Annie's Homegrown Cheddar Bunnies

In my teenage years, I did my share of babysitting, and undoubtedly at some point during the day, the kids and I would get hungry for snacks. Almost every parent said “help yourself to anything in the kitchen,” but it meant more in some houses than in others. I will never forget the all natural “animal crackers” I had at the home of a particularly earth-conscientious family – the things tasted like cardboard.

All natural food has come a long way. This box of Annie’s Homegrown Cheddar Bunnies came from Target for $1.99 US. I was immediately drawn in by the plentiful cute bunnies, including Bernie, the mascot. These baked bunnies are all-natural, but they fall into the same product category as Cheez-Its and Goldfish crackers, and they are made without additives or preservatives.


They smelled mildly of cheddar, and had a good crunch. The cheddar cheese flavor was mild throughout, probably to appeal to children, and the level of saltiness was about right for me. There was no oily residue or bad aftertaste, which I attribute (possibly incorrectly) to the lack of preservatives.

Overall, I enjoyed these crackers about as much as I can enjoy a cheese cracker (not my usual snacking choice). I loved the clean feeling and the cute shape, but I wish the cheddar cheese taste was sharper. It’s been a while since I’ve had other cheese crackers, but Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies definitely stand up to the competition, and in my opinion, the non-oily aftertaste gives Annie’s the edge.

B+

Annie's Homegrown website

Oral Fixation Mojito Mints

The other night, my husband was making beer chili, and when he was almost done adding the ingredients, we realized that we didn't have any beer. I dashed out to the little local grocery store, but even though I only needed one thing, I got a little distracted in the candy aisle just before checking out.

I was vaguely aware of the gourmet chocolate and candy selection at this particular store, but I hadn't looked in a while. The sexy, elegant packaging of Oral Fixation sugar free mints ($1.99 US) called out to me, and I knew I had to try them. I went with Mojito, but there were at least 4 other flavors available. For the record, I also took home some Tazo Mexican chocolate and a Lake Champlain chocolate bar, but I'll review those later.


Each mint had a star on one side and the word "FIX" on the other. They were about the same size and shape as Altoids, but Oral Fix mints were uniform. Each mint was easy to get at once the stylish but slightly annoying wax paper insert was pushed out of the way. Immediately, I noticed was how nice and smooth the mints felt on my tongue. I haven't had too many actual mojitos, so it was hard to judge the authenticity of the flavor.

The lime flavor was mild just a bit tangy on the tongue happy to take a backseat to the very cool, slightly sweet mint. The mints did a pretty good job of freshening my breath without feeling sever or painful. The Oral Fixation brand name was quite appropriate, because it was tough for me to eat just one mint. I was popping 3 to 4 in a row, sometimes 2 at a time. I'd love to try other flavors, especially since I'll be out of the Mojito very soon. Tip: when you're done, the tin makes a great business car holder!

A-

Oral Fixation website

Morinaga Pretty Cure Mixed Fruit Chew

Press Sample
This product is well aware of its audience. I am not a part of that audience, but I probably would have been drawn to this packaging when I was in elementary school. This Morinaga chew, provided by Tsunami.hk, features characters from an animated show called Futari wa Pretty Cure, which falls into the same genre as Sailor Moon.

I was a big fan of Sailor Moon when I was in middle school, and to be honest, I'm still a fan of prismatic packaging. This Pretty Cure candy even comes with a prismatic sticker. Still, despite my love of all things cute (especially Hello Kitty), this packaging doesn't really appeal to me. I should mention that this candy comes from China.


She's a scientist, just like me!
Before I looked up what the Chinese characters for the flavor meant, I popped one of the candies into my mouth and tried to guess. Banana? Orange? Star fruit? Sugar? I was completely at a loss. It turns out that all my guesses were correct - the characters meant mixed fruit. The chews were almost scentless and had a very mild tropical fruit flavor.

As I mentioned, this is a Morinaga product, and the texture was similar to that of Hi-chew, but these were firmer and not as bouncy (and therefore less satisfying). Overall, I was underwhelmed. They were edible, but there was nothing that made me want to eat more than necessary to write this review. I'm sure these would please children, who tend not to be picky when it comes to candy, but they just didn't work for me.

D

Morinaga website

Hageland Pear & Almonds

Up until now, I've only tried Hageland's limited origin bars, but the last time I was in the candy aisle at Wal-Mart, the Pear & Almonds bar called out to me. Pear is one of those fruits that I love as a fruit but not as a flavoring, but based on my history with Hageland, I convinced myself that this time would be different.

According to the back of the box, the Hageland County in Belgium is famous for growing pears. The natural pear flavor joins almonds, 57% dark chocolate, and an unexpected emulsifier: soy lecithin (non-GMO, less than 0.5%). Right away, I noticed the bar was softer than other dark chocolate Hageland bars.


The bar smells of roasted almonds and bitter cocoa, but the first taste is all pear. It's so strong that it reminds me of banana, and that's not a good thing. Luckily, the pear taste fades very quickly, leaving behind only almond and dark chocolate. The chocolate is of the quality I've come to expect from Hageland, and the almond flavor has melded with the chocolate for a lovely mixture.

The snap of the chocolate must be affected by the other ingredients, as the bar was softer than expected. The slivered almonds and pear granules are so crunchy that it almost seemed like the nuts were candied. The texture was certainly pleasant and aside from the first hit of pear, the flavor was pretty good, but I much prefer Hageland's standalone bars. I think it all comes down to how you feel about pears in chocolate.

B-

Hageland Website

Magic Spice Soup Curry Caramel

Finally, it's part 3 of my Japanese caramel mini-series. I've saved the strangest for last -- these are Hokkaido limited soup curry caramels. I was never a particularly picky eater, but I find that as I get older, there are fewer and fewer foods I don't like. For a long time, asparagus was the devil, but it's become one of my favorite vegetables. Although I'm no Andrew Zimmern, there aren't too many foods that gross me out, either.

And yet, for some reason, I was afraid these particular caramels. It was pretty irrational, since I love almost every kind of curry I've ever tried. The idea isn't particularly gross either, since curry flavored sweets aren't unheard of. Still, they taunted me, and it took a little courage to pop one into my mouth.


The pieces were about 1.5 cm long and smelled just like curry udon. The spice was very bold at first, like the caramel had simply been dipped in curry powder. The spice was a little hot, too, giving a slight burn at the back of my throat just a bit stronger than cinnamon.

Sweetness was completely an afterthought, but under that strong curry flavor, the buttery caramel was there. The combination worked much better than I thought it would, and the chew was quite pleasant, despite a bit of graininess right at the finish. To my surprise, I enjoyed these, and would happily eat them again. They're also great to share, since they're bound to catch people off guard.

B+