Kev's Snack Reviews

Alpro have launched a new range of Vegan Society approved, Dairy Free ice creams onto the market, all of which should be appearing in most Tesco stores soon. I've already reviewed the Hazelnut Chocolate variety, and today it's the turn of the Coconut. Like the Hazelnut Chocolate one this is gluten free, soya free and is made with soluble gluco fibre (I still have no idea what that is!) and 13.3% coconut cream. I was hoping the addition of coconut cream would improve the taste and texture of this compared to the Chocolate Hazelnut, and it has...but not by much. This does have a vague coconutty flavour, and is creamier than the Chocolate Hazelnut variety. It reminds me of Carte D'or Coconut flavour ice cream that was available yeeeears ago, but sadly, it's again ruined by a weird stale taste presumably coming from the soluble gluco fibre. I didn't feel like eating much of it, which is rather unusual for me. Overall, I appreciate that Alpro are br...

There's some new Dairy Free Vegan ice creams on the block...and this time, they're Soya Free too! Which is unusual considering they're made by Alpro, Kings of the Soya Milk market. I'm glad they're soya free because I'm a little sensitive to the stuff myself...and no doubt so are many others who are vegan, dairy free etc, so it's nice to have an alternative. Unlike most new Dairy Free products this one isn't made with coconut milk or legume protein, instead it's made with water and "soluble gluco fibre"...whatever the heck that is! If anyone knows, please feel free to enlighten me in the comments! Here, you can see the ingredients list for yourselves: Hearing the words Chocolate Hazelnut had me thinking this would be like Nutella in ice cream form...foolish, I know, but one can dream! Sadly it's nothing alike... It didn't taste very nice at all to be honest. It reminded me somewhat of Christmas Calender chocolate, ...

Following on from my review of Pop Works Apple Pie Flavour Popcorn , today we have the Peanut Butter and Caramel variety. My blogger chum Nibbles & Scribbles wasn't too fond of this one, but to my surprise I found I rather enjoyed it... Like the Apple Pie Flavour, this one is vegetarian, and appears to be gluten free although is made in a factory that handles barley. They aren't vegan as they contain milk. It cost me £1.50 in Tesco although I've since seen it for only £1 at Asda and The Co Op...stock up on it while you can! As before, I poured this into my new steel snacks bowl. It had an odd aroma, not particularly nutty, but almost...cheesy...kind of savoury. I wasn't sure what to expect. Popcorn Poodle! When I first took a bite, it tasted a little odd. I was expecting sweet peanut butter but it tasted of something else entirely...again, kind of cheesy. Determined to taste the peanut butter flavour that was promised, I kept munching...and after a ...

There's a new popcorn company on the block and they want Butterkist's popcorn crown...they are Pop Works, a brand from the guys who brought you Pepsi. They have created a new range of unusually flavoured popcorn to shake up the popcorn market...one that promises "over the top" varieties. I'm not sure I think Apple Pie is that out of the ordinary as a popcorn flavour, after all Butterkist once did a Toffee Apple Popcorn . Regardless, when I spotted these in Tesco I decided I had to give them a try. I also bought the Peanut Butter & Caramel variety...but that's a review for another day. As well as these two there's also a Sticky Toffee Pudding flavour and Sweet and Salty. These cost £1.50 a bag and are suitable for vegetarians. They appear to be vegan and gluten-free but are made in an environment that handles milk and barley. Opening the bag, they did have an unusual cooked apple aroma...I poured a generous amount into my new steel snacks bowl:...

Proper Corn have launched a new innovation onto the snacking market...this time it's not popcorn as we know it, but "Crunchcorn", a half-popped corn snack that is "a bit like nuts". These are unlike regular fully popped corn as they still have some of the corn kernel intact, making them denser and crunchier than regular popcorn. There were a few varieties when I spotted these in Tesco, like  Sweet & Smoky Chilli , Salt & Vinegar  and  Rock Salt but I chose the simple but tasty Salt and Pepper variety. These are vegan, gluten free, GM free and unsurprisingly, nut free...so even nut allergy sufferers can enjoy them. Result! When I opened the bag I poured most of it into my fancy new steel snacks bowl that was a...steal (only 39p!) from Home Bargains: Initially I was worried that the half-popped kernels would be hard and nasty like the bits of un-popped corn that you get in every bag of popcorn, but they tasted totally different; they're...

Coconut Water was the big health trend of the last few years...but now it seems waters from other plants want to muscle in on its watery territory. You can now find the likes of Nopal Cactus Water , Maple Water, Bamboo Water and more in the likes of Boots or Waitrose, and joining the ranks is this Sibberi "Clean & Lean" birch water. This is a drink tapped from pure silver birch trees, is high in antioxidants, low in calories and contains only naturally occurring sugars. But how does it taste? Well, it's surprisingly sweet despite being quite light, and doesn't really taste of much other than the sweetness. It's not bad, and quite thirst quenching, but I did find it an odd drink. I would drink it again if offered, but I'm not sure I'd seek it out especially.  Overall, not a bad "healthy" drink, and more palatable than some of the weird tasting coconut waters that are doing the rounds these days, but I'm not sure I can see ...

I do miss Oreos since being gluten free...they're such a moreish combo of Bourbon biscuit and vanilla cream, nothing much compares to them. There's a few gluten free varieties around, none of which I've been very impressed with thus far...until I found this Udi's variety reduced in Sainsbury's recently! They were down to £1.50 a pack, which is still a lot but considering they're usually about £3.50 I'll take it!  As well as being gluten free, these are also dairy free and vegan...hurrah! There's 8 biscuits per pack and they look pretty much identical to an Oreo.  And they tasted pretty much the same too! The biscuit was perhaps lighter and crunchier, but just as moreish and the vanilla creme was lovely, no different to what you get in an Oreo really.  Overall, these are some seriously tasty biscuits if you're gluten free or vegan, I'd highly recommend them...the only problem is that they seem to be hard to find and ...