Kev's Snack Reviews

I’ve always been a big fan of Fry’s Cream bars, the Orange ones in particular are a favourite so I was overjoyed when they launched this new Limited Edition Strawberry variety recently! Available from discount stores like B&M Bargains and Iceland Foods for £1, these are vegan friendly and are classic Fry’s Cream dark chocolate with a soft fondant filling. Fry’s launched a Raspberry Cream last year and although it’s nice, I preferred this one as it just has all the nostalgic flavours of Strawberry Creams which I love! I’ve always enjoyed strawberry cream chocolate from Quality Street and Roses (yes I know everyone else hates them haha!) so I felt like this was made for me! It’s sickly sweet of course but that’s what you expect from a Fry’s Cream bar. The dark chocolate is rich and sweet, likely Bournville chocolate and a nice carrier for the filling. I felt like it balanced the proportion of cream to chocolate better than that of a Quality Street strawberry cream for ex...

Following on from my review of the new Doisy and Dam D&D's and Ballers chocolates, I thought I'd review their new take on Mini Eggs - a vegan friendly, lower sugar dark chocolate version! You can find these in Holland and Barrett stores for £1.79 or so for 80g. They're clearly positioning themselves as a vegan alternative to Cadbury Mini Eggs, and contain 70% cocoa dark chocolate which has 30% less sugar than the leading market product (Cadbury's). It all sounds good, and thankfully even though I was very disappointed in their D&D's and Ballers range, these surprised me! They have classic Mini Egg style crunchy pastel shells, and the dark chocolate within is quite rich in taste. They're much better than the D&D's which I was surprised by, perhaps the higher ratio of chocolate to shell works in their favour. These are highly nommable, easy to eat one after the other but they do leave you feeling satisfied faster than something more sugary. ...

I was quite intrigued when Doisy and Dam announced some new snack products for Veganuary recently, the dairy free, gluten free vegan Ballers, D&D’s and Buttons range that you can now find in Holland and Barrett stores (99p per 30g bag, £1.99 per 75g bag). There’s also some Dark Chocolate Vegan Mini Eggs joining the trio in time for Easter. Unfortunate names aside (Ballers? They must have seen the jokes coming with that one - I’m sure it’s not unintentional!), these are a great idea in theory as they’re meant to be like Free From versions of Maltesers and Smarties for vegans. But there’s a catch...they’re made with dark chocolate rather than a vegan “milk” alternative so are inherently a more marmite product to start with - not everyone is a fan of dark chocolate, and I imagine that doesn’t suddenly change if you’re vegan. And that’s why these products fail. Now personally I enjoy dark chocolate, especially the more flavoursome varieties, so I assumed I would like these. But ...

This is a bit of an oldie from Cadbury, albeit one that has come and gone in various formats over the years. With the success of their Bournville with Orange bar , and Veganuary in full swing, they've relaunched their classic Old Jamaica Rum and Raisin chocolate. I last remember seeing this around 2011 or so, when it was launched along with the Orange variety as a limited edition. Here's an old pic from chocablog : Before that I've been told it used to be available in thinner bars, a bit like Lindt bars. I certainly don't remember that version! I found this in Wh Smiths near the tills for £1, which is standard for a 100g bar like this. Opening the wrapper it has the newer Bournville block design - somewhat square with half of the block having grooves on. I'm not too keen on the design to be honest, it doesn't break off very cleanly. Nevermind though. It has a strong albeit artificial rum aroma. Which is what you expect from something like this ...

Gin flavouring is most certainly on trend at the moment, and like unicorns and salted caramel is infiltering all manner of snack products. I was pleasantly surprised to see a bar of Morrisons Lemon & Juniper Gin Chocolate last year, and now Divine have brought out a similar variety, which is Limited Edition, Organic, Vegan, Fairtrade and available from the likes of Oxfam stores and online. I really do love the Divine brand as they are yet another company at the forefront of ethically produced chocolate, and this is something we need more of! The cocoa beans used in this bar are sourced from family farmers in Ghana, and the bar contains zero palm oil or soya and is certified by the Vegan Society. The ingredients contain lemon oil and juniper berry oil to give it the "gin" like flavour without actual alcohol.  Like most 70% Dark Chocolate it has a rich fruity aroma so you know it's good quality right away (cheaper brands tend to just smell bitter). Taking a bite,...

It's nice to see the range of dairy free/vegan chocolate options expanding in the UK, with the likes of Waitrose , Ombar and others making some respectable options, and so it seems fitting that health food store Holland and Barrett have created their own range. They are now selling Organic Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread dark chocolates, which come in 100g blocks and cost £3. A bit too pricey if you ask me, but nevertheless I was curious enough to give this a try when I spotted it - it's made with 58% cocoa solids and contains gluten free ginger cookie pieces. Opening the wrapper it certainly had a pleasant ginger aroma that reminded me of dark chocolate gingers.  The cookie pieces are clearly visible within the chocolate and pretty evenly dispersed. Taking a bite they're very evident and nice and crunchy. The chocolate is pretty smooth and sweet, which surprised me as usually chocolate with this percent of cocoa can be a little bitter. It's clearly of good quality a...

Just a quick review for this Lemon and Juniper Gin Dark Chocolate from Morrisons today. I bought this a while back so no longer have the packaging, but from my notes it's vegan, dairy free and suitable for vegetarians and contains around 52% cocoa solids. I don't believe there was any actual alcohol in the ingredients, although it does of course contain juniper berry and lemon flavorings. (edit: Ingredients list is on Morrisons website). I'm not a huge fan of gin, at least from the little of it that I've tried thus far, so wasn't sure what to expect from this. But it's actually rather pleasant! The taste is more of lemon and citrus, with a hint of the more herby juniper, that works quite well with it. The chocolate is just rich enough and just sweet enough to please fans of both darker chocolate and sweeter chocolate. If you're vegan or dairy free and need some variation in your chocolate choices, this is a great option. It's not something I'd b...

It took a while but I've finally gotten around to trying the New Cadbury Darkmilk. This is available now from most supermarkets in an Original and Almond variety, and I found this Original one for £1.50 at Tesco Express - a bit more than I'd like to pay for Cadbury chocolate but hey, it's supposedly better quality so maybe it's worth it?! The bar has been billed as a richer alternative for those who like chocolate that's both creamy and dark - a tough challenge it seems. The bar weighs in at 85g and contains a minimum of 40% cocoa solids, substantially more than Dairy Milk but less than a semi-sweet dark chocolate. The presence of milk is of course what sets this apart, hence the name Darkmilk! I really wasn't too excited at the prospect of trying this; I was assuming it might be like the Milka Dark bars  that Mondelez produce in other countries, which although aren't bad they're not what I really want from a bar like this. But it took me by su...

A big thankyou to Home Bargains who recently sent me a box of various snacks that vare available from their stores. Amongst them, were these Bohme Chocolate bars. They're pretty cheap in store (19p or so) and are pretty tasty to boot! Bohme is a German company and the bars consist of dark chocolate and fondant creme fillings, in orange and lemon flavours. They're vegan and dairy free - always handy if you have allergies. The bars contain 5 generous chunks of dark chocolate, which is quite thick. The fondant creme filling is quite firm with nice sweet citrus aromas. They both taste pretty darn delicious. The chocolate is standard semisweet dark chocolate, nothing fancy, but the creme fillings are where all the action is. You need to have to have a sweet tooth and enjoy fondant chocolates to appreciate these - think the fruit cremes from Quality Street and Roses. The Lemon variety had the edge for me, but the Orange was a nice variation too and did remind me of the ora...

Today's review is rather special, it's for a new range of Organic "Rich Dark" high cocoa bars from Divine, makers of Fairtrade ethically-sourced chocolate. The bars are certified Vegan, Soil Association Organic and verified by the Non GMO Project. Some pretty high credentials right there! I was offered the range to review by Divine recently and of course, couldn't say no since I'm such a convert to darker chocolates. What intrigued me by this range was the inclusion of various flavours like Ginger, Lemon, Turmeric etc...all very healthy and super food-ish, and interesting pairings for dark chocolate! The fairtrade cocoa is sourced from Sao Tome, a forest-covered volcanic island off the west coast of Africa. It was the first African country to grow cocoa and in 1913 was the biggest producer in the world, earning it the title of "Chocolate Island". Mmmm, who wouldn't want to live on a Chocolate Island? Starting with the Refreshing Lemon var...

Following my last Spotted In Shops post I've been itching to try this Cadbury Bournville Orange bar. It's described as New/Old because it was last available in 2009, nearly ten years ago! I vaguely remember it along with the Old Jamaica version, and am glad it's been brought back - you can't beat the combination of orange and dark chocolate when it's done right. These are available for £1 from various stores, including Iceland Foods (where I found it) and Poundland. The bars contain 100g and are described simply as "Chocolate with orange flavoured pieces". I was pleased to see a return of more traditional-looking chunks in this bar; yes they're smaller than they used to be, but at least they're not curved like they tried to make Dairy Milk. The orange pieces can be found nestled within the chunks and there seemed to be quite a decent amount of them (they make up 12% of the bar). Firstly, the chocolate itself tastes as you'd expect; se...

It's that time of year when all the new products are being launched - hurrah! Let's celebrate with another Spotted In Shops post... First up is the above bar of Bournville Orange Dark Chocolate which I spotted in Iceland Foods. It costs £1, is Dairy Free and has a "New Old!" label on...because this isn't the first time Cadbury have made this bar. It was around many years ago (2009!) along with an Old Jamaica Bournville , just before Cadbury were taken over by Kraft.  Other new developments from Cadbury are their Darkmilk range; a rich and creamy chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa than Dairy Milk (but still containing milk, obviously). Currently available for £1 from Tesco in an Original variety... Plus Roasted Almond. Does this sound like your kind of thing? Let me know in the comments! A rather strange product Cadbury have launched is this Sweet Shop style bag of chocolates, that includes Dairy Milk, Caramel, Fudge and E...