Swiss Peak Milch

Product name: Swiss Peak Milch
Purchase details: £0.39 for a 100g bar (Home Bargains)
Calories: 531 per bar
Country of origin: Switzerland

Always one for a bargain, I couldn’t help picking up this Swiss Peak Milch – a bar of ‘milk chocolate with honey-almond-nougat’ which was obviously based on Toblerone. I’d tried Marks and Spencer’s version before but this ‘Swiss premium quality’ brand was new to me.

The wrapper featured nice images of some of the key ingredients: the chocolate itself (containing a minimum of 30% cocoa solids and 14% milk solids), honey (2.5%) and almonds (1.4%) and the bar inside continued Toblerone's triangular theme. However, these pieces were diagonal in shape, and also thinner, so I presumed they wouldn’t be as satisfyingly chunky to chew.

In terms of aroma, the product just smelt like sweet chocolate, although this was no bad thing! It had a good, milky chocolate flavour, with hints of honey and almond coming through here and there. The chocolate was definitely the main taste but I did like the darker sugar element the honey provided.

Despite appearances, the triangles did still manage to provide a chunky texture, and the presence of crunchy nut pieces and chewy nougat (8%) was also noticeable. On the downside, the bar’s shape did make it difficult to break off each piece so I ended up having to bite it, and I also found the chocolate’s melting point to be a little higher than normal so it felt like it separated out in the mouth rather than melding together.

At £0.39, it won’t surprise anyone to learn that this product wasn’t of the same quality as Toblerone of Switzerland. However, it was still pretty tasty in its own right!

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

Snickers Bar: Rockin' nut road

Product name: Snickers Bar: Rockin’ nut road
Purchase details: £1.59 for a 49.9g bar (Mr Simms)
Calories: 230 per bar
Country of origin: USA

I’m not generally a fan of Snickers which is why, so far, I’ve only reviewed the mini version included in Celebrations. However, this Rockin’ nut road variety (based on rocky road) caught my eye on my first ever visit to Mr Simms. (That’s right – we have a Mr Simms now! I always wondered what this magical place was like and I can now report that it smells amazing!)

This bar consisted of dark chocolate, almonds, caramel and marshmallow flavoured nougat, and it was the change in nut type and nougat that got me so excited. I can usually take or leave marshmallow since I like the flavour but, in other things, I don’t tend to like its elasticity. As a result, having the flavour in a nougat seemed like a win-win situation, particularly since it’s the presence of marshmallows in real rocky road which tends to put me off eating it, usually.

Made by Mars Chocolate North America, the bar came in a striking black wrapper and was a very good looking specimen. The semisweet chocolate was nice and glossy and the pale nougat, large nuts and gooey caramel were all well-defined against this dark shell.

It may have contained artificial flavours but this Snickers Bar: Rockin’ nut road wasn’t bad at all. Its aroma was a simple but deep dark chocolate one and this ingredient was definitely the main one in terms of taste too – it made the product noticeably more bitter and it balanced well with the inner features, almost creating a saltiness by comparison. The downside was that the nougat and caramel weren’t as sweet as they could have been and the inside, generally, wasn’t very flavourful but, overall, the taste wasn’t miles away from an actual piece of rocky road.

The texture was the standout element for me, though. The inside was stringy but not too chewy, and I loved the softness of it, as well as the fact that it wasn’t overrun with nuts that got in the way. If anything, I’d say the feel was very much like a Mars bar but with the odd dull crunch here and there.

In conclusion, I would have liked the flavours from the nougat, almonds and caramel to be more prominent in this bar, but its squidginess was very enjoyable indeed.

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

Vrettos Snappy (honey)

Product name: Vrettos Snappy (honey)
Purchase details: £0.75 for a 50g pastry (Tesco Superstore)
Calories: 165 per pastry
Country of origin: Greece

For years, I had a childhood memory of eating some unknown but delicious pastry product at a buffet. Having never come across it again, I began to wonder if I’d made it up, until my friend brought her Mum’s homemade baklava into school to celebrate Eid. Despite that now being years ago, I’ve not had it since, so I couldn’t resist trying this shop-bought version. As it happens, the wrapper of the Vrettos Snappy (honey) didn’t include the word ‘baklava’, but Tesco's website confirmed that that’s what it was.

The ‘crispy snack with honey’ came in an orange wrapper that had a honeycomb design and showed an image of the pastry product sitting in a pool of honey. I had been worried that the long shelf-life would have caused the baklava to dry out but the treat was actually served in a little tray in an attempt to keep it moist from the runny ‘flower honey’ (4%) that was visible on the inside of the wrapper. It would have been rude not to have sampled this and I thoroughly enjoyed its deliciously sweet yet floral flavour.

The roll looked nice enough from the outside – the pastry made up 27% of the product and provided a crispy shell to cut through before the tougher filling which accounted for 10%. This centre looked a bit off-putting, in comparison. The translation wasn’t great but I could see it at least contained almond, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon so, arguably, that’s where the main flavours were. For some reason, though, the combination looked a bit like meat!

One of my main memories from previously trying baklava was its sweetness and this version contained 19% Greek sugar in addition to 20% glucose. With the honey, it was sticky to the touch, and all these sweet aspects provided a lovely juiciness in the midst of quite a chewy product.

I found this Snappy to be quite festive. Its scent was like a mild marzipan with a hint of the inner spices and, in the taste, I could really taste the nutmeg and cinnamon. The pastry was quite buttery and I liked the novelty of the crunchy nuts here and there too.

Whilst the product was full of flavour, I did find it a little dry in places on the outside. It wasn’t awful but the texture just wasn’t quite right. There was quite a lot of honey on the base which provided a fantastically sweet flavour and moisture and I would have loved this to have encapsulated the whole roll.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable treat which I’m glad I found. I was actually impressed that it didn’t contain more calories than it did as, what with all the sugar and greasiness from the honey, it didn’t feel particularly healthy!

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.38/10

Nakd Berry Cheeky

Product name: Nakd Berry Cheeky
Purchase details: £0.60 for a 30g bar or three for £1.20 (tesco.com)
Calories: 100 per bar
Country of origin: Britain

Next up in my reviews of the Nakd range from Natural Balance Foods is this ‘yummy’ Berry Cheeky bar that was made from raw fruit, oats and nuts. As with the Strawberry Crunch and Banana Bread, it contained no wheat or dairy.

The wrapper had the same design as the Banana Bread but used a red theme and pictures of a strawberry and a close-up raspberry. On reading the ingredients, I decided that it had been named ‘Cheeky’ because it was a bit misleading! The only berries in the bar were raspberries and strawberries which each contributed to 2% of the overall vegan product. In contrast, 37% of the product was dates, 26% was oats, 12% was raisins, 9% was peanuts, and even apple juice concentrate took up 8%. Almonds and walnuts also provided another 2% each, and there was some natural flavouring too. I don’t know about you, but that didn’t sound like berries were the main feature to me! On the plus side, I was pleased to see the different varieties of nuts that had been included.

The healthy snack was, again, brown in colour, and this variety looked more bitty and less pre-digested than the others – the nuts, in particular, were very evident through the baste of the bar. It also looked and felt a bit dry. It produced an earthy scent and, although there was an added ‘zing’, I didn’t find it very appetising.

As suggested by the appearance, the Nakd Berry Cheeky had a very different texture from the other types I’ve tried so far. It was soft and dry with a slightly rubbery crumble, but I liked how this was broken up with little chunks of nut, as well as the odd raspberry seed!

My initial thoughts on the taste were not good but, after a couple of chews, I found that the tangy berries really did make an impact on the flavour. Furthermore, the nuts all made a contribution, and I particularly enjoyed how the the almonds combined with the berries. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as keen on the aftertaste, as this left a bit of a muddy taste in my mouth.

As you’ve probably gathered, this wasn’t my favourite Nakd snack, although it was perfectly edible. I wouldn’t buy it again because there are so many other tastier flavours on offer in the range but, if that weren’t the case and I were in need of a healthy treat, I wouldn’t need much convincing to have another one of these!

Appearance: 6/10
Aroma: 4.5/10
Taste: 6.5/10
Texture: 6.5/10
Overall score: 5.88/10