Ritz Breaks: Original

Product name: Ritz Breaks: Original
Purchase details: asos.com
Calories: 147 per 31.6g pack

It’s not every day you get sent a packet of crackers with your clothes order but, randomly, that’s what happened when I recently received my Asos delivery!

This little pack of new Ritz Breaks: Original didn’t contain much information on the promotional red, navy and yellow packaging, but the image suggested that it contained strips of mini crackers that could be snapped apart. This, combined with the name and slogan (‘get out and about’), made clear that it was a snack intended for eating on the go. However, since I don’t tend to eat on the move, I decided to try these as part of my usual evening routine.

I was able to obtain the nutritional information from Tesco's website and I also knew that the lightweight crackers were ‘oven baked not fried’. On opening them up, I could see that they were divided into five sets of three crackers that could be broken apart easily along their perforated edges. I thought the design looked a little bit like a Christmas cracker!

Now you, like me, may be thinking that the idea of plain crackers as a snack sounds really boring. The thing is, though, I’d never really appreciated Ritz crackers before. I’d had them with cheese, and I’d had the Cadbury Dairy Milk: Ritz, but I’d never eaten them unadulterated so I was quite interested to see what they were like.

The crackers had a golden, baked appearance and no aroma. Texturally, they were very crisp and had a biscuity element mixed in with the cracker feel, and I found that the crumbs really clung to the teeth afterwards.

The crackers were lightly salted and, although generally plain, there was a very slight sweetness to them which reminded me of rich tea biscuits. They were actually surprisingly nice on their own and not dry either! I also noticed that breaking off the pieces didn’t make a big mess which would obviously be a bonus if you were eating them out and about.

I couldn’t honestly say that I’d choose these Ritz Breaks in favour of my usual sweet treats but they were tasty nonetheless. Bearing in mind that this seemingly bland variety was executed so well, I’d expect the Rosemary & olive oil version to be delicious!

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 6.88/10

Cadbury Dairy Milk: Ritz

Product name: Cadbury Dairy Milk: Ritz
Purchase details: £0.50 for a 35g bar (tesco.com)
Calories: 183 per bar
Country of origin: UK 

Although new to Cadbury, I first tried the combination of milk chocolate and ‘salted crackers’ over a year ago, thanks to Monster Sweets who sell the Milka Tuc bar. Although I acknowledge that teaming chocolate with ‘moreish crackers’ sounds a bit weird, I knew from this previous experience that it definitely works!

This Dairy Milk: Ritz bar was made by Mondelez and featured the usual Dairy Milk chocolate recipe that made up 80% of the overall product. Bearing in mind that this still left room for eight crackers, I figured they must be really small.

The wrapper gave an indication of the bar’s unusual shape – it was wider and flatter than most Cadbury bars and it contained crackers on each side. I thought their positioning made the bar look like a little window! There was also a chocolate teapot on the packaging which, whilst completely random, did make me smile.

The chocolate was pretty thick but, due to the heat, it had a soft break to it. It had the usual Dairy Milky scent that had combined with a slightly salty, savoury smell. However, the aroma as a whole wasn’t very strong.

The style of the salty crackers confused me slightly as they had the very crispy texture of McVitie’s Mini Cheddars so I kept expecting a cheesy flavour to follow. Thankfully, in the circumstances, this wasn’t the case, so I really enjoyed the contrast between this savoury aspect and the sweet, delicious Dairy Milk which was by far the dominant flavour.

Although the chocolate in my bar was bit softer than normal, it remained nice and solid and the texture was another good contrast with the Ritz. The crackers did mean it was a Dairy Milk product that couldn’t easily be sucked, but I didn’t find this was a problem when the alternative was so satisfying.

I’m really glad to see Cadbury continuing to branch out with their available varieties.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

Nabisco Ritz Bits: Peanut butter

Product name: Nabisco Ritz Bits: Peanut butter
Purchase details: £2.50 for an 85g bag (A Quarter of Sweets)
Calories: 140 per 12 sandwich serving

I’ve waited for what seems like an age for A Quarter of Sweets to get these Nabisco Ritz Bits: Peanut butter back in stock – that will teach me for not being quick enough last time!

Most of you will know by now that peanut butter is one of my guilty pleasures but these Ritz ‘cracker sandwiches’ were something new for me in that they were entirely savoury. As a result, I was expecting them to be very salty, and this wasn’t helped by the knowledge that a 29g serving contained 240mg of sodium.

These Ritz Bits were ‘distributed by Kraft Foods Global’ and appeared to have been made in the USA. They came in a red bag which depicted a peanut butter fountain...

...

...sorry, I was just imagining what that idea of Heaven would be like in real life. 

Anyway, the bag contained about three servings and boasted that the sandwiches were ‘made with real peanut butter’. The Ritz crackers came in the form of little discs (smaller than McVitie’s Mini Cheddars, if that helps) with a few air holes in each. Whilst there were a few misshapen and misaligned sandwiches, they generally looked ok. The peanut butter centres were a different shade of brown to the crackers and formed a slightly thinner layer than each Ritz piece, and I was pleased to see that it looked quite moist. On the downside, they were pretty greasy to touch.

These Ritz Bits had a noticeably salty and peanut butter aroma and I was pleased to see that the suggested serving of 12 sandwiches was actually quite a lot. The crackers had the standard Ritz taste and were quite plain although not very salty on their own. Texturally, they were very crispy and slightly fluffy.

The peanut butter was, surprisingly, quite dry and gritty on its own, and it also seemed to have a Jacob’s Twiglets flavour about it which was a bit bizarre. However, combined with the crackers, it quickly became very addictive and added a hint of sweetness and warmth (in addition to the expected saltiness), as well as performing its duty of sticking to the roof of the mouth. That said, I didn’t find the flavour very strong and found it tasted more of standard peanuts than peanut butter, although this may have been due to the buttery aspect being drowned out by the quantity of cracker.

These Ritz Bits: Peanut butter were by no means amazing but they were very tasty. What’s more, I was pleased that they felt nicer in the mouth than they did between the fingers and, whilst the saltiness was pleasantly present, it certainly wasn’t overwhelming. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.25/10