, and based on countrywide sales, Bamba is just that much tastier and better than Elite's Shush, to start with. The texture of the puffed corn is slightly softer and the flavor of the peanut butter is just a bit better. I also think Osem is a little more "generous" with the amount of peanut butter they put on their puffed corn. So even before you add the cream fillings I'd say Osem started off with a better "base".

The chocolate cream filling of the Shush snack was fine. I didn’t hate it or love it. It tasted like a "run of the mill" Elite chocolate spread.  Still, I actually much preferred the softer and lighter nougat cream in Osem's Bamba treat.

It's possible that had I never tasted Osem's nougat filled Bamba I would be giving Elite's Shushim a much better review. I just can't help but compare them. To me, side by side, Osem's nougat filled Bamba was simply tastier.

Both bags have the same amount of snack in them 60 grams. Osem's version cost 4.79 NIS whereas Elite's Shushim Chocolate cost 3.49 NIS. I think that's still more than a little snack pack should cost but, if you're going to be buying one or the other, and your kids aren't specifically "addicted" to Osem's Bamba, I think you can totally save the 1.30 NIS per bag and buy Elite's Shushim instead.

 Bottom Line: I like the sweet and salty contrast you get from mixing peanut butter and chocolate and I don’t think that Elite did a "bad job" per se with their new Chocolate filled Shushim but personally I still prefer the product I think they were trying to compete with; Osem's nougat filled Bamba.

60 gram bag 3.49 NIS

Kosher Parve Mehadrin

הרב פנחס כהן  

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

Hotpop's Sweet & Salty Microwave Popcorn

הוטפופ פופקורן מתוק ומלוח

Hotpop's attempt at joining the "sweet & salty" trend led them to this special "summer edition" of Sweet & Salty Flavored Popcorn.

It's always more fun for me to try new products together with my friend, and it also gives me the opportunity to give you more than one opinion in the blog post. So I was really happy when my friend agreed to try this popcorn together with me and allow me to report on her opinions as well, so here goes.

Both our microwaves have a special "popcorn button" so we each put a bag in our microwave and used the preset button to pop the popcorn. The bag said it needs anywhere between 2 and 4 minutes on a high setting, my microwave's "popcorn button" is actually 2 minutes and 30 seconds but on my friend's microwave it was 2 minutes and 10 seconds. As it turned out, those 20 seconds made a huge difference, because when I took my bag out of the oven it had a small hole burnt through and through, but only a few kernels were burnt, most of the popcorn was perfectly fine. On the other hand my friend's bag didn't burn what so ever and only had a small amount of unpopped kernels, which is what you'd expected from almost all microwave popcorns. 

Our first reaction was "I don't think I've ever had this combination of flavors... It's interesting".   

My friend thought it was interesting in a good way; I on the other hand, didn’t really mean it in a good way. I really didn’t like what I thought was an artificial sweet taste that seemed to overpower the popcorn in my opinion. My friend didn't agree with me about the artificial sweetness but we did agree that it seemed more sweet than salty.

We both thought that for the first few second after you put this popcorn in your mouth you think it's gonna be "caramel popcorn" but fairly quickly you realize it's just not… and a whole different taste takes over. I like how my friend put it, she said "it's confusing in my mouth" I totally agreed with that!

I thought the popcorn was more sweet than salty; my friend summed it up perfectly saying "The contrasting flavors were not balanced, the sweet overpowers the salty at first bite, but then a combo of sweet & salty kinda lingers on tongue." We agreed that the popcorn really needed a little more salt to help balance it out. I decided to try it combined with salty chips. That seemed to be a big improvement. I think if I wasn’t so sensitive to the artificial sweetness, I kept tasting, mixed with other salty snacks, this popcorn might have been a winner for me.

We had a really difficult time pin pointing what it reminded us of, or what we can compare it to. My friend said it best saying "it sort of can be compared to those "party mixes" that have say popcorn, pretzels and some candy stuff in it too and your meant to enjoy the whole mix together." I would say that's what I think Hotpop was going for with this popcorn. 

One major issue we both had with this popcorn was how oily it was. That could be because normally neither of us buys anything but low fat microwave popcorn, so it's possible we're just not used to how much oil is added to regular microwave popcorn, but while eating this sweet & salty popcorn the greasiness really bothered us.

Regarding the children's opinion, the 6 year old didn’t enjoy the popcorn and said she much prefers salty popcorn but the 3 year old really really liked this popcorn and said "this popcorn tastes sweet. I like it" and she kept asking for more.

Bottom Line: Hotpop's Sweet & Salty Popcorn seemed to get mixed reviews. The more I ate it the more I disliked it. My friend on the other hand, said the opposite, the more she ate it the more it "grew on her". My friend's conclusion was that "this popcorn definitely awakens different senses on your tongue that you don't usually focus on at the same time, I don't hate it but it's not going to become my new favorite ". (I should add that a little while later we were both feeling fairly nauseous but my friend thought it was mainly because of how oily this popcorn was. For me I thought it was partly the artificial sweetener but largely she was right, it was the oil.)

Box with 5 Microwave Popcorn Bags - 14.90 NIS

Kosher Parve Badatz- OK

חוג חתם סופר

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

Tapuchip's Potato Chips "Chef Series" with Chef Eyal Shani

Tapuchips Elite has joined in the recent trend I mentioned in my reviews of Tzabar & Chef Raffi Cohen's Potato Salad and  Tivoll & Chef Erez Komrovsky's Eggplant or Zucchini "Burger" , where big companies team up with local successful chefs to develop a product that will be mass produced yet still have an element of that chef's "special touch". Tapuchips chose to team up with Chef Eyal Shani and together they have come up with a "Chef Series" of potato chips.

I can't help but wonder if they intentionally waited to "début" these potato chips to coincide with the start of the second season of the highly rated and extremely popular "Master Chef Israel" TV show staring Chef Eyal Shani, among others.



Master Chef Israel's Judges - including Chef Eyal Shani

Regardless this "Chef Series" line of potato chips did seem to get quite a bit of attention. I read a few on line reviews and even saw a segment on Channel 10's "לילה כלכלי"  (Layla Calcaly) show where they did a taste test with random shoppers in a mall. I have to say most of the "reviews" were negative, which made me apprehensive about trying them, but something about Chef Eyal Shani's "quirkier" and unique personality intrigued me and I decided to try it anyway.

I'm not sure how much of Chef Eyal Shani's personality you can pick up from the commercial that's running on TV for these chips, but here it is for those of you that want a small "taste".

The 2 flavors in this Tapuchips "Chef's Series" are Sour-Cream & Wild Mushrooms and Balsamic Vinegar & Onion Jam

Sour Cream & Wild Mushroom Tapuchips
When I first opened the bag, I thought the chips had a nice shape and size. I liked that they were very crispy and crunchy, but after eating a few I actually tasted the mushrooms and I gotta say it was "kinda funky" and not in a good way. I really didn't enjoy the flavor, and the aftertaste it left was even worse. After one or two chips I had no interest in putting another Sour Cream & Wild Mushroom chip in my mouth.

Bottom Line: I agree with the other reviews I saw. These Sour Cream & Wild Mushroom Tapuchips were not at all enjoyable to me. Unless you like exceptionally unique & different flavors or have an extreme fondness for mushrooms, I would tell you to "skip this chip"!

Balsamic Vinegar & Onion Jam

These chips on the other hand were not awful. They too were crispy & crunch and had the same large size and wavy shape that the Sour Cream & Wild Mushroom chips had.

As soon as I opened the bag I was hit with a whiff of balsamic vinegar which I'd say was the dominant flavor as a whole. I didn’t really taste the onion per say but, the chips did have a bit of a spicy kick to them; I'm just not convinced it came from onions.

תפוציפס סדרת השף אייל שני

Bottom Line: Although these Balsamic Vinegar & Onion Jam Tapuchips are far from the best potato chip I have ever tasted, and personally I don’t think I'll ever buy them again, I have to say that they weren't "all that bad". I expected them to be horrible and they weren't. It's very likely that people who enjoy Salt & Vinegar chips would like these Balsamic Vinegar & Onion Jam chips as a change of flavor from time to time.

60 gram bag - 4.49NIS

Kosher Parve Rabbinate Netevot

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

Osem's "Dubonim" Ketchup Flavored Potato Snack

אסם דובונים בטעם קטשופ

Osem's added a ketchup flavor to their "Duponim- דובונים" = Teddy-Bear shaped puffed potato snack.

The Dubonim snack is clearly geared to toward children. Seeing that kids seem to love ketchup this new flavor does not surprise me, on the contrariety, it actually makes perfect senses to me that Osem would use their popular ketchup as a flavor for this potato snack.

I think the bear shaped puffed "potato chips" are really cute. As far as I know kids really enjoy fun and different shaped snacks, so these sweet looking teddy-bears absolutely fit into that category.

The Dubonim are crispy and crunchy, but I still think they are somewhat "melt in your mouth" and therefore soft enough, which I would say most likely, makes them suitable for young children as well.

I mentioned in my review of Osem's Pizza Ketchup that I'm not a huge fan of Osem's ketchup. I much prefer Heinz's. Part of the reason I don’t love Osem's Ketchup is that I find it a little "too sweet" but when it comes to this potato snack I see the extra sweetness, in this Osem Ketchup flavor, as a benefit. I think it kinda works well on these puffed teddy-bear shaped potato chips.

The Osem Ketchup flavor is clearly present but I didn’t think it was at all "overpowering". I didn’t love or hate this snack but then again I'm not their "target audience".

Each 40 gram bag of Ketchup Flavored Dubonim Potato Snacks is enriched with 6 vitamins including; vitamins A, B1, B3, B6, B12 and C. The vitamins in the snack make up about 20% of the daily recommended vitamins for children 4 to 8 years old.

This Ketchup Flavored Dubonim Potato Snack has no artificial food coloring and no added preservatives.

Bottom Line: Osem's Ketchup Flavored Dubonim Potato Snack is far from my favorite potato snack but I think kids 4 to 8 years old who love Osem's ketchup would absolutely enjoy the taste and shape of these cute teddy-bears.

40 gram bag – 3.99 NIS

Kosher Parve Mehadrin - Charlap

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

Chio's Sweet Chili Tortilla Rolls



 חטיפי טורטיות CHIO


Chio a popular snack brand in Europe launched a line of Tortilla Chips here in Israel. There are 3 tortilla chips to choose from; Hot Chili Tortilla Chips, Original Salted Tortilla Chips and Sweet Chili Tortilla Rolls.

I thought the Sweet Chili Tortilla Rolls sounded and looked the most interesting to me, so that's the one I chose to taste.

These Chio Sweet Chili Tortilla Rolls really lived up to their name; initially I tasted the "sweet" quickly followed by the "chili" flavor. I found this combination to be tasty and interesting but not overly addictive. At some point the hot chili "helped" me stop eating too many of them, no its not excessively spicy or way too hot but the hot chili does somewhat overpower the original "sweet" flavor. I'm sure there are many who love a sweet hot and spicy combo that will be happy that these tortilla rolls have as much of "a kick" as they do.

I found the roll shape to be fun and easy to eat as a snack but, I don’t think they are the ideal shape for dipping into salsa. Then again, the sweet chili flavor is tasty enough that I didn’t really want nor need a dip added to the mix. I do think however, that they are thick enough to "stand up" to any dip you may want to enjoy them with.

I have to say, compared to the Doritos Dip Chips, I recently reviewed, I thought these Chio's Corn Tortilla Rolls seemed to be quite a good quality tortilla; they were fresh, crispy & crunchy and not overly oily, just like I think a good tortilla chip should be.

Bottom Line: For me these Chio Tortilla Sweet Chili Rolls were a nice snack with a lot of flavor that I may enjoy from time to time. I think it's nice that they made their way across the Mediterranean but in my opinion they are way too overpriced to really become a snack cupboard "staple".

125 gram bag – 9.00-10.00 NIS

Kosher Parve KF and approved by Chief Rabbinate of Israel

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

Crunchy Cheetos Cheese "Toast" Pizza Flavor and Mildly Spicy Cheese Flavor

צ'יטוס קראנצ' גבינה טוסט פיצה

While I still have cheese "on the mind", from yesterdays beautiful Shavuot holiday, I thought I would review these two dairy Crunchy Cheetos; one is Cheese *Toast Pizza flavor and the second is Mildly Spicy Cheese flavor.

*"Toast" here in Israel refers to a grilled cheese sandwich toasted in a Panini Press. A "pizza toast" would have pizza sauce added to it as well.

Crunchy Cheetos is a puffed corn snack that comes in many different flavors. I think these are the first 2 dairy ones to hit the market here in Israel but I am not 100% sure about that.

I have yet to see a press release about these Cheese Flavored Crunchy Cheetos, so they might not be as new as I think, but I had not seen them before. If they are not new, I apologize and we will slip this post into the "new to me" category.

Both of the Cheetos were crunchy and full of flavor. Upon opening the bag I could immediately smell the cheese flavor on both snacks.

Considering my disappointment over Bagel Bagel's pizza flavored Safari Pretzels, last year, I was pleasantly surprised that these Cheese Toast Pizza flavored Cheetos did have an obvious pizza taste. I'm guessing the cheese powder they used on these Cheetos really "did the job" and majorly contributed to the "more authentic" pizza flavor.

צ'טוס קראנצ' גבינה חריף בקטנה

Although the Cheese Toast Pizza Cheetos absolutely had a cheesy pizza flavor, I actually preferred the Spicy Cheese Cheetos. They did have a little "kick" to them but they were not overly spicy. The cheese flavor on these Cheetos was less dominant than on the Cheese Toast Pizza ones, but I kind of preferred it that way. I found them to be slightly addictive and it was hard to stop eating them once I started J

Both of these Cheese Flavored Crunchy Cheetos have no artificial food coloring and no preservatives added.

Bottom Line: Seeing that crunchy Cheetos was never my "go to" savory snack I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the Mildly Spicy Cheese Crunchy Cheetos. Yes the Cheese Toast Pizza Crunchy Cheetos certainly lives up to its name, and I can see children of all ages enjoying every last one of them. But if I buy them again I would choose the Mildly Spicy Cheese ones for myself.

100 gram bag – 5.79 NIS

Kosher Dairy Mehadrin

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