From The Vaults: Last Year's Sweets

Two of the best imported candy bars I've ever had are the popular Toffee Crisp and Coffee Crisp combinations. Both are made by Nestle, and they're hard to find in American stores. They are often imported from Canada, yet they're still rarities on our shelves.

Toffee Crisp
I found this at Acme for $1.00. For such a delicious and unusual bar, it's well worth the price. The bar is thicker than any typical American candy bar that I eat. The outside has a thick layer of chocolate and the inside does have that 'crispy crunch' and that 'chewy munch' as promised on the package. Its great texture might appeal to fans of Twix or Snickers, even. It has a chewy (but not too chewy) layer of caramel and there are crispy rice or cereal pieces that give it a nice healthy crunch. That was the highlight for me. I think there might be.. not quite a wafer or a biscuit, but some other crispy, but not too thick base, that all the other layers rest upon. I don't know. I bite into it, I can't stop eating, and then it's gone! I've gone through many Toffee Crisps already! (Five Stars!)

Coffee Crisp
I like Coffee Crisp even better. I'm a huge fan of coffee flavoring, and, if you're a coffee fan with a sweet tooth, you'll love this sweet alternative to your steaming cup of morning brew. Like the Toffee Crisp, the bar seems thicker than the standard American bar, so it feels much more satisfying. The heavily-layered wafer thin has a generous layer of coffee flavored cream. The flavor and texture of the cream doesn't disappoint. I think it tastes even better than actual coffee or coffee ice cream! The candy bar seems slightly sweeter than any other candy bar I normally eat (including the Toffee Crisp), but the sweetness complements the strong coffee flavor. Plus, it does have a nice crunch. All in all, this is one of my favorite candy bars. $1.09 at Genuardi's (Safeway).





Cafe Bistro's Milk Chocolate Covered Gingerbread Hearts
I purchased Cafe Bistro's Milk Chocolate Covered Gingerbread Hearts, a German import, as part of my Mom's Christmas present. They were a big hit! This is one of my earliest Aldi's purchases (before I became a convert) when I was still a little hesistant about the store. I cannot remember the price, but it was definitely under $5.00 (I'm thinking it might have been $3.49) for a large size (10.58 oz) bag of cookies. My Mom loves gingerbread, and I chose these because the apricot fruit filling sounded like an intriguing pairing. I never really expected these to be that impressive! They ended up being so unique and a special touch for the holiday. I thought the gingerbread cookies would be fairly bite-size, but they were actually much bigger than I expected. The gingerbread had a robust spiciness that was meant for savoring. Each cookie had a robe of milk chocolate that seemed like a dubious pairing in print but paired well with the spiciness of the gingerbread. The texture of the gingerbread was perfect. It was dense enough that it was satisfying but not too thick or stale. Just perfect! The burst of apricot fruit filling was the best part. It made a special treat extra-special. These cookies were neither overfilled nor were they stingy with the apricot preserves. They had just the right burst of moist sweetness at their core, and the apricot was an ideal flavor accompaniment for the gingerbread. I never would have thought they'd go together so well! These are great with a cup of steaming cocoa or by themselves as a light dessert. Look for them (or other Cafe Bistro gingerbreads) around Thanksgiving and Christmas next year. They'd make a great addition to your holiday table. They also make impressive presents for your discerning sweet tooth, and, while you're at it, buy a bag for each holiday party you might be attending. I think you can easily pass these off as more expensive store brand gingerbread! Once again, Aldi's has you covered! You won't see anything like this on typical American store shelves, and certainly anything you do find will come at a premium price.

Imagine Soups

My New Year's resolution has been to be a more vocal consumer. Usually that takes the form of a rave review of a product or service. I believe that companies and businesses that produce exceptional products or provide outstanding customer service should be especially celebrated. It's not enough to purchase a product. It's important to let companies and businesses know when you appreciate them. Equally, when a company's product or service falls so far below expectation, I believe it's essential to let them know. It may not truly accomplish anything, but I still believe it's an important part of being a responsible consumer.

This year I purchased four soups by Imagine, a company that lauds itself as being an organic, healthy addition to the typical canned soup aisle. I'm all for that. I prefer to eat natural, healthy, organic foods when I find them to be an available and affordable option. Since I get overly excited about all varieties of vegetables, the selection of Imagine creamy soups had me literally salivating in the soup aisle. The photos on the package looked mouthwatering, and I could practically taste the heavenliness of the roasted butternut squash, the sweet creaminess of the sweet corn chowder, and the robustness of the sweet pea and broccoli. I couldn't choose just one, so I opted to try out all four creamy pureed soups. I felt warm all over knowing that I had a week's worth of natural soup goodness. The soups were on sale, and, still at almost $4.00 a carton, they weren't exactly cheap for this consumer on a tight budget. Okay, so I spent between $12 and $16 on soup, but I expected it to be tasty and filling.

Not only was I disappointed, I was also really confused about what I was eating. I do not exaggerate when I say that each soup was worse than the last. I'm still stunned at how terrible these soups truly were. Not one was remotely good. It's not as if I don't like vegetables or I had never tasted these vegetables. I love them all, and I know what they're supposed to taste like. I've had all of these vegetables in soup form: store bought, restaurant, and homemade. Still, I have never tasted any soups that have tasted like these. I suppose that's where the company got its name from: the consumer is meant to IMAGINE a tasty soup. What I want to know is: don't they have food tasters? How can four soups that taste so horrible pass muster? Do people buy these soups and think they taste good? I honestly want to know!

The flavors of the individual soups were indescribable! I started with the butternut squash soup. For a vegetable that is so flavorful and naturally sweet without additives, I couldn't understand how bland the soup was. All four soups ended up having that in common. There was a total lack of flavor. It wasn't that they didn't have enough salt or seasoning. That wouldn't, and didn't, help. By comparison, Aldi's sells Chef's Cupboard Butternut Squash soup which is absolutely out of this world. While it doesn't say that it's organic, the list of ingredients is minimal and not filled with long lists of unpronounceable ingredients. The texture is as smooth as silk, and the flavor is as close to homemade as anything that I've ever eaten out of a box. In fact, it could pass for soup from a high-end restaurant or a foodie's kitchen. It's that good, and, at $1.99 a carton, it makes you realize what highway robbery Imagine's line is.

The remaining three soups all shared that baffling taste of nothingness. Good fresh vegetables typically burst with a vibrant natural flavor, yet not one of these soups tasted anything like the vegetables they contained. The worst soup of all was the broccoli. I found that one to have the most 'unique' flavor. I'm not really sure what that flavor was. It certainly didn't taste of broccoli. There was a truly distasteful aftertaste.. a bitterness maybe.. that I can't adequately describe. On top of that, I couldn't get rid of this uniquely bad aftertaste! It made for an unpleasant, queasy day!

While the soups were bad enough, what really rubbed me the wrong way was the smug, congratulatory text on the package. These are soups with a real superiority complex. Whoever wrote the packaging descriptions must have specialized in creative writing because the descriptions had zero basis in reality. The Pea Soup emphasized its sweet straight-from-the-garden flavor, and all the soups compared themselves to homemade. Look, if Imagine wants to produce such repugnant soups, that's their decision, but to blatantly lie on the packaging and jack up their prices... well, I believe it's my responsibility to say that these soups taste nothing like how they're described and they are grossly (and I mean grossly) overpriced. I wouldn't recommend this brand to anyone with tastebuds.

I would chalk it up to a bad purchase, but the soups were a small investment to this person on a tight budget. They're way overpriced, and that's putting it mildly.

I should add that none of these soups were anywhere close to their expiration dates. Any off flavors I encountered should have been the recipe itself. Since all four flavors were so inexplicably awful, I will never purchase another item from this brand. After tasting two soups, I emailed Hain brands/Imagine through their contact page and did eventually get a packet of coupons for free replacement cartons. While I do appreciate the gesture, I think it would be a waste to use the coupons. I'm considering trying their broth, but I am nervous. Four bad soups in a row is a poor track record, and I don't really want to waste any more effort disposing uneaten soups.

What I Should Have Bought: Four cartons of Aldi's Chef's Cupboard Butternut Squash soup! Yummers!