Did you know, it's "sherbet?" Not, "sherbert."
I definitely grew up pronouncing it, "sure-bert," and didn't think twice of it. Until a college (English) professor of mine went on an, admittedly adorable, rant about this misnomer being one of her biggest pet peeves. I can still hear her voice in my hear strongly emphasizing the "bet," in "sherbet."
Wherever you are professor, I always say sherbet now, and apparently, so does Target.
Salt & Straw ice cream flavors always sound fantastic, but I try not to buy food online because it's expensive. Then, last fall, their Thanksgiving themed 5-pack was just too intriguing to resist. I treated myself to 5 pints of ice cream for $85.00. A pricey payout, BUT every single flavor was amazing and it taught me that cranberry sauce is criminally underused in the ice cream world.
I was so happy with all 5 of those flavors, that when I saw a similarly intriguing summer picnic themed drop, I did it again. I spent another $85.00 on 5 pints of ice cream.
This time the flavors are: Pink Rose & Watermelon Sorbet, Baked Brie & Fig Cheesecake, Chocolate Nocino Cherry Pie, (plus the two I am most excited about) Cinnamon & Honey Fried Chicken, and Deviled Egg Custard with Smoked Black Tea.
Innovation is where Salt & Straw really shines. I loved the combination of salty turkey bacon and tangy cranberry sauce mixed with ice cream, so I am very excited to see if the fried chicken flavor will be equally delicious.
There is a clear difference between freshly-made bakery macarons and mass produced frozen ones BUT that doesn't mean frozen macarons are bad. They're just different.
Pros of frozen macarons: more affordable, are readily available in stores like Aldi, Walmart, Lidl, etc., keep for a long time but are quick to thaw for snacking.
Cons of frozen macarons: Their stability means they aren't as decadent or delicate as freshly made, and they tend to come in boring flavors. If you'd seen one box of frozen macrons, you've seen them all.
Until now that is. Aldi is opening their frozen macaron section up to seasonal flavors, like this spring box. I hope this is the start of a trend and we see more, maybe even limited edition, flavors in the future. So, what's in this spring mix and how does it compare to the normal year-round one?
If you're new here, I have a reaction to sucralose, which is a very commonly used artificial sweetener. A sip is fine, but a normal 12-16oz beverage containing the stuff can trigger vertigo that will not go away without medical intervention. Vertigo, for those lucky people who've never experienced it, causes a feeling of dizziness. This can range from mild annoyance to debilitating. For me, I was bedridden for over 24 hours while I attempted to "sleep it off," but I ended up in the ER where they finally gave me medicine that made it stop.
Sucralose is in a LOT of products (Sparkling ICE beverages were the cause of my ER visit), so I avoid them like the plague. That said, A PR rep for this kombucha brand reached out and sent me a pack of all five flavors to try. So while I got these products for free, this is not a paid promotion, and I always say exactly what I think, so this is, like always, a honest review. These contain less than 2% of erythritol, and I am not a foodie scientist (I'll leave that to CandyHunting), but after reading this 2005 article about sucralose vs erythritol, I felt safe enough to give these a try.
We have 5 flavors in total, Strawberry Lemonade, Tropical, Lemon Lime, Raspeberyr Dragonfruit and Blueberry Ginger.
Back in 2015 I reviewed pouches of Ghoul-Aid, but those were blackberry flavored, so I think this product might be a in-name-only kind of deal. It says "Ghoul-Aid" and it's purple, but according to the illustration, it's generically berry flavored.
With Halloween items getting discounted and disappearing from shelves, let's see if it's worth scooping up.
Tea Time
Long story short, I like tea, but my ex was obsessed. He would steep bags of green tea, peppermint tea, jasmine tea, and black tea, all mixed up, for hours at a time. Tea snobs would probably have a heart attack looking at the concoctions he made, but, I enabled him. (My bad.) Especially during the pandemic.
He went through tea so quickly that last March, when things started shutting down, I stocked up. People probably thought I had a bunker somewhere, but with his heavy usage of about 12 bags a day, what I bought would have been about 2 months worth. Imagine a large kitchen drawer filled with peppermint and green tea bags. Not long after that, he was gone. And here I am, STILL drinking peppermint tea over a year later. (Because I'm stubborn and hate wasting things.)
I am so sick of peppermint tea. So let's shake things up with some fruity summer flavors from Lidl and Aldi.
Laffy Taffy - Orange Sherbet & Lemon-RaspberryWhen I saw these, I thought I had already reviewed them, specifically in some kind of Easter-themed mix. Searching through my blog, there was no sign of them. Did I imagine it? Was it something I ate and never wrote up? Are these completely new and my brain is finally at the point where I've forgotten what I've tried and what I haven't?
Time to fix that.
Sweet & Sour Crunchy & Chewy Candy - Lidl
Chocolates are easy to copy. I have seen variations of peanut butter cups from pretty much every store out there from big chains to mom and pop's, tons of candy bars that look an awful lot like Snickers, but aren't, and I have even seen plenty of takes on m&m's, but fruity candy? That's harder to dupe.
There are a few exceptions, like gummy bears, which are available from tons of brands, but how often do you see a knock-off Skittles?
I have seen a few faux Starburst over the years, but something that this closely matches Skittles is so rare. They even have 3 of the same flavors as Original Skittles, and it comes in normal and sour flavors. How will these compare?
Apparently Starburst released this "new" Duo-themed candy. Juts in case the quotes didn't tip you off, get ready for some old man yells at cloud-level grumpiness in this review.
Instead of four individual flavors in this mix, you only get two. Kind of. One could argue that you still get four, since these are just two different flavors of fruity taffy fused in the center to create one piece of candy. So if you nibble each side individually, you still have four flavors here, but that sounds a little too sticky and inconvenient.
As a concept, this is something we've seen before. More recently I feel like Airheads has leaned into this two-flavors-as-one trend, and while it can be a fun idea conceptually, I feel like this particular take is falling flat.
None of these flavors are new, and a consumer could always eat any two Starburst candies together to make your own DIY Duo mixes. Mixing and matching flavors of preexisting candy is something foodies like Cybele have been advocating for for ages, but I guess the appeal of this item is that these particular flavors have never been in the same mix before? There is some minor convenience there, but is that enough to warrant a whole new candy with fanfare and blog posts? We shall see...
As soon as you put something out into the universe, like "I'm quitting soda," forces immediately start to work against you. So, here we are. Barely a week later and I have not one, not two, but THREE new sodas to try AND even more soda coming in the mail because I am a sucker for Stranger Things and their New Coke promo.
The re-released Stranger Things themed cans of New Coke use the formula previously released in 1985, which is before I was born, so I jumped at the opportunity. As for the other sodas, my fiancee bought me the Spider-man themed Dr. Pepper as a gift, because he knew I was interested in it, as well as the orange-vanilla coke. The California Raspberry coke? That was all me.
Time to jump in and see how these taste! (Sweet sugary caffeine, how I've missed you.)
I know I'm not offering much in the way of variety right now (with all these Oreo reviews in a row), but I had these photos edited and ready to go, so I wanted to knock out this review while they're still (somewhat) relevant.
Packaging has been discussed to death at this point, "pretty picture, hate the peel-top, etc.," so let's get right into the nitty gritty. Do these taste like an actual jelly doughnut?
Did you know that Aldi and Trader Joe's are related? YUP! They're sister companies owned by the same German family. For the most part, each store releases their own items catering to different niche markets and trending flavors, but once in a while both stores will release the same product, with different packaging and price points. (Like these pumpkin scone cookies I compared and reviewed.)
Years ago, I picked up THIS beautiful dark chocolate passport gift item from Trader Joe's, and I completely lost it over the gorgeous packaging. Flash forward to now, when I see Aldi trying to release their own dark chocolate themed gift pack for the holidays. It's no-where near as cute as the Trader Joe's one, but this has something the Trader Joe's version lacked. Variety.
The Trader Joe's bars were all dark chocolates from various locations around the world, but they were just dark chocolate. No toppings, not mix ins, no nothing. They were pretty, but by the third bar I was bored and my palette was exhausted. I don't think I ever finished reviewing the box set, mainly because...my tongue just didn't care. I was craving some flavor, and (hopefully) Aldi will deliver.
Even though Christmas feels like it was just yesterday, the world keeps on spinning, and stores have already moved on to Valentine's Day and Easter. Seriously, Easter. There are already pastel and Easter Bunny shaped sweets on the shelves as I huddle here clutching a cup of tea in my blanket cocoon for warmth.
While I was out taking advantage of Christmas stuff being 50-75% off (or more), I picked up a few of the more interesting Valentine's Day sweets to review. FYI, you guys should really shop clearance Christmas stuff. It's a great way to get holiday placemats, napkins, dishware, decor and non-edible stocking stuffers for next year dirt cheap. It pays to plan ahead!
Okay, enough frugality, let's munch on some cupcakes!
Apparently Memorial Day/Fourth of July themed candies are a thing and for some reason all of the candy companies are releasing theirs super early. So...America Mix Skittles. That's a thing. Part of me wants to make fun of it, because it's America-themed Skittles, but as cheesy as it is, it's nice to see Skittles doing something new, and let's face it, it's a good marketing move. With the upcoming election and national holidays these are going to sell like hot cakes!
Let's get this review started! Taste the patriotism!
I haven't had Bubble Tape in AGES, so when I saw that there was a "new mystery flavor" available, I had to have it. It's 6 feet of tooth-rotting goodness! I don't remember seeing this flavor around when I was a kid, but apparently this is some kind of re-release? This same exact flavor and packaging was released as "new" way back in 2011. Oh well, it may be old, but it's new to me!
Let's hope this flavor is as fun as my nostalgic bubble gum chewing brain is hyping it up to be!
Sherbet flavored Fruity Pebbles. That sounds awesome, right? It totally does, but I have a little bone to pick with it.
So the last item I reviewed was a bust. Never again will I ever buy grape flavored yogurt, it just isn't for me. To reward myself for making it through that review, I thought I'd treat myself to another yogurt, but this time it's something that's a bit more my speed.
We just wrapped up recording for episode 2 of Candyology 101, which was peanut butter themed, and one of the candies we discussed was this sandwich inspired candy bar from Trader Joe's.
In case some of you have never heard of Trader Joe's, it's a privately owned grocery chain that offers products under it's own label, has a selection of fresh produce, and offers a lot of organic and natural products. It's kind of like Whole Foods, but the prices are better, and this place practically has a cult following. (There's even an awesome blog dedicated to reviewing only Trader Joe's products.) People go crazy for their cookie butter (speculoos) and specialty products, admittedly, I do love Trader Joe's, but I don't think I've achieved cult member status. (I usually go there in the fall because Trader Joe's is the one grocery store that loves pumpkin products more than I do.)
Since I rarely go to Trader Joe's, I really go overboard when I'm there, so to kick off my (very unnecessary) food haul, let's see how this PB&J bar tastes!
I took a ton of photos today and I'll be writing a bunch of posts tomorrow so that the posting schedule will be back on track starting today!
Okay, let's finish off these macarons!
It seems like frozen macarons are available everywhere these days. The last batch I reviewed was from Trader Joe's, which is known for having unique and gourmet food items, but now even convenience store chains have begun selling their own version. Even Walmart! That's right, I got a box of frozen macaron cookies from Walmart. Before I get started let me say that frozen macarons will never be as delicious as bakery fresh ones, the eating experience is entirely different, but I did enjoy the premade and frozen Trader Joe's version (especially the pumpkin ones), how will Walmart's compare?
