Alpro Hazelnut Chocolate Ice Cream

I feel as though I have been waiting my whole life for this product. My poor Mother has had to listen to my whine and complain about Alpro not branching out into the ice cream market for many moons, but alas, after several years of wishful thinking, Alpro have finally come through. But the big question here is, did they come through with the goods?

Well, I am going to keep you in suspense just a little bit longer (unless you choose to scroll to the bottom on the page, which is fine I suppose). I actually stuggled to locate this ice cream for quite a while, after doing a bit of research I found out that it is currently only available in the larger Tesco stores, so I made it my mission to locate it, and obviously, from the mere fact that you are reading this review, I did indeed manage to locate this ice cream. The tub is the usual size, and the packaging looks nice, it is minimalistic and in keeping with Alpro's usual style. 

The range comes in three varieties; vanilla, coconut, and the subject of todays review, chocolate hazelnut. This is probably the flavour that I was most excited about trying because it is such a classic flavour combination. This is a bit of information about the product.

 

Alpro® Hazelnut Chocolate is made from carefully selected hazelnuts, giving our ice cream its delicious rich taste & creaminess, which are then perfectly blended with real chocolate. With less sugars & saturated fats than the market reference in ice cream, Alpro® Ice cream is a delicious treat to indulge in!

• Ice cream made from hazelnut
• 100% Plant-based
• 30% Less sugars & saturated fats
• Made from nature's tastiest ingredients
• Free from dairy and gluten
• Free from colours and preservatives
• Suitable for vegans

Now, onto the review! The ice cream is pretty difficult to distinguish from that of the more traditional dairy version in both taste and texture. It is creamy with a lovely smooth consistency which  would give brands like Haagan Dazs a run for their money! The flavour certainly didn't disapoint either, it was rich but not sickly with enough sweetness to work well against the nutty hazelnut. I found myself thoroughly enjoying this tub of ice cream and was actually quite sad when I finished, albeit extremely satisfied. 

Rating - 9.5/10

Vegan - Yes

Calories - 177 per 100g

Buy Again? - YES!!!

Vivani Vegan White Chocolate with Strawberry Bar

White chocolate always takes me back to my youth (I say this as though I am nearing 71 not 21) because of its sweet creamy flavour that was a staple part of our sweet cupboard in the form of Milky Bar. Unfortunately these days are no more as I now live the dairy free life, so instead I must search high and low for suitable alternatives to satisfy my sweet cravings.


I was starting to become quite disheartened in my quest for the elusive vegan white chocolate, and I was just about to give up when I stumbled across this bar at a local vegan fair. My prayers were seemingly answered in the form of this Vivani White Chocolate with Strawberries and Wafer Brittle. From the name alone I was instantly intrigued by this European chocolate bar. I knew very little about the brand so I thought that a bit of research was required, and obviously, I am going to share it with my lovely readers. 

What Is Important to Us

• All our ingredients are organically grown and certified.
• Cocoa varieties are of top quality and are used in an optimum ratio of mixture.
• All other ingredients are of top quality, too. The vanilla we use, for example, is real Bourbon vanilla.
• We deliberately exclude lecithin, especially soy lecithin*.
• We do not use genetically engineered ingredients.
• Each sort of chocolate has an elaborate recipe of its own.
• The manufacturing process has been tuned to maximum conditions (intensive rolling mill treatment, longtime conching).
• A perfect system of quality assurance guarantees a continuous high standard 

Now, onto the review! The chocolate bar is wrapped in silver foil for freshness and covered in perhaps the prettiest packaging I have seen in a while, the design is clear and easy to read and sets the tone for the whole brand as friendly but professional with a distinctly high quality feel to it, which I obviously appreciated.
Upon unwrapping the bar I was greeted by this creamy white bar with pink speckles scattered throughout, I preferred the bar a little melted as I think that is the only way that you can truly enjoy all of the chocolate flavours, but that is my own personal preferences so feel free to ignore it if you wish.
The melt on the bar was actually really impressive, something which dairy free chocolate often lacks. The smooth texture of the bar worked brilliantly with the crunch of the perfectly tart freezedried strawberry pieces and the chewy wafer brittle. I loved the contrast between all of the different flavours and textures and thoroughly enjoyed the way that they all stayed completely distinct wilst complimenting eachother.

 I can't get over how delicious this bar was, the taste was, dare I say it? Better than Milky Bar!


Rating - 9.5/10
Vegan - Yes
Calories - 573 per 100g
Buy Again - Certainly Am!

These are available at The Vegan Tuck Box

Pop Works Apple Pie Popcorn

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It is always a pleasant surprise to come home only to find that your ever so kind mother has bought you something new to try that just so happens to be accidentally vegan. 

 

The packaging itself is rather snazzy and stands out from the other products on the shelves with its eye catching metallic foil and bright colours. The bag is 90g so it is well filled.

The flavour is rather lovely with the apple sour tang of the apple being the dominant flavour. The cinnamon worked well as you would expect from this classic flavour combination and brought a nice sweetness to balance out the sour flavour of the apple. I really enjoyed this and still can't quite believe that it is entirely free from dairy!

 

The popcorn is of a good quality with almost no unpopped popcorn kernels. The flavour was well distributed and evenly coating the popcorn. 

 

 

 

Rating - 9.5/10

Vegan - Yes

Calories - 135 per 30g

Buy Again - Yes!

Fry's Peppermint Cream

I myself was quite surprised to discover that Fry's Peppermint Creams were vegan. Who would have thought that such a delicious and well known chocolate bar would be leading a secret vegan life! 

"Fry & Sons. It consists of a fondant centre enrobed in dark chocolate and is available in a plain version, and also peppermint or orange fondant. Fry's Chocolate Cream was one of the first chocolate bars ever produced, launched in 1866. Like the first chocolate bars they are dairy-free and vegan."

Now that I've given you a bit of background information, here is the review! The bar itself is a good quality dark chocolate which is unsurprising because the company have had so long to perfect the recipe. The slight bitterness that is associated with dark chocolate creates a nice contrast and helps to balance out the intense sweetness of the fondant. I really do enjoy these bars as they are simple in their flavours but done very well. The bars are a satisfying size and pretty low in calories compared with other similar bars, which in my eyes, justifies eating more...

I've noticed that these have become a little easier to find in supermarkets and are no longer limited to corner shops and discount stores. I've also been informed that they are readily available in Dubai! And certain British people eat these almost daily because they are so good, sometimes they even eat two bars in one go! But who can deny someone of their home comforts. 

Basically, these are really delicious and such a classic bar that you cannot help but love them! So treat yourself and pick up a bar today.

Rating - 9.5/10

Vegan - Yes

Calories - 205

Buy Again - Definitely! 

Jealous Sweets

I was recently approached by the people at Jealous Sweets who asked me if I would like to try some of their new range of sweets to review, obviously I said yes! I didn't really know much about the company so I decided to do a bit of research. 

Everyone loves to be given something precious – a thing of beauty to be admired. We’ve created a range of mouth wateringly moreish treats to tantalise your tastebuds and all our Jealous Sweets are beautifully crafted and like jewels they’re irresistible.

All our Jealous Sweets are 100% vegetarian, gluten free, full of natural fruit juices and free from artificial colours and flavours.

There are nine different jewel boxes in our range – all created for those with an eye for something special.

Fizzy Friends

I expected these to be sour but I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were simply sweet and fizzy. The fizz worked perfectly with the sweetness to add a degree of interest and intrigue to these tasty little sweets. They came in a variety of fruity flavours, I particularly enjoyed the berry ones. Overall, these were simply delicious!

9/10

Fruitylicious

Once again, I loved these sweets. You really can tell that they use natural fruit juices rather than artificial chemicals and additives, the real taste of the fruits is perfect, the texture of the sweets is brilliant considering they are vegan, and you probably wouldn't be able to easily tell the different between these and regular sweets (I'm talking about texture because their flavour is by far superior!)

9.25/10

Sour Beans

If you enjoy sour things, then you will absolutely love these! They are amazingly sour, yet still have plenty of flavour to satisfy you and make the experience delicious. They had a nice crunch from the crispy shell and a brilliant chewy quality from the inside. These came in what I can assume were berry based flavours, I think that this was a smart move because they would have been too strong otherwise!

8.75/10