Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream: Satisfy my bowl

Product name: Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream: Satisfy my bowl
Purchase details: £2.24 for a 500ml tub (tesco.com)
Calories: 255 per 100ml serving

I seriously don’t know how I survived for so many years without having tried the delights of Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. This Fairtrade Satisfy my bowl tub was a special edition to mark the 30^th anniversary of Bob Marley’s Legend album, and also supported the 1Love Foundation which funds a youth-empowerment programme in Jamaica.

I was really interested in this ice cream since it was banana flavoured (it contained 4% banana puree) but also had cookie (6%) and caramel (9%) swirls and ‘chocolatey peace signs’ (4%). To fit in with the Caribbean theme, the usual green field of the branding was replaced with a sandy beach and a cow playing a guitar. However, the pale blue sky meant the packaging was still recognisably Ben & Jerry’s.

For this variety, a 100ml serving equated to 91g, and 23% of the product was cream itself. The ice cream was pale in colour but did have some visible caramel swirls. The chocolate chunks were presented as thick discs with raised peace signs, although the visibility of this finer detail varied.

As usual for frozen products, this didn’t emit any kind of smell, but the flavour was immense and felt like a full-on dessert. I allowed my ice cream to soften a fair amount before trying it and it was ridiculously creamy! Adding to this, the banana flavour was really strong, but then there was also a lovely, sugary taste from the caramel. I can’t say I really noticed the cookie swirls as a feature but, in contrast, the size and abundance of the chocolate made a massive difference to the experience. It tasted just liked ice cream chocolate sauce but its format meant it provided a crunchy texture amid the juicy, thick, but not completely smooth ice cream.

Whilst this tub of Satisfy my bowl wasn’t quite up there with the amazing Peanut butter cup, it did feel really special and it’s a shame it was only a limited edition.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 5/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.13/10

Nestlé Yorkie: Peanut

Product name: Nestlé Yorkie: Peanut
Purchase details: £0.60 for a 43g bar or three for £1.20 (Tesco)
Calories: 248 per bar
Country of origin: UK

Well this is one exciting, new and limited edition product that nearly passed me by! I hadn’t (and still haven’t) heard a thing about the Nestlé Yorkie: Peanut but saw them mixed in with a stand of other Yorkie bars in Tesco. Once I’d convinced myself that the unusual jet black wrapper wasn’t an indication of Hallowe’en or dark chocolate, it went straight into my basket!

Choosing to ignore the typically sexist slogan of ‘man fuel for man stuff’, this bar was described as ‘chunky milk chocolate with peanuts (25%)’ which were roasted. The chocolate consisted of a minimum of 25% cocoa solids and 14% milk solids and was part of Nestlé’s Cocoa Plan.

The bar was the same in style as the Raisin & biscuit and was divided into five pieces that were full of dark-centred peanuts (the fact the chocolate splintered when I cut into it demonstrates how full each piece was!). These produced a really strong nutty scent that actually smelt a lot like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

The Yorkie’s chocolate itself was unchanged from the usual kind and it tasted nice and sweet against the nuts – I particularly loved the roasted aspect of these. It had a nice yet chunky melt but the bar was also really satisfying to chew as the nuts were really crunchy. To my amazement, the flavour was very similar to peanut butter, and the overall product reminded me of a simpler Reese's Nutrageous.

I genuinely didn’t expect this bar to be as good as it was but it was such a delight to eat. I’m gutted it’s only a limited edition...please don’t take it away from me!

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 8/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 8.38/10

Fox's Party Rings: Raspberry ripple

Product name: Fox’s Party Rings: Raspberry ripple
Purchase details: £0.50 for a 125g packet (Asda)
Calories: 27 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK

I was really excited when I first heard about the ice cream-inspired limited editions of some of Fox’s classic biscuits but it took me ages to track them down. Thankfully, I managed to find them all at an amazing £0.50 a packet in Asda, and the first variety I’m reviewing is the Party Rings: Raspberry ripple.

These excitingly-flavoured ‘iced shortcake rings’ came in colourful raspberry and baby pink packaging which was less ‘busy’ than the standard version but also contained Vinnie the panda. I’ve mentioned before that I found his image a bit unappetising (see here) but he’d had a bit of a makeover, here, and actually looked quite cute with a drop of melted ice cream on his ear!

The packet contained around 20 biscuits that were free of artificial colours, flavours and preservatives. There was no specific mention of raspberries on the ingredients so, what the flavourings contained, I’m not sure.

The rings looked almost identical to one of the standard Party Rings but seemed a tiny bit smaller – I’m not sure if I’m going mad?! To my delight, they genuinely smelt of Mr Whippy ice cream with raspberry sauce, and I couldn’t wait to tuck in.

I was impressed that the flavour was pretty realistic and did taste like raspberry ripple ice cream, although it was so sweet that there was a slight sherbet element too. They were absolutely full of flavour but also pretty sugary so, unusually for me, I would have liked a little bit more focus on the cream rather than the sugar.

Texturally, these biscuits were as standard for Party Rings, but the icing’s surface was a bit rougher on the tongue, and it seemed to add a juiciness to the flavour too.

This was such an interesting twist on a classic and it’s such a shame that it’s only intended to be a limited edition!

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

Nestlé Aero: Bubbly mousse (orange & choc)

Product name: Nestlé Aero: Bubbly mousse (orange & choc)
Purchase details: £0.50 for a pack of four mousses (Asda)
Calories: 84 per 58g mousse
Country of origin: UK

I tried the white chocolate and mint versions of Nestlé Aero: Bubbly mousse a couple of years ago so, when I saw a limited edition orange version was available, I couldn’t wait to try it. My relatively recent enjoyment of the orange bar helped too, as did the great price!

The packaging’s design was very much linked with the wrappers found on the chocolate bars. There was also an image of a spoonful of the mousse and, although I liked the look of the chocolate swirl, I did think the combination of the consistency and orange colour was a bit unnerving! However, the colours weren’t artificial, and I knew that the orange flavour was also natural. In addition, the mousse part of this ‘orange flavoured bubbly dessert with chocolate sauce’ made up 88% of the product and, within that, 68% was whole milk – not exactly a scary prospect!

In the end, the actual mousse did have a generally attractive appearance, but it really reminded me of Hallowe’en because the chocolate ripple looked a bit like a spider’s web on an orange backdrop. Unfortunately, I hate Hallowe’en with a passion, so this wasn’t a good thing for me!

In better news, the mousse had a nice orange aroma, although it was more subtle than the chocolate bar's scent. I also really enjoyed the way the soft, foamy texture melted in the mouth.

 

Initially, the flavour didn’t grab me. Rather than tasting like orange chocolate, it was like milk with a hint of orange and stronger cocoa hints. I also felt that it was a bit artificial, despite the evidence to the contrary. Thankfully, though, the flavour improved as I went on, and I particularly enjoyed the bits which contained more of the chocolate sauce – I’d never really appreciated before just how important the chocolate is in orange-flavoured chocolate!

On the whole, I thought this was a great product for the calories. The serving size was decent, both in appearance and, despite the air, in weight. I would have preferred a stronger orange flavour with more of a kick but this was still great as an everyday kind of snack.

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.25/10