Product reviews: Moccona vanilla coffee, Ouma muesli rusks, Woolworths curried pumpkin & corn balls, and Sanitarium unsweetened almond milk

I am pleased to say that, as of yesterday, I have finished work for 2012. One of the advantages of my workplace is that we don't get Western Australian public holidays off during the year (which doesn't always feel like an advantage...) but then get those days off in lieu between Christmas and New Year. Generally we get a bonus day or two as well, to allow everything to shut down for at least 10 days over the Christmas period. Although Christmas Eve isn't usually included in this holiday stretch, it has been made a holiday this year because it falls on a Monday. I think this is brilliant.

Last week was a bit frantic as I rushed to finish everything I wanted to before Friday, but having ticked of most of my To Do list (the remainders can be done over the break with minimal effort), I am feeling like a child on summer holidays. My plans for the break involve lots of reading, sorting wedding and honeymoon photos into albums (we have the photos and the albums, but they are not yet in unison), 'big task' cleaning (windows, blinds, scrubbing grout), a few days out of Perth with Mr Bite and his family, and some time with friends. I think the 10 days will fill themselves up with no trouble.

I am looking forward to getting to these...

Despite my holiday mood, I am veering off Christmas for today's post. Product reviews feel slightly out of place at this point in the year, but they are starting to build up. What is more, all of today's products are ones that I have enjoyed trying. I am hoping they might appeal to some of you too.

Moccona vanilla infused coffee

To start at the simple end, there isn't a lot I need to say about Moccona's new flavoured coffee range, other than that it is good. In addition to vanilla, there are hazelnut and caramel flavours which I intend to try in due course. I have been enjoying the vanilla variety as a slightly sweeter alternative to regular coffee,  and I like it very much.

And that is all I have to say on that.

Ouma muesli beskuits (muesli biscuit rusks)

One of our local Woolworths supermarkets has recently added a South African food section to their store. I was interested to see the new range of foods in general, and intrigued by these rusk biscuits in particular. 

The rusks have a simple, vegan-friendly ingredient list, including wheat flour, muesli, sugar, vegetable fat, and baking powder. They are quite dense and one rusk is equivalent to two plain biscuits in nutritional value, but I found them extremely enjoyable with a cup of tea.

They are definitely a product for dunking in your tea (or any hot drink), and if you are someone who likes to dunk, I think you may well enjoy these. Since buying this first box, I have finished it, bought a second, and finished that too! I am definitely a biscuit dunker, and I definitely like these.

Woolworth's Macro vegetarian curried pumpkin and corn balls

One of the major frustrations in my life at the moment is the trend for Australia's two main supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, to drop independent brands in order to stock their own in-house range. Thus, I feel hypocritical even reviewing these new vegetarian balls from Woolworths. I should really have boycotted them in protest, but instead negotiated with myself to buy them as well as the other (non-Woolworths) brands I usually buy.

Conscience aside, I liked these balls. I liked their taste, I liked their texture, and I liked that they could be microwaved and ready to eat in one minute.

Their ingredient list includes chickpeas (at 62%), pumpkin (29%), corn (9%), and various spices including paprika, cumin, garlic, parsley, and curry powder. They were reminiscent of falafel, and just spicy enough to provide a flavour kick without being so spicy you need to worry about serving them to children, husbands, or guests with unknown taste buds. Nutritionally they are comparable to many veggie burgers: five small balls provide 150 calories, 6.4g fat and 3.9g protein. I would like more protein, but that is something that characterises many vegetarian products.

There are a number of other products in Woolworths new vegetarian range, so I may get to some of them in due course too (conscience permitting). For now, I have enjoyed these balls plain, in rolls / English muffins, and with salad.

Sanitarium unsweetened almond milk

Australia is starting to have quite a collection of almond milk options. I have been enjoying unsweetened almond milk from Almond Breeze since it appeared in April this year. When Sanitarium released an unsweetened option of their own, I thought I should give it a try.

Nutritionally, this is almost identical to the Almond Breeze variety. Both are supplemented with calcium (Almond Breeze provides slightly more) and both have negligible protein. However, I liked the taste of this far less than the Almond Breeze equivalent. I am not sure why, given how similar the ingredient lists are, but it tasted chalkier and generally less appealing. 

I have added the nutritional information for this to my spreadsheet comparing different non-dairy milks. For now, I will be sticking with Almond Breeze, but am still grateful to Sanitarium for broadening their milk options. It's a nice trend in the market.

So there we have it - four new (to me) products. Have you tried any? Would you like to?

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