Kev's Snack Reviews

If you're into dairy free or vegan ice cream, good news, there's a new plant based alternative on the block: Coconuts Organic! Formerly called Coconuts Naturally they have rebranded and are now available in selected Tesco stores - do check out their website to see if they're available near you. You can find them in the Free From frozen food section for £5 a tub. This Choc Orange Swirl variety is described as "Organic, non-dairy chocolate orange ice cream, made with coconut cream, unrefined coconut sugar and laced with an indulgent chocolate sauce swirl". It contains no dairy, nuts or gluten and is free from major allergens. It's soil association certified organic and also approved by the vegan society. I couldn't wait to get this home to eat so cheekily ate some whilst in a Costa store right after buying it. There's a lovely orangey chocolate aroma on removing the lid. And the consistency is creamy, not too solid and was just beginning to get me...

I was very happy this week to see a new dairy free ice cream brand launched in Tesco. They were formerly called Coconuts Naturally, and I reviewed their Rum and Raisin ice cream some time ago, but now they're called Coconuts Organic and have two flavours listed in selected Tesco stores - Double Caramel and Chocolate Orange. The tubs are vegan, refined sugar free (they contain coconut sugar instead), nut free and gluten free. They cost £5 a tub which may seem a lot, but trust me these bad boys are worth it! (especially when compared to Halo Top Dairy Free which is the same price). I bought a tub of both the Chocolate Orange and Caramel, and will review the Orange at a later date. This Double Caramel flavour is described as "Organic non-dairy caramel ice cream, made with coconut cream, unrefined coconut sugar and a caranel swirl" and contains 40% coconut cream, coconut sugar, plus a few natural stabilisers like pectin etc. And it tastes delicious! When I got the tub h...

You may have seen my Instgaram post on these last week so I won't bore you with too many details. They were kindly gifted to me by a PR company and are now available in the chiller cabinets of Sainsbury's stores (not all stores may have them so be sure to check with staff if they don't). They cost £2 per box of 4 and consist of a chocolate sponge cake base, topped with a coconut flavour mousse, and coated in milk chocolate. If you love all things coconut you're bound to love these, they combine cake with creamy sweet coconut mousse - what's not to like?! Unless you hate coconut of course haha. In fact I'd say they're a tad more interesting than actual Bounty bars since they're not as dry, and the different tastes and textures make for more of an “experience”. They reminded me somewhat of those coconut mallow biscuits, but much nicer. If you like coconut cakey sorts of things, check these out in the chiller aisles! I'll keep you updated if othe...

The vegan and dairy free food market has literally exploded this year, on the back of veganuary and ever more people choosing plant based alternatives. Which is a good thing for those who have allergies too - there's so many choices now! In the chiller cabinets they've been a little slower to take off for some reason, but things are definitely improving - there's now Dairy Free Halo Top varieties, and a soon-to-be-launched Coconut Ice Cream brand I must keep hush about for now! Today's review are these sticks I picked up on special offer in a large Waitrose store. I've reviewed various Coconut Collaborative products before and it seems they've dropped that name on these ice creams and opted for "Coco Nutters", which is a fun name I have to say and one I have called my snacks pal Reaching For Refreshment in the past, as she is very much a coco-nutter! Anyway, these sticks are of course vegan, gluten free, dairy free, and also nut free...

Many thanks to Nature's Charm for sending me some of their Vegan Coconut sauces to review recently. I've featured them before with my Condensed Coconut Milk review, and I really enjoyed that so was even more excited to see what these were like.  It's hard finding dairy free alternatives to popular products, but luckily the market is gradually expanding to cater for all, and these fit in nicely. They are made with coconut milk, coconut sugar, sea salt and other natural ingredients.  The Matcha sauce was the one I went for first because I didn't expect to like it and wanted to get it out of the way. It's made with coconut cream, cane sugar, matcha powder, coconut oil, calcium carbonate, salt and water. When I first took a spoonful it was as I expected; the earthy green tea flavour that I'm not a big fan of mixed with super sweet coconut. After seeing a post on Nature's Charm's Instagram I decided to try make a matcha latte with it and see if that tast...

Many thanks to Karma Bites for sending me some of their “popped lotus seeds” snacks to review recently. I’ve tried some of their range before but this time they sent the Coconut, Vanilla & Cinnamon, Wasabi and Peri Peri varieties. I was very excited! The packaging has had a refresh and looks very nice indeed, and the health credentials are highlighted on the front- these snacks are high protein, low fat, gluten free, and vegan. They’re also nut free, so they’re covering all main allergy bases, hurrah! I’ve said it before but lotus seeds have a unique taste that you’ll either like or you won’t. It’s hard to describe exactly. They remind me of a healthier version of popcorn in texture. The coconut flavour were my favourites, they have a nice creamy taste thanks to the coconut milk powder used on them, and are pleasingly sweet. I didn’t notice the cinnamon but the vanilla flavour blended well with the creamy coconut.They’re highly moreish too and I ended up munching ...

A big thankyou to The Real Coconut by Daniella Hunter for today's review. Daniella's recipes, products and restaurants are dedicated to digestive well-being and as such, these tortillas are grain free, suitable for vegans and gluten free. I was very excited to try them because these are such a unique product, they're like a healthier equivalent of Doritos, so if you have digestive issues or are following a paleo or autoimmune style diet, these might be the thing for you! Isn't it nice to include everyone? :) The chips are made from organic ingredients, and cooked in coconut oil rather than sunflower oil, so there's less of the unhealthier omega 6 fats. They're also made with non GMO ingredients. Of course all that's irrelevant if they don't taste the part, and luckily they're pretty darn addictive! I started with the Himalayan Pink Salt variety which is made with coconut flour, cassava starch, coconut oil, xanthan gum, kosher salt and Himalayan...

Today's review is for something a bit different, a new type of healthy ice cream featuring ingredient of the moment: avocado! Not just avocado, but that other superfood of the moment  - coconut! Yes they've only gone and mixed the two together to make a healthy, vegan, gluten free, nut free and soya free ice cream! It comes in two varieties: Original and Raw Cacao and is available from ocado.com and Waitrose. Fravocado kindly sent me some samples to review and below are my thoughts on each variety. I'll start with the Raw Cacao because this was the one that divided my opinion most. It's made with Coconut Milk, 15% Avocadoes, Agave Syrup, Coconut Oil, Cacao Powder, Lime Juice, Vanilla Extract, Guar Gum, Xanthan Gum and Salt. Opening the lid, it was super solid; practically a block of ice and even after waiting over half an hour it took a while to become scoopable. Eventually I decided to shave bits off with a spoon and eat it that way - hence the appearance in ...

As far as Dairy Free/Vegan chocolates go I'm a huge fan of the Waitrose 1 Indian Ocean Coconut Chocolate bar. It's hands down my favourite, it's pretty much like a Lindt Extra Creamy as far as Vegan chocolate is concerned. But when I spotted these mini bars of Coconut "Enjoy" raw chocolate in Asda's Free From section recently I was intrigued to see if they would taste similar - they contain creamed coconut and are described as Milk Chocolate, although have a high cocoa percentage - 65%. They're Organic and made with Peruvian Cacao, costing £1.99, which is a little off-putting for such a small bar but if the quality is good surely it's worth it? The bar comes in ten small squares and has a rich and coconutty aroma. Definitely no average chocolate. The taste surprised me - it's super creamy but also very rich from the high percentage of cocoa. It's a nice balance of flavours, neither being too intense nor too sweet. I wouldn't s...

Today's review is for a rather interesting product, one sent to me by Austrian Chocolate producer Zotter recently. They do a rather extensive and delicious range of chocolates, many in unique flavours you'll see from no other company, especially in their hand-scooped range. They offer shipping to the UK from their Online Store - do check them out! I chose some of their Dairy Free and Vegan bars to review, and one that tickled my interest was this "Choco Nougat" bar made with coconut sugar and rice milk. It comes in a long block, looking similar to a Toblerone, with indentations to break pieces off. There's a variety of uses for this chocolate, as indicated in the wrapper above, from melting, cake decorating, fudge making etc. It's basically a sort of Dairy Free Fudge/White Chocolate mixture. The coconut sugar gives it a caramel like flavour and colour, whilst the addition of rice milk makes it creamy and white chocolate like. It certainly smelled lik...

Another Protein Works review today and this one is for their Protein Nutty Cashew Coconut squares, a snack containing 9.2g protein ideal for workouts or a little treat throughout the day. They're made with a mix of nuts, whey protein, coconut, coconut oil and sweeteners. If you haven't seen them yet do check out my reviews of Protein Works other products - Vegan Apple & Cinnamon Crunkie and Salted Caramel Protein Cookies . Opening the wrapper I was immediately hit with the smell of peanut...never mind cashew nuts these had a super strong peanut butter aroma! (peanuts are second on the ingredients list). They smelled very inviting indeed! I broke one in half and it looked quite stodgy, almost like a flapjack. There's a thin chocolate and coconut coating on top. They taste very, very nutty indeed and that is certainly no bad thing! The cashews give it that creamy smoothness whilst the peanuts add a more savoury crunch. Yum! The whey powder has that distinctive whe...

Following my review of Ape Vegan Cheese Coconut & Rice Puffs , I thought I'd review their Thai Chilli and Lightly Salted varieties. All are super tasty, but which flavour would I recommend the most? Read on to see my thoughts... Like the other varieties the Thai Chilli is sugar free, vegan, not fried, gluten free and contains coconut oil, as well as coconut flour and rice flour. It also contains spices like chilli, onion, bell peppers and apple powder to give it a natural sweetness. They've definitely nailed the Thai Chilli flavour with this; it tastes authentic and flavoursome, and not sickly sweet like some thai chilli flavoured snacks can. It's subtle and the perfect seasoning for the light crunchy puffs. Taste-wise I would rate this equal to the Vegan Cheese flavour, although I might just prefer these a little more! 8.5 out of 10.  The Lightly Salted variety is also vegan, gluten free, sugar free and not fried. The only added flavouring is Sea Salt, so natu...

So I thought it about time I do a Free From version of Spotted In Shops (with a side dose of Vegan Snacks News), featuring some of the latest Gluten/Dairy/Egg Free & Vegan products, since the demand for these foods is ever-growing. Without further ado, let's take a look at what's come out in recent months... First up - Freaks of Nature, makers of Dairy Free desserts, have launched into the Dairy Free Yoghurt market with Blueberry and Strawberry flavours. These are made with Cashew nuts and are currently available from Sainsbury's for £1.50 a pot. It's not available in the UK yet (Sweden and Finland will get them in September), but a Vegan Magnum now exists in both Classic and Almond varieties! No doubt these will be on sale here soon if they're popular - I personally reckon they'll be on shelves by next year. The Coconut Collaborative are still going strong with their Dairy Free desserts, and have added a Mango and Passionfruit Panna Cotta to...