There are a variety of popcorn brands to choose from, but last night I was feeling like getting something a little healthy and picked the only two brands offered at my local grocery store that didn’t have partially hydrogenated oil in it. So you have your Smart Balance (which I am a fan of their buttery spread) and Newman’s Own.
We started off with Newman’s Own:
This was okay, nothing too exciting. Just your average tasting popcorn. We felt it just barely had enough butter and salt to give it any flavor but of course it dd say “light butter” on the package so we weren’t expecting huge flavor anyway.
There was an odd smell that I couldn’t really find words for but Ethan said it had a slight kettle corn quality scent when we first opened the bag. In the end we agreed that this popcorn was “acceptable”. Nothing great but not bad either.
Smart Balance:
This was also light butter flavor but it tasted like no flavor and started to leave a waxy taste in my mouth after a couple of handfuls.
I was surprised from the lack of flavor since their butter spread is so good, but Ethan and I both felt like it was just plain popcorn and it made Newman’s Own seem like it had movie theatre butter on it.
Wrap up:
We chose Newman’s Own because it had more detectable butter and salt. Which was very light but compared to Smart Balance it was just enough to taste like something and SB was void of any flavor, plus left that waxy film in my mouth so we wouldn’t get SB again.
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This doesn’t look like anything any mama would make, never mind the sweet old lady on the package. Ethan and I found this to be pretty tasteless. I felt the only ingredient that had any flavor was the pepperoni. Ethan was more disappointed by the lacking crust.
For all that Mama Celeste isn’t, Mr. P is less. Ethan found the dough kind of gummy, even though we cooked it according to the directions. The entire thing just lacked flavor all over and didn’t have enough cheese, although I’m not sure of that would have improved the product. No wonder he doesn’t show his picture like Mama does.
Nesquik had a great chocolatey aroma which I was hoping hinted at the intensity of chocolate flavor.
Hood didn’t have a sweet chocolate smell like Nesquik did but we both found the taste was a more sincere chocolate flavor. Ethan said it tasted like when you ignore the suggested amount of powder to add to make chocolate milk and add an extra tablespoon (or two). I liked that this didn’t taste as chemically and would like to think that it was a more pure form of this drink.
These were kind of bland except for the salt flavor. We could see the seasoning but Ethan and I felt they tasted similar to Saltines. We liked the texture though, it was light and sort of flaky. Overall not a bad cracker.
Minglers were a bit toastier looking and much harder in consistency than Sociables. The taste was a little more flavorful probably from dehydrated vegetable flakes but there was still an absence of any enjoyable flavor.
Everyone agreed that these were very sweet and moist. my brother-in-law Rick really liked the cream. I like the cream and how the chocolate coating stayed on even when cutting or biting into. Steph said she liked the consistency and mom said she thought it was okay but would like it if it had more chocolate flavor.
Despite the orange color the creme has the same vanilla flavor as the Little D rolls. Mom and Rick though these were more moist. The cream didn’t seem as sweet as Debbie’s but considering how extremely sweet those were that wasn’t abad thing. Mom liked that these had more chocolate flavor, although we all noted and weren’t crazy about how easily the cocolate coating flaked off.
These were firm and had a nice yield to the bite. The flavor is sweet but nicely balanced with a vanilla overtone. At least we think it’s vanilla. Ethan said he kind of felt like it was maple but knew it wasn’t. We noticed the package said these contain real honey so I’m sure that helped give these their pleasant taste.
These were a little paler in color and it turned out in taste too. There was a lack of flavor other than just sugar/corn syrup. The texture was pretty good though since it was very similar to Brach’s.
I like Crunch’s thinness, I kind of compare it with getting deli meat sliced extra thin. Ethan and I agreed that there was plenty of rice crisps generously distributed throughout the bar. The only let down is the chocolate, which is lacking good chocolate flavor. Ethan said it was tasteless and I took another bite and agreed even though the wrapper claims “Now Even Richer Milk Chocolate”, it just seemed like a bland vehicle for the rice crisps.
This bar was thicker and much sturdier than Crunch. The rice crisps dwelled at the bottom of the bar and seemed disproportionate to the amount of chocolate. I liked the taste of the chocolate better but Ethan said it was “gross” and “powdery”.
Fig Newtons have a nice golden brown color on the outside of the cookie. I haven’t had these in a while but the cookie seemed kind of dry, Ethan agreed but liked the sweet flavor of it anyway. The fig filling had a nice thick texture and dense fig flavor. I think it’s the best part of the Newton.
These were a little lighter, the cookie was thicker and not as well proportioned as far as cookie-to-fig ratio. I know it doesn’t look like it but the cookie was so thick, it masked the fig “experience”. I detected a weird chemical taste too. Ethan didn’t seemed to be bothered by it and liked the sweetness of the cookie
I don’t really have a history with these but Ethan said he used to eat them when he was in High School and liked them. We were both surprised that these didn’t really taste like anything. The only thing “donuty” about these is the shape. The powdered sugar doesn’t even taste like sugar and the dough is just flavorless, dry cake.
Walgreen’s version actually had some taste to it. The powdered sugar tasted sweet and the cake had a slight lemon flavor that complimented the sugar. These donuts were also not quite as dry as hostess and we found ourselves enjoying these more.