New Products Hits & Misses for 07/21/2010

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

Sun Tropics Premium Nectars Calamansi Lime

69

This product is a MISS! If you've never tried a Calamansi Lime you're probably wondering what it is… well it's a little known lime that comes from the Philippines. Sun Tropics has made a drink from it, that while it is refreshing, frankly I am little confused. It's only 10% juice, it has sugar added (in fact it has 29 g of sugars in just 8 ounces) and while they talk about it being a ‘Limeade Lemonade Combination’ there's no lemon juice actually in the product. Would I buy it? Probably not - especially at the price of $3.99 for a drink that just has 10% juice. The package clearly states that it's not from concentrate which frankly I think will be a bit misleading from many shoppers. Retails for $3.99 for 64 fl oz.

Sun Tropics
925 548 5202
http://www.suntropics.net

Scoring Breakdown:

Home Free Soft Organic Oatmeal Cookie

88

This product is a HIT! If you know someone who has a food allergy, whether it's peanut, eggs, tree nuts or dairy get them one of these Soft Organic Oatmeal Cookie from Home Free. Not only is it whole grains but also made in a dedicated bakery and what that means is you don't have to look for the tiny print that says ‘may contain dairy’ and so on. They are testing their product batches constantly to ensure that the person with the allergy can enjoy their products safely. One of the most interesting parts of this product is that it's much less dense than the typical oatmeal cookie, so you're biting into something that has the texture of almost a marshmallow, which frankly, is a pleasant surprise not only for kids but for adults. Retails for $1.29 – 1.49 for one cookie.

Homefree
800 552 7172
http://www.homefreetreats.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Spelt Right Bagels Everything Emma Flavor

90

This product is a HIT! I didn't want to like Spelt Right Bagels - I grew in Newark, New Jersey and one of my favorite things to do was going with my grandmother around the corner to Watson’s Bagels where they made bagels the old fashion way - smaller than we typically see today - and after baking they would drop them quickly in a vat of boiling oil – so they were crispy on the outside, tender on the inside... for me that's a bagel. However, these all-natural Spelt Bagels are actually delicious - if you're looking for a different kind of grain this is the product for you. They are softer than the bagels old style, but frankly they are a lot better than a lot of the store bought bagels out there - fresh or frozen - check it out. The Everything Emma variety actually is loaded with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onions, sea salt, garlic powder and just a touch of sugar - just 220 calories per bagel with 7 g of protein. Retails for $6 for 5 bagels.

Spelt Right
207 846 5300
http://www.speltrightbaking.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Amore Italian Herb Paste

92

This product is a HIT! Different foods and condiments in Europe have been sold in tubes for 50 years - the tube packaging just hasn't caught on here in the US - shame on us. Its great packaging and is environmentally friendly - and frankly very easy to use in the kitchen. Amore Italian Herb Paste is a blend of Italian parsley, basil and oregano and is actually quite fresh and tasty - my only complaint is that it's made with sunflower oil instead of olive oil, which I find is more flavorful. It will take you some getting used to in the kitchen, if you're not careful it will become very messy; but try it - you'll like it! Retails for $4.49 for 2.5 oz.

Panos Brands
N/A
http://www.amorebrand.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Tcho Chocolate Dark Chocolate Citrus

95

This product is a HIT! The marketing of chocolate has come a long way - now it's typical to see the percentage of cacao listed on the front of the package. Tcho does one better with their Dark Chocolate Citrus, not only do they tell you how much cacao, but also the country that it comes from - in this case Madagascar. The citrus flavor is a nice accompaniment to the dark chocolate and neither have no bitterness and no aftertaste. This is one terrific chocolate - also very important is this is a company that believes in education (where it tells you the story of the individual flavor on the inside of the package), but they believe strongly in working with farmers. It is expensive just 2 ounces will set you back six dollars but if you are chocolate lover you will not mind the price one bit. Retails for $6 for 2 oz.

Tcho
415 981 0189
http://www.tcho.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
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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.