New Products Hits & Misses for 01/13/2010

Ratings Criteria

With over 50,000 products in the average supermarket, people don't have the time, or the money, to test every product on the shelves and with 15,000 new products every year consumers need to know what's out there!

So Phil does the testing and the tasting for you and gives the product a rating out of 100 so you know what you can expect when you try something new!

SupermarketGuru does not sell the foods we review, nor receive any compensation from the manufacturers for reviewing or rating them.

Phil taste-tests and judges each product based on the following 8 criteria:

(30 points) Taste: The most important attribute of any food
(20 points) Value: Is it worth it?
(15 points) Health: Based off the nutritional information, is it nutritionally balanced?
(15 points) Ingredients: What's in it, how natural is it?
(5 points) Preparation: When applicable, how accurate or good are the directions *
(5 points) Appearance: Is it appetizing and does it resemble its photo or description
(5 points) Packaging: Is it appropriate for the product and does it have any benefits such as resealability, added freshness, better storage, etc.
(5 Points) Sustainability: Is the packaging biodegradable, is it wasteful, is the company endeavoring to offset their carbon footprint?

* products that do not have any preparation will have the full value of these points included in their total score

Island Treasures Gourmet Vanilla Rum Cake

72

This product is a MISS! So for those of you who got through the Christmas holidays without getting a rum cake, now you can buy your own. Island treasures gourmet has seven different flavors of rum cake - I tasted the vanilla. They are all made with the award winning Whaler’s rum. This cake is nice and moist but frankly I wish it had more of a rum flavor. The packaging is very smart as it actually comes in this re-sealable container that also protects it. But watch how much you eat because just a one ounce serving is 10 g of sugars. Retails for $24.95

Island Treasures Gourmet
703 590 7900
http://www.islandtreasuresgourmet.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten-Free Dreams Mini Cookies

86

This product is a HIT! Once in a while we come across a company that really tries to break out of the mold Cherrybrook Kitchen is one of those. These mini cookies are wheat free, gluten-free, dairy free, peanut free, and on top of that kosher and vegan; and on top of that they even have a rewards program where the package flaps can be redeemed for T-shirts and other items. The flavor of these cookies is very good, but the texture is not going to be as smooth as you find with a non-gluten-free product. Retails for $3.99

Cherrybrook Kitchen
866 I LUV CBK
http://www.cherrybrookkitchen.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Silver Springs Peppadew Mustard Sauce

86

This product is a HIT! If you like mustard and you like spicy, you’ve got to try this Peppadew Mustard Sauce. Peppadew picante peppers, chipotle peppers and horseradish create lots of flavor and a very unique taste profile. While I’m not sure I would pour it on a hot dog, I do think that just dipping cheese or celery or other crudités would be a great idea. Retails for $2.79-2.99

Silver Springs Foods, Inc
800 826 7322
http://www.silverspringfoods.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Sweet Tree Evaporated Palm Sugar

91

This product is a HIT! Those who want an alternative to cane sugar that has a low glycemic index, Sweet Tree is for you. This evaporated palm sugar has a different texture and taste then you are probably used to – it is similar to the taste of molasses. Now, having a lower glycemic index simply means that the sugar is absorbed slower and will not raise your blood glucose levels as quickly – the scale is 0 to 100 – 0 being the lowest possible GI. This is 35, almost half the GI of regular cane sugar. Retails for $4.99

Sweet Tree Sustainable Sweeteners
866 972 6879
http://www.sweet-tree.biz

Scoring Breakdown:

Chef Hymie Grande Polapote BBQ Glaze

92

This product is a HIT! This BBQ glaze (not a sauce) has a nice clean burn and a very good smoke flavor. Too often the smoke flavor overpowers just about everything else but not in this case. Maybe it's because beer is the first ingredient? Made with agave syrup instead of high fructose corn syrup this glaze is recommended; remember you always want to add products like this just a minute or so before you take the meats or vegetables off the grill, so that the sugars won’t burn and ruin the flavor. I love the fact that chef Hymie donates 5% of sales to the American Diabetes Association, and that this is very low in sodium – just 15g in 2 tablespoons. Retails for $5.99

Chef Hymie Inc
201 218 4378
http://www.chefhymiegrande.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Thank You

We hope you enjoyed this edition of

New Product
Hits and Misses

If you would like Phil to consider your new product for review, please send 4 samples of each flavor you to submit for review, with the suggested retail price and other product information. We regret that we can not review all products submitted. Please send to:

New Product Review
SupermarketGuru.com
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Santa Monica, CA 90405

Product reviews are conducted by randomly selecting one flavor of a product and taking into consideration the information available on the package itself as it would appear in the retail environment. Information contained in advertisements or on websites is not taken into account for evaluation or ratings.

Email danielle@supermarketguru.com with any questions and whenever possible please be environmentally friendly when packaging your products.