New Products Hits & Misses for 08/04/2010

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

Ayala’s Herbal Water Lemon Verbena Geranium

69

This product is a MISS! If you’ve never tried this water before – stop – don’t! I’m all for exotic flavor combinations and adding natural herbs to add flavor or health benefits, but this ‘hand crafted’ water that has added these herbs misses the mark. The aroma is perfume-y and the taste is a combination of perfume-y and soapy. I also find the USDA organic seal to be a cheap shot – yes they use organic extracts, but they’re also using purified water instead of spring or another naturally sourced water - and after all most of this is just water. Retails for $1.49-1.69.

Herbal Water, Inc.
610 668 4000
http://www.herbalwater.com

Scoring Breakdown:

479 Degrees Popcorn Black Truffle and White Cheddar Flavor

80

Did you know that 479 degrees is the perfect temperature to pop popcorn, I didn't, so of course that’s why they named this brand 479 Degrees. It comes in lots of exotic flavors and I tasted the Black Truffle and White Cheddar Flavor. I happen to like the flavor of black truffle which is why I wish the flavor was a bit stronger, however the balance of the black truffle oil and white cheddar really works well together – neither flavor overpowers and this handmade popcorn tastes very satisfying and not artificial. It’s not as crispy as it could be and it is expensive - $5 for just 1.6 oz. Retails for $4.99 for 1.6 oz.

479 Popcorn
888 479 YUMM
http://www.479popcorn.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Hancock Gourmet Lobster Co. Port Clyde Mac & Cheese

88

This product is a HIT! In the past few years more and more upscale restaurants are serving lobster mac and cheese with various degrees of success. Some just pop pieces of lobster in their traditional macaroni and cheese, while others use a much more delicate blend that complements rather than overpowers the lobster - and that’s what Hancock Gourmet Lobster Company does. Their recipe is delicious with just the right texture from the crunchy breadcrumbs to the sauce and lobster to the creamy combination of mascarpone and cheddar cheeses. This is indulgence at its best – one 9 oz serving is 48 g of fat, 730 mg of sodium, 28 g of protein and less than 1 g of sugars, but hey not every meal should be low calorie. This is seriously delicious. And by the way, it’s also sold in Costco, so you might be able to find it at a better price there. Retails averages $29.95 but ranges between $23-$33 for 2 x 9 oz casseroles.

Hancock Gourmet Lobster Co
866 266 1700
http://www.hancockgourmetlobster.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Chef Macee’s Concentrated 300 Spritz Basil Flavor

93

This product is a HIT! If you love the flavor and aroma of basil this is one product for you. Imagine a combination of sunflower oil and basil in a spray that actually smells and tastes as good as fresh basil. I know what you are thinking – just how lazy can someone be, but when you really think about all the uses that go well beyond salads and veggies, that actually could reduce the amount of oils that you use. Just 3 sprays are just ½ a gram of fat and 5 calories. Spray it on burgers, steaks, chicken and fish before you grill it and I would even suggest using this instead of mayonnaise on sandwiches – even to make tuna salad. $5.99 for this small bottle might seem like a lot, but it promises 300 sprays and that’s just 2 cents a spray. Retails for $5.99 for 2 fl oz.

CMG Worldwide Corp
512 410 7367
http://www.macees.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Sambazon Acai Organic Berry Puree Pure Fusion Acai and Acerola Flavor

93

This product is a HIT! This is a cool idea – 4 of these individual frozen smoothie packs come in this bag – this Organic Berry Puree Pure Fusion is a combination of acai puree and acerola (which is a cherry) puree. You could make smoothies with it by adding other fruits or soy or regular milk and throw it in a blender, or just eat it right out of the pouch like an ice pop, which is what I did – an ice pop made just from fruit purees with no added sugars, colors or preservatives – this is superfruit with 600% the RDA for vitamin C, 2260 mg of omega 9s and 420 mg of omega 6s – and just 60 calories. Perfect for kids and adults. Retails for $5.99.

Sambazon
877 SAMBAZON
http://www.sambazon.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.