Tag: Condiment

REVIEW: Jif Peanut Butter & Chocolate Spread

Marvo 4 Comments

Jif has created its Peanut Butter & Chocolate Spread to compete with Nutella, or as referred to on this Jif jar and in the rest of this review, “the leading hazelnut spread with cocoa.” In the back of my mind, I recall another Jif peanut butter and chocolate spread, but I don’t remember when it happened. If only there was a site that’s been around for over 20 years that focuses on new store products. It would probably know.

The foods I tried this Jif Peanut Butter & Chocolate Spread with were unadventurous — whole wheat bread, plain Greek yogurt, and apple slices. I also tasted it straight from the jar with a spoon. They all were wonderful and tasty ways to consume the spread. The peanut butter and chocolate are balanced so well that if you blind taste-tested it, it might be difficult to tell if a peanut butter brand added chocolate to its product or a chocolate brand made a spread and added peanut butter.

However, while tasty, it lacks that addictive quality that makes me steal Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and all its chocolatey and peanut buttery ilk from my kid’s Halloween stash. Yes, I am a monster, a monster that loves Reese’s. I would never sink to that slime of the Earth level to steal this spread from my son. Also, I don’t find it as great tasting as the leading hazelnut spread with cocoa, which I find more decadent.

But there are a few things about Jif’s Peanut Butter & Chocolate Spread that the leading hazelnut spread with cocoa can’t compete with — it has 50 percent less sugar and has more than twice the protein. It also has a thicker consistency and spreads, not surprisingly, like peanut butter.

As I mentioned earlier, the leading hazelnut spread with cocoa is more decadent than this, but both are great. However, with its protein and lower sugar content, Jif’s Peanut Butter & Chocolate Spread could be eaten daily, while the other seems like a sometimes spread because it’s more of a treat.

DISCLOSURE: I received free product samples from Jif. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 15 oz jar
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 Tbsp) 200 calories, 15 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 85 milligrams of sodium, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 10 grams of sugar (including 8 grams of added sugar), and 5 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Heinz Dip & Crunch

Tiffany 5 Comments

Heinz Dip Crunch Containers

What is it?

Inspired by #FoodTok (TikToks about food), Kraft Heinz’s new Dip & Crunch is a combo pack of burger sauce and crushed-up potato chips (crunchers).

Apparently, it’s a social media trend to dip your burger into different sauces and coat them with potato chips for more flavor and texture. Who knew?!

Dip & Crunch launched in two flavors – secret sauce and spicy sauce.

How is it?

I don’t know why, but I felt compelled to purchase McDonald’s to pair with this. My usual homemade burger just didn’t feel right for the occasion!

The sauces were both orange-ish in color. The secret sauce had floating bits of relish, as expected, whereas the spicy one looked a bit smoother.

Heinz Dip Crunch Dips

They both smelled pungent and vinegary with a mayo-like linger. The crunchers smelled stale because oil was the only thing I could discern. They looked like regular ol’ potato chips – a la Lay’s Original as opposed to wavy or kettle style. It tasted stale and was texturally a bit soft, but I wasn’t expecting much from the crunchers because Heinz doesn’t make chips on the regular.

Heinz Dip Crunch Burger

But it does make condiments! So, I was a little disappointed by the secret sauce. It didn’t really do much to enhance my burger’s flavor. There was a smidge of tanginess but overall wasn’t very flavorful. However, I really enjoyed the spicy one. It ate like spicy mayo – spicy, tangy with a bit of sweetness. I was pleasantly surprised that it actually had some heat to it!

Anything else you need to know?

Heinz Dip Crunch McNuggets

I honestly preferred to Dip & Crunch my McNuggets and fries instead. My favorite combination was the McDonald’s Sweet & Sour Sauce with the potato crunchers. The Mickey D fries’ texture compensates for the chip’s staleness, and the fast food sauce provided better stickage.

Heinz Dip Crunch McD Sauce

Conclusion:

I like playing with my food, and this is a fun way to do just that. With free sauces at fast food joints and way fresher potato chips, if self-crushed, I probably won’t buy this again.

Purchased Price: $1.89 each
Size: 2.75 oz
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 5 out of 10 (Secret Sauce), 6 out of 10 (Spicy Sauce)
Nutrition Facts: (1 package) Secret Sauce and Crunchers – 430 calories, 40 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 480 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 2 grams of total sugar, and 2 grams of protein. Spicy Sauce and Crunchers – 440 calories, 41 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 15 milligrams of cholesterol, 480 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 2 grams of total sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Cinnamon Toast Crunch Creamy Cinnamon Spread

Marvo 5 Comments

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Creamy Cinnamon Spread Jar

According to the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Creamy Cinnamon Spread’s jar, it’s a product of Greece. But after touching the jar, pulling back the foil lid, and trying to keep the tan condiment on a butter knife, I began to wonder if it’s also a product of grease.

Before getting a chance to sample the spread, my first experience with the CTC spread was wondering why my fingers felt as if I’d just eaten pizza after touching the unopened glass jar. After inspecting the screw-on plastic lid and foil safety seal, it appears there wasn’t any leakage. But when I tried to remove the foil seal, only the golden top layer peeled away, leaving behind a fragile paper layer that broke into pieces as I attempted to remove it. I suspect this happened because the sample I received from B&G Foods was transported on its side, and the oils in the spread partially penetrated the foil seal.

As for the spread itself, it’s goopy, has an aroma that makes me wonder if I should stick a wick in it, and comes in a color that a paint brand might call “Camel Hump Tan.” Well, I’m used to goopy because the Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter I use slides off the knife as easily as this CTC spread does. Its ingredients include canola and palm oils, which might explain this cinnamon condiment’s viscosity and oiliness.

While it’s goopy and smells a little off, its flavor is surprisingly delicious. Along with being a product of Greece, the jar also says it “delivers the epic taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch with notes of brown sugar and graham flavor.” However, it doesn’t have me thinking this is a Cinnamon Toast Crunch-flavored slurry. But it does taste like something as tasty as the cereal — cinnamon rolls. Well, more specifically, the sweet stuff within the cinnamon rolls’ rolls. You know, the best part. There’s also a noticeable brown sugar flavor (which makes sense since it’s the spread’s first ingredient), but I didn’t get any graham notes.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Creamy Cinnamon Spread Toast

I spread it on bread, dipped pears into it, and swirled it in my overnight oats. With every application, I got a bold and wonderful cinnamon roll-like flavor. If I had the inclination and ability to bake up a batch of cinnamon rolls, I’d use this instead of the standard icing. Overall, its taste makes up for it being as slippery as a greasy pig.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free product sample from B&G Foods. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 10 oz jar
Purchased at: Received from B&G Foods
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 tbsp/30 grams) 160 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 75 milligrams of sodium, 18 grams of carbohydrates, 18 grams of sugar (16 grams of added sugar), and 2 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Boar’s Head Apple Pie Dessert Hummus

Karen 14 Comments

Boar s Head Apple Pie Dessert Hummus Tub

What is Boar’s Head Apple Pie Dessert Hummus?

For some reason, and I don’t know why this happened, someone at Boar’s Head decided that apple pie and hummus belonged together. Weirdly, they were right.

How is it?

Boar s Head Apple Pie Dessert Hummus Top

This hummus does its job of mimicking apple pie a little too well. I was expecting a vague apple flavor and tons of sugary sweetness, but it’s more complex than that. The flavor actually tastes like the syrup-soaked pieces of piecrust that you get in the bottom of a dish of any halfway decent pie, also known as “the best part.” I was expecting them to go heavy on the apple, and instead they went all-in on the crust. The usual chickpea flavor of hummus was barely even discernable.

This left me in a weird kind of dessert purgatory, because even though the flavor evoked pie, the grainy hummus texture did not. My mouth kept looking for the tactile feeling of a crisp and buttery pie shell, and obviously I didn’t get it. After polishing off a full serving of the hummus, I was ready to run out to the store and buy myself a real apple pie…which I could then cover in this apple pie hummus, forming a kind of pie-ception. Yeah, that’s definitely going to happen.

Boar s Head Apple Pie Dessert Hummus Cookie

I tried to mitigate the problem by adding more texture. After eating the hummus alone, I spread some of it on one of the Stella D’Oro Margherite cookies I always keep on hand. It was enjoyable, but the texture of the cookie wasn’t enough like pie to solve the problem. The prospect of trying to match the hummus with different kinds of cookies is appealing, however.

Anything else you need to know?

Boar’s Head also puts out a dark chocolate hummus, which is probably the better flavor because chocolate comes in all kinds of different textures already. I had the chocolate variety about a year ago and was impressed with just how chocolatey it was, so I really shouldn’t have been surprised at how much this hummus tasted like its namesake.

Conclusion:

If you’re curious about dessert hummus and/or are looking for some kind of sweet spread, both this and the chocolate variety are solid buys that will satisfy a sugar craving. But if you want pie – and I mean if there’s even a snowball’s chance in hell that you might ever, at some conceivable point, want an apple pie – buy the apple pie. As for me, I’m going to buy a giant Dutch apple pie tomorrow and send Boar’s Head an invoice.

Purchased Price: $5.99
Size: 8 oz
Purchased at: King Kullen
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (2 Tbsp) 60 calories, 2 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 70 milligrams of sodium, 9 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 5 grams of sugar (5 grams of added sugar), and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Heinz Honeyracha and Mayoracha Saucy Sauces

Marvo 1 Comment

Heinz Honeyracha and Mayoracha Saucy Sauces

Heinz, who seems to produce every condiment under the sun, doesn’t sell its own sriracha.

However, for years, the company has offered ketchup tinged with the hot sauce, which I think is mediocre. Of course, the sriracha of choice for me and every pho restaurant I’ve been to is the one from Huy Fong that’s also called, “Rooster Sauce.” Its dominance is probably the reason why Heinz doesn’t have sriracha. Even if it did, my loyalty to Rooster Sauce would never waver. Cock-a-doodle-doo!

However, Heinz Honeyracha and Mayoracha Saucy Sauces, despite having names that my phone’s autocorrect wants to turn into “honey reachable” and “mayor’s chair,” respectively, are some damn good hybrid sriracha sauces…if paired with the right foods.

Heinz Honeyracha Saucy Sauces with Fries

At first, I tried both with Jack in the Box’s French fries. Honeyracha’s sweet and peppery flavor from the combination of honey and sriracha did okay with the fried potato sticks. But fries and Mayoracha, a combo of mayonnaise and sriracha, tasted as if they were meant for each other. Yes, it’s pretty much a fry sauce (the mayo and ketchup combo that originated in Utah), but with a spicy kick.

Heinz Mayoracha Saucy Sauces with Fries

I love fries to death, but I love them with this peppery and garlicky mayo even more. After trying a few dipped in Honeyracha, I spent the rest of my fries with the creamy dip and was sad when every bit of fried potato was gone. I was even sadder when my wife, who says she loves me, swatted away my hand as I tried to steal some of her curly fries.

Both sauces have a level of spiciness that I’d consider mild. On my heat scale, they register a two or three.

Honeyracha didn’t get much action with the fast food side, but with every taste of the sauce, all I could think about was how it would be awesome with some chicken nuggets. In fact, its sweet and tangy flavor is very similar to McDonald’s BBQ Sauce, but with a peppery and spicy kick.

Heinz Honeyracha Saucy Sauces with Nuggets

Because I couldn’t get the thought of using Honeyracha as a dip for nuggets out of my head, I had to return to Jack in the Box to get some of its bite-sized breaded chicken. When I was able to bring the two together, I was not surprised they paired wonderfully.

What was surprising was how well the honey and sriracha condiment did in a turkey sandwich. What was even more unexpected, since mayo and sandwiches come together often, was how I didn’t care for Mayoracha in another turkey sandwich I made.

I’m sure I’ll find other ways to use both sauces. But if I don’t, I’d be happy if I ended up using the rest of the Mayoracha with fries and all the remaining Honeyracha with chicken nuggets and turkey sandwiches.

DISCLOSURE: I received free samples of the products. Doing so did not influence my review in any way. Although, it totally seems like it. But I assure you it did not.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 20.2 oz. bottle (Honeyracha), 16.6 oz.
bottle (Mayoracha)
Purchased at: Received from Heinz
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Honeyracha), 8 out of 10 (Mayoracha)
Nutrition Facts: (2 tbsp) Honeyracha – 70 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 340 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 15 grams of sugar, 14 grams of added sugar, and 0 grams of protein Mayoracha – 180 calories, 19 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 230 milligrams of sodium, 2 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, 1 gram of added sugar, and 0 grams of protein.