J20 Bon Bons

I am officially on a mission to find the best tasting Bon Bons and thankfully for me, this retro sweet seems to be making a bit of a comeback. I've reviewed a few Bon Bons before, and the Sunkist ones are top of my leader board at the moment. I tend to stick to the more traditional flavours when it comes to a Bon Bon - strawberry, lemon and toffee and I like one with a good, solid chew. 

So with that in mind I thought I'd push the boat out and go for some more unusual flavours with these two J20 bags. 

Neither bag contain any artificial colourings or flavours, just remember this when you see what they look like!

J20 Exotic Fruit Dual Flavours 

A mix of dual colour and flavour chewy Bon Bons in your favorite J20 drink flavours - Apple & Blueberry, Apple & Mango, Orange & Passion fruit and  Apple & Raspberry

Lots of apple in this bag and come to think of it, I haven't actually tried an apple Bon Bon before. 

No single scent is immediately noticable, there is just an overall fruity smell to the sweets. 

They aren't the most appealing Bon Bons to look at, I think its all that green but I've not let appearances put me off before and I wasn't about to start now. The texture was spot on, a good, long lasting chew that stopped just short of jaw ache. 

The Orange & Passion Fruit were mainly orange to be truthful, I couldn't really taste the passion fruit but it wasnt quite a full on orange flavour - not as orange tasting as just an orange Bon Bon if that makes sense! Theres a hint of a little something else at the end of each sweet but it doesn't scream passion fruit. They are nice though. 

The Apple & Mango are very tasty, neither flavour is stronger than the other and again being completely honest neither were 100% identifiable as the fruit they were supposed to be but the mix together was lovely. 

In Apple & Raspberry the flavours were better. The raspberry is stronger than the apple but doesn't overpower it completely. I could still taste both in each Bon Bon. The two blend together nicely and were another I enjoyed. 

Apple & Blueberry were my least favorite out of the bag. I wasn't even sure I'd had one until I tried an apple & raspberry and realised by default these must have been the blueberry. The plainest out of the bag and a bit confusing considering I could clearly taste the apple in the other flavours. I couldn't taste the blueberry at all either.

I did like these sweets but my main issue with them was the fact three out of the four flavours were apple & something, it would have been nice to have a more varied mix of fruit. Although they didnt taste it at the time, they must have been mega sugary as I ended up with a sugar burnt tongue. I am the Queen of Pick'n'Mix and that never happens! 

6/10

J20 Glitter Berry 

Limited Edition Grape, Cherry & Spice Bon Bons 

I'm not sure whether these are three differently flavoured Bon Bons or each sweet is a mix of all three flavours and the packet (and taste) wasnt much help so this bag is reviewed as more of a whole rather than the individual flavours. 

The smell of cherry was most obvious in the bag, but they didn't smell very strong once I'd poured them out. 

They really dont look very nice do they.. But remember natural colours and ingredients so J20 (or Monty Bojangles, both are all over the pack?) should be applauded there. 

The chew was slightly different in this bag, some were as hard and chewy as before but some were a lot softer and after one or two chews seemed to dissolve away. Although I could kind of make out three differently coloured Bon Bons i couldnt taste much difference at all. Each one had a berry flavour, even though they smelt like cherry I could probably have been convinced it was a mild strawberry or even raspberry, just that general 'berry' flavour some sweets have. It was quite a dull taste anyway and quite boring to be honest. I expected the darker ones to have more flavour but they didnt taste any different from the lighter ones. 

I think (!) I tasted grape in one of the Bon Bons but it came and went so fast I pretty much missed it. It was like someone had forgotten to put the grape and spice flavour in the machine at the factory. I'd get a berry flavour which would disappear, and Id wait for the grape or spice to appear - it never did and then the berry would be back again. I had one small Bon Bon in the whole bag that was 100% cherry, no mistaking it but that was it. One solitary, small Bon Bon that seemed to have all the flavour concentrated in its tiny chewy shell. Who knows where the spice was!!

 Disappointing.  

5/10

  

Otis Spunkmeyer Blueberry Muffin

The fourth and final Otis Spunkmeyer muffin is Blueberry. As I said before chocolate has always been my choice of muffin but blueberry is one of the most popular flavours around the world and one that you'll find without fail wherever muffins are sold so it must be a good pairing! 

The now familiar buttery scent was all I could immediately smell once I'd opened the wrapper. Unlike with the Lemon and White Chocolate Muffin I soon smelt the blueberry too, it wasn't as strong as the muffin itself but it was clear that this wasn't a plain muffin - if it wasn't obvious enough from the huge blueberry chunks on the top and dotted throughout! 

Chances are you've read my previous Otis Spunkmeyer muffin reviews so I'll keep the description of the muffin itself to a minimum; moist, light, soft and buttery and despite actually having quite a solid feel isn't stodgy at all. 

Not only were there lots of blueberries but they were huge too. They were lovely and fresh tasting with a real juicy, fruity, natural blueberry flavour. Not only did they really add a delicious flavour to the rest of the muffin but the size of the pieces meant I really noticed the texture change, the slightly chewy chunks shone through the melt in the mouth muffin and I really looked forward to finding the bigger chunks hidden in each mouthful. 

I've really been missing out sticking to just chocolate!! 

Rating 8/10 

Ben & Jerrys Blueberry Cheesecake frozen yogurt

I've fallen back to my fail safe ice cream frozen yogurt brand for my fix this week. Ben & Jerry's new cookie core range has been pretty hyped up but this new Blueberry Cheesecake Greek style frozen yogurt has seemed to slip under the radar. 

It's actually an ice cream with Greek style yogurt, which I'd never noticed on the previous versions and explains why it seems so much creamier than other frozen yogurt brands. This tub is cheesecake flavoured with cookie and blueberry swirls. 

The base ice cream/frozen yogurt started off quite subtle, it's not bland at all but its not a strong flavour as is the case in the chocolate versions for instance. If you're planning on scooping into bowls or like me, eating straight from the tub, this softens quicker than ice cream - almost straight away it was scoopable. While it does soften up it doesn't melt though, it still had ice cream consistency even at the very bottom of my pint instead of ice cream soup. 

The cheesecake became more apparent the further into the tub I got, probably as the additions evened out more, and it's good. Still quite subtle but tasty nonetheless on its own, with a slight tang from the yogurt. I'd actually like to see this  used more I bet there's lots of other versions it would go well in. 

The brown/orange blob to the right of the picture is the cookie swirl. As usual the flavour is spot on, there's no mistake mistaking it and it's Ben & Jerry's usual sweet cookie. It's a bit different though, in that it's not like the cookie core - it was a lot more solid than that, but not quite as solid as the cookie dough pieces in the original versions. A cookie swirl does sum it up perfectly and it does keep the gritty texture which I loved in the cookie core ice creams though. At the top of the pint I had some very large swirls, which sort of drowned out the cheesecake and blueberry, but this evened out around the center and it was more enjoyable with even amounts of all 3. 

I really didn't expect my favourite part of this tub to be the blueberry, it's not a fruit I'd choose but I don't mind it. The taste here is extremely intense, I was expecting the normal fruit swirl here, sort of like the syrup or sauce you can buy in supermarkets but according to the ingredients it's actually 10% blueberry and 4% of that is blueberry purée. I suppose the fact it's a purée is what gives it the very vibrant blueberry taste, but I think that's what gives it it's texture too. 

 It tastes and feels luxurious, and the juicy soft fruit, thick creamy slightly tangy ice cream and gritty cookies compliment each other well. From start to finish all 3 components stayed as they should, no frozen solid lumps or soggy pools. Cadbury take note ;-)

 This is one I'll most  definitely be buying again. 

Rating 8/10 

Odds And Sods

I've tried a couple of bits over the last few months that didn't really warrant a whole post of their own so I've decided to lump them all together in one random post here.

E. Wedel Leśny Duet.

When I purchased this bar in Tesco I assumed it was the strawberry bar I had seen online - I really should learn to look properly before I buy things! It turns out this is a milk chocolate with blueberry and wild strawberry filling. According to the ingredients on the back the filling contains 0.6% blueberry juice and 0.3% wild strawberry pulp.

 The bar itself looks like the E. Wedel bars I've had before and I enjoyed the filling in those bars so I was looking forward to trying this one.

I was very surprised to find a sort of jelly inside, I was expecting more of a cream but I am glad it wasn't. The jelly is a great textural difference to most other filled bars and there is a generous amount inside each square. I wouldn't say one flavour overpowered the other but considering there is more blueberry than strawberry I could taste the strawberry a little more - maybe that's because it is pulp rather than juice.

I enjoyed this and from what I can see on the packet there are two more in this range - one looks like pear and grape (?!) and I can't work out what the other picture is for the life of me but I'll be keeping my eyes peeled!

Rating 7/10

Toffee Crisp Sharing Block

I'm very very late with the review for this bar, I actually ate it in September but I didn't bother with my review as I'm pretty sure everyone on my blog roll (>>> have a look!) has reviewed this as soon as it was out.

I liked this as a stand alone bar, it definitely tastes like Toffee Crisp but I do prefer the original, it's crunchier and I think these flavours work better in a nice thick block rather than a thin bar. That said if I'd tried this before I'd ever had an original Toffee Crisp the rating would easily be an 8 based on flavour.

Rating another 7/10

Heinz Tuscan Beanz

I didn't get a photo of these once they were plated up I got stuck right in! I had them for a while but I wasn't too sure what to serve them with, the Heinz website suggests poured over chicken or with pork chops but I didn't fancy that. Instead I had them with a cheap bit of frying steak (I would never ruin my good steak with beans!!).

I actually really enjoyed these, the sauce was still a tomato sauce but there were peppers mixed in too aswell as roasted garlic and basil. These felt like a more grown up tin of beans to me - they wouldn't go well on toast or even a jacket potato in my opinion. They're more of a side to a Mediterranean style dish, and go nicely with a "proper" dinner.

Rating 8/10

Double Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cookie Dough Bites

I hunted these down after trying the dark chocolate cookie dough bites and finally got them in a MR Simms Emporium shop, although Tesco have started restocking them now - typical!

Once open they really smell of fudge brownie. That part is spot on - they smell like Ben and Jerrys Chocolate Fudge Brownie without the ice cream if that makes sense. Sadly they don't really taste like they smell.

These are just as moreish as the Dark Chocolate version, and they are pretty tasty but they taste of chocolate bites. I can't even compare them to anything, imagine a ball of maybe chocolate button but with a bit of crunch inside? They're basically the same as the first version I tried but milk chocolate instead of dark and kind of missing the cookie dough - replaced instead with a nice smelling but non existent tasting fudge brownie filling. I've confused myself so I'm probably confusing anyone reading this but after the lovely smell the lack of taste in the filling was dissapointing. I would rename these solid chocolate crunchie bites.

Rating 6/10

The Collective Dairy Russian Fudge

I've tried this yogurt before, it's not new or a limited edition but it's too good not to make a post on it. This flavour is Russian fudge and according to The Collective Dairy this is a New Zealand sweet (otherwise known to us as Scottish Tablet? I just always assumed that was fudge).  It’s a live gourmet plan yogurt with fudge swirled throughout, though it's not really a swirl more like a giant splattering.

The keep fresh seal made me smile.

In this photo it looks quite watery, I probably should have given it a stir but I wanted to show how much fudge is dumped in this! The flavour is just pure fudge, just like real fudge not the cheap stuff you get in a pick and mix or the sweet shop. Good buttery creamy fudge. Mixed with the plain yogurt this is delicious.

And it's not just a layer at the top or bottom like other yogurts, this fudge is all the way through. I absolutely love it.

Rating 9/10

A special mention to the Banoffi flavour too, it's only available in 150g tubs and I'm afraid I ate that before I even thought of reviewing it.