Category: Spotted on Shelves

Update: Click here to read our Post Limited Edition Pebbles Boulders review

I wonder if kids nowadays know Fred Flintstone as the main character of a 1960s cartoon or as the fatso on the front of Pebbles cereals boxes? I’d find out myself by producing some children of my own, but I thought it would be faster, cheaper, and less poop-filled to just ask those who already have young children.

The reason why I bring Mr. Flintstone up is because his mug is on another Pebbles cereal. This time it’s the Limited Edition Caramel Apple Pebbles Boulders, which consists of two types of cereal — brown, caramel-flavored, boulder-shaped cereal and green, apple-flavored, bone-shaped cereal.

Limited Edition Caramel Apple Pebbles Boulders boasts it has more whole grain than Honey Nut Cheerios. So does that mean it may also help lower cholesterol like Honey Nut Cheerios?

A 3/4 cup serving of Pebbles Boulders without milk has 110 calories, 10 calories from fat, 1.5 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of monounsaturated fat, 0.5 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 75 milligrams of sodium, 50 milligrams of potassium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 8 grams of sugar, 12 grams of other carbohydrates, and is fortified with a bunch of vitamins and minerals.

I thought we reviewed all the new Häagen-Dazs flavors released this year (Sweet Chai Latte, Caramel Apple Pie, and Blueberry Crumble), but yesterday I learned we didn’t when a Häagen-Dazs press release showed up in my RSS feeds. So I now have to get out my whip made from Red Vines and force TIB’s writers to review more Häagen-Dazs ice cream and desserts. Here are the flavors we haven’t reviewed yet.

Häagen-Dazs Cranberry Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream: Rich, creamy pumpkin ice cream is balanced with swirls of tart cranberry filling, then lightly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg – a holiday classic. Flavor Top Notes: Warm pumpkin pie, a zing of nutmeg. Flavor Finish Notes: Tangy cranberry with a hint of spice.

Häagen-Dazs Spiced Peach Crumble Ice Cream (Walmart exclusive): Peak-flavor peaches are cooked to perfection, lightly spiced and stirred into sweet cream with nuggets of buttery crust. Flavor Top Notes: Fruity peaches, warm nutmeg and cinnamon. Flavor Finish Notes: Lingering butter and sweet summer peach.

Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Almond Frozen Yogurt: Crunchy roasted almonds are sliced and blended with rich, indulgent chocolate frozen yogurt.

Häagen-Dazs Blackberry Cabernet Sorbet: Tender, ripe blackberries and the distinctive flavor of cabernet grapes combine to create this dark, intense sorbet.

For those of you looking to fill your brain with knowledge that will come in handy if you happen to face IBM’s Watson in a battle of answering trivia questions to determine whether the supercomputer takes over the world, David Klein is the inventor of Jelly Belly jelly beans.

You’re welcome, Planet Earth.

Although Mr. Klein is no longer at Jelly Belly, he’s still creating candy and this week at the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago he, along with Leaf Brands, will debut David’s Signature Beyond Gourmet Jelly Beans, which according to the press release, “is the first confectionary product of its kind: blending exotic cuisine and luxury candy.”

How exotic can jelly beans get?

Imagine chewing on jelly beans that taste like “the world’s finest and most exotic spices, herbs, roots, flowers, fruits, and nuts specific to world culture.” A couple of David’s Signature Beyond Gourmet Jelly Beans sets include “Tastes Around the World” and “Hot Peppers Around the World.” Oh I wish for a habanero jelly bean for me to chew on and then immediately spit out.

The jelly beans allow eaters to create in their mouth the flavor of complex dishes using different jelly bean varieties.

Finally, David’s Signature Beyond Gourmet Jelly Beans will also include a rare product that includes a “special blend” of the rarest and most exotic ingredients in the world, which will be enclosed in a 24-karat gold bean. All of that will be placed in a crystal jar. The price tag for these rare jelly beans and the packaging it comes in is set at $500.

Update:

Each pack of Mentos’ new UP2U Gum contains two flavors and according to the packaging it’s up to you to decide which flavor you’re going to choose to chew.

It sounds like a simple decision to make, but let me make it complex for you. Mentos UP2U Gum comes in four varieties: Daylight Mint/Mintnight Mint, Sweet Mint/Bubble Fresh, Berry Watermelon/Fresh Mint, and Mandarin Strawberry/Spearmint.

So you’re going to have to choose between those four varieties, but before that you have to choose which checkout line you’re going to wait in. Do you go with unfriendly male cashier who scans items quickly, but sucks at bagging goods? Or do you go with the talkative female cashier who asks you how you’re doing, but stops scanning in order to do so?

Once you pick a checkout line, which is where you’ll most likely find the Mentos UP2U Gum, you’ll then have to choose between the four varieties and you have to do it before the cashier rings up the people in front of you. Depending on what the shoppers in front of you are purchasing and whether or not you have a slow cashier, you have somewhere between 30 seconds to 4 minute to decide. You could buy all of them, but do you really chew that much gum?

Once you’ve chosen your pack, you’ve narrowed it down to two flavors, but I prefer to not think of them as flavors. Instead, I think of them as what your breath is going to smell like. What your breath smells like as you chew Mentos UP2U Gum could determine whether or not you get that first kiss, or whether or not your co-workers feel comfortable working closely with you, or it’ll determine if your grandma will kiss you on the cheek or mouth.

Good luck with choosing which flavor to chew.

Each pack of sugarfree Mentos UP2U Gum contains 14 pieces and will retail for $1.49.

Whenever I put a spoonful of sugar in my iced tea or a pinch of sugar on my cereal or a sprinkle of sugar on ice cream or dump half a box of sugar on the ground to attract ants so that I can burn them with the sun and a magnifying glass, I wonder if it’s possible to give sugar properties that go beyond rotting my teeth and making me gain weight when I consume it with my iced tea, cereal, and ice cream. For example, sugar with calcium or sugar with caffeine.

While Splenda isn’t pure sugar, it now comes in new varieties that have added nutritional benefits.

The new line of zero calorie artificial sweeteners is called Splenda Essentials and they come in three varieties. Splenda Essentials with Fiber offers one gram of fiber per packet; Splenda Essentials with B Vitamins has 20 percent of the daily values of vitamins B1, B5 and B6 per packet; and Splenda Essentials with Antioxidants contains 20 percent of the daily values of vitamins C and E per packet.

All three Splenda Varieties are available in 80-count boxes of packets and have a suggested retail price of $4.29. Splenda Essentials with Fiber is also available in a 1.6-pound carton and a 3-pound resealable bag and retail for $4.99 and $7.49, respectively.