Cadbury Picnic

Product name: Cadbury Picnic
Purchase details: £1.00 for a multipack of three bars (Poundland)
Calories: 230 per 48.4g bar
Country of origin: Europe

The Picnic seems to be one of Cadbury’s lesser known products – it’s not a bar I see around all that often and it must have been over a decade since my last one so I could barely remember what they were like!

The purple wrapper boasted ‘a feast-full’ of caramel (32%), peanuts (12%) and raisins (7%) and these three ingredients were each represented around the brand name – I particularly liked the way the caramel was used as a border. However, beneath the chocolate that contained a minimum of 14% milk solids, lurked another significant ingredient: ‘crispy’ rice cereal (10%).

This particular multipack had been produced by Kraft Foods and I couldn’t believe how huge each bar felt on removal from the main packaging. However, on opening the individual wrappers, I realised that, whilst the bars were very long, there were also relatively thin. That said, they had a very rugged appearance, and the caramel was clearly holding the individual elements together. Despite not being mentioned in the main product description, the cereal was definitely a big feature, whilst the raisins were a lot less visible and nowhere near as big as the Nestlé Yorkie: Raisin & biscuit.

The Picnic mainly smelt of sweet chocolate but the aroma did hint at the fact there was more going on beneath the surface and I was pleased to find that each ingredient made its own significant contribution to the whole. The peanuts provided flavour (although not lots) and a bit of a crunch within the crispy chewiness provided by the cereal and caramel. (For the record, this overall texture was perfectly balanced so that the bar wasn’t hard work to eat.) As for the raisins, I found there were more of these further down the bar than first appeared, and they produced an extra chew and an occasional additional sweetness.

Thinking of the Picnic as a whole, I realised that it was essentially a cereal bar in reverse, with a proper chocolate coating rather than the silly drizzles some brands include in an attempt to make a seemingly healthy product a bit more exciting. In this case, though, the overall flavour was a general sweetness that came from the individual components, and the thicker-than-normal chocolate layer provided an alternative method of consumption since the bar was also enjoyable to let melt, and it added a nice juiciness to combine with the raisins and caramel.

This was certainly a decent product but, although individual elements were noticeable, the main flavour wasn’t particularly exciting and, I guess, it felt a bit too healthy for my liking, bearing in mind it was an unhealthy snack!

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.38/10

Walkers Robert's Ranch Raccoon

Product name: Walkers Robert’s Ranch Raccoon
Purchase details: £1.00 for a multipack of six bags (Poundland)
Calories: 132 per 25g bag
Country of origin: UK

I’ve always thought that honesty is the best policy so I won’t be beating around the bush with these Walkers Robert’s Ranch Raccoon crisps from the Do Us A Flavour selection 1 multipack. I have no idea what raccoon is meant to taste like and I didn’t really want to know...I would never have opted to buy these but it just worked out cheaper to have them included with the other flavours in the selection than to have bought the flavours I wanted separately!

My colleague had warned me that these were ‘foul’ and, with a mustard yellow wrapper that reminded me of roast chicken crisps (another flavour I don’t like!), I wasn’t at all hopeful. However, the inclusion of powdered sour cream from Dorset seemed like a positive, and they were vegetarian so I knew there was no actual raccoon included!

The crisps seemed thinner and more fragile than Emma C's Cheesy Beans On Toast, for example, and there were certainly a lot more broken ones in the packet. They were paler in colour, too, but had visible speckles of dried parsley. They certainly looked inoffensive, and the aroma was also reassuring – they barely smelt any different to standard ready salted crisps.

Oh how I was lulled into a false sense of security...these were disgusting! They had a horribly strong and weird flavour which made me feel like I was eating turkey ham in crisp form. I don’t like ham anyway, but I particularly dislike ones made out of white meat, so this was by no means a good thing. I really didn’t want to try another but decided to persevere with the packet. Somehow, I managed to get through them, and eating them quickly did help me focus on the herby aspect, but I couldn’t help but feel queasy for the rest of the evening. 

I’ve tried to give my second packet away but people are very reluctant to try them! The one person who’s braved a taste, so far, grimaced and didn’t want to try another. It wasn’t all bad, though...the texture was nice! But I know which variety I won’t be voting for – urgh.

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 3/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 6.25/10

Walkers Emma C's Cheesy Beans On Toast

Product name: Walkers Emma C’s Cheesy Beans On Toast
Purchase details: £1.00 for a multipack of six bags (Poundland)
Calories: 132 per 25g bag
Country of origin: UK

 

Time for my next review from selection 1 of Walkers’ Do Us A Flavour range – Emma C’s Cheesy Beans On Toast was a version I really wanted to try and, if I’m honest, the only reason I bothered with this particular multipack. As a fan of beans on toast who occasionally adds the luxury of cheese, I thought this concept sounded so unique for crisps, and I really wanted to find out what they were like.

The shade of blue used for the bag was a really nice one, and the crisps themselves looked no different from Sarah's Hot Dog With Tomato Ketchup.

On this occasion, the pre-selected ingredient used was cheddar from Somerset (in powder form) and this delivered a standard but delicious cheesy crisp scent. Even better was the cheddar flavour that was on offer – this surprised me because I’d expected a generic cheese taste but not such a specific creamy cheddar one. This was also followed by an element of baked beans which I was also impressed by, with the tomato sauce being realistically mellow and not as tangy as the kind used to replicate the ketchup in Sarah's Hot Dog With Tomato Ketchup. The emphasis was definitely on the cheese, though, which was fine by me.

These crisps were also slightly salty and, at times, tasted quite plain. However, the usual great texture and generally satisfying flavour combined to create another delicious Walkers product. On the whole, I’d probably opt for normal cheese or cheese and onion flavoured options ahead of this baked bean one in future, but I still really enjoyed this interesting twist.

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

Walkers Sarah's Hot Dog With Tomato Ketchup

Product name: Walkers Sarah’s Hot Dog With Tomato Ketchup
Purchase details: £1.00 for a multipack of six bags (Poundland)
Calories: 131 per 25g bag
Country of origin: UK

I’m very late to the party with these Walkers crisps from the Do Us A Flavour range. For those who don’t know, the company’s been running a competition where members of the public could create their own concoctions that had to incorporate one of a variety of pre-selected ingredients. Six finalists were chosen, their creations were put on sale, and the general public have been able to vote for the winner since then.

I’ve never bothered with these kinds of things before but a couple of the flavours did catch my eye so I decided to be economical and buy the variety packs, even though that meant I’d have to sample the ones I didn’t like the sound of as well! With only two weeks left to go until voting closes, I thought it was about time I tried them out, starting with ‘selection 1’.

I could have taken or left this bag of Sarah’s Hot Dog With Tomato Ketchup. I like ketchup (and I’m sure I tried the crisp form years ago), and I like ‘proper’ sausages, but I don’t like frankfurters, so it was always going to be down to the balance for me.

The red wrapper could easily have been mistaken for Ready Salted but, instead, it represented the key ingredient of Vale of Evesham tomatoes which were present in extract form. The crisps looked no different from most and were quite thin and transparent in places. Their golden and slightly greasy appearance looked strangely appealing!

Having not long finished my bag of Extra Crunchy: Sticky BBQ rib, I found the scent on offer here was very similar. Its flavour, though, was very different. The initial flavour was of sweet tomato ketchup, but a frankfurter flavour was tagged onto the end of this, despite the crisps being vegetarian! I can’t deny that I’d been sceptical about the chances of these crisps actually tasting like hot dogs but they genuinely did taste of both ketchup and sausage...it was just a shame that the latter was the l kind that I don’t enjoy.

As expected, the snack was nice and crispy, and I did like the tang of the ketchup despite the artificial-tasting meat. I also found that, if I ate them quickly, the sausage aspect was less noticeable anyway. Maybe I should try the Walkers Tomato Ketchup again!

In the meantime, I need to get through my remaining Do Us A Flavour varieties, and I’m looking forward to seeing if the others are as realistic.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 6/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.13/10