Dandelion and Burdock Soda from Fentimans

Sometimes you see something in the market and just know you need it in your life.

That’s what happened to me a few days ago, as I was perusing the shelves for something to review, and my eye caught on Fentimans Dandelion and Burdock soda. I’d never heard of it before, but the flavor combination intrigued me, and the fact that it had a German Shepherd on the label didn’t hurt either.

I don’t drink soda often, and I pass on anything that comes in an aluminum can; when I do drink it, the flavors always become ingrained as part of the memory itself: sarsaparilla is exploring the Dutch fair here in Eastern Pennsylvania during a hot summer day, cucumber and rosemary reminds me of my first trip to the Midwest, and cream soda reminds me of bonfires and late autumn nights.
 
Fentimans Dandelion and Burdock soda is going to forever remind me of sitting at my kitchen table, because that’s where I tried it, but sometimes the best foods come to you in the most mundane of places.

And let me tell you, this soda delivers. Had I gotten to go back and do it again, I would have chosen to first try this soda sitting outside in the middle of the night, because the flavor is so deep and rich and calming.

This soda really delivered for me. Here’s my post tasting review:

Product: Fentimans Dandelion and Burdock soda
Ingredients: A unique array of natural herbs and spices, good, natural stuff.
Price: I paid about $1.50 for it, highly reasonable for a treat such as this.
Taste: Extraordinary. It’s a mix of sweet dandelion and burdock, a little bite of ginger, enveloped in a blanket of smooth, deep aniseed. For me, this wasn’t so much of a soda as it was an experience. This is the kind of soda you take your time drinking, and it even had the perfect balance of fizz to really make the flavors pop out against your tongue.
Rating: Five out of five stars. I can’t find anything about this beverage to complain about. The flavor is great, the price is good, the label and bottle are beautiful. This could make a cute stocking stuffer for the holidays or a nice treat for yourself.

Fentimans also makes ginger beer, cherry tree cola, and ‘curiosity’ cola, which is their take on traditional cola. Please check them out online at:
http://www.fentimans.com/

Pumpkin Pie Soda from Maineroot

Today I've reviewed the Pumpkin Pie Soda from Maineroot, a Maine based beverage company that specializes in handcrafted sodas and lemonades. When I saw this, I was really excited to try it, but with all of the pumpkin flavored foods and drinks out during this season, did it impress with its promise of pumpkin pie flavor?

Well, sort of.

My post-video rating:

Product: Maineroot's Pumpkin Pie Soda
Ingredients: Simple, clean ingredients, with filtered water, cane juice, and spice. This beverage is caffeine free.
Price: I paid about $1.70 for one bottle, which is reasonable for a specialty beverage (compare to a plain cup of medium coffee at corporate coffee chains), though after tasting the beverage I did come to think that it should be priced lower.
Taste: While this soda has a distinct flavor of spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, and a hint of clove, the flavor overall is light, and I found it slightly lacking. There was no flavor of pumpkin that I could personally detect, and while it was a very good spiced soda, it didn't fully deliver the pumpkin pie promise.
Rating: Three out of five stars. It is in fact a good soda, refreshing and with a nice flavor. Had it been named as simply an autumn spice soda rather than pumpkin pie, I could have rated it higher.

If you are interested in either the pumpkin pie soda, or any of Maineroot's soda flavors which I mentioned in the video, including blueberry or sarsaparilla, you can learn more about them at Maineroot's website:
http://maineroot.com/

Thanks for watching, and I can't wait to share my next snack with you!

October Goodies Co. Box Review!

Hello everyone! My name is Rachel, and this is my first ever video food review! (See also: next review will be far more organized.)

Today I'm reviewing the October goodies box from the Goodies Co. Every month for a great price ($7 a month, free shipping, if you catch this during the beta stage!) they send you this wonderfully delightful box of surprise snacks. I bought my subscription with some birthday money back in August. Once you subscribe, there's a short waiting period while they add you to their member list, to ensure they have enough product to send out to everyone. After that you get a box every month! The website is well organized, easy to use, and asks you about your food preferences, allergies, etc. They also let you do reviews for points, so getting the box and tasting it is really just half the fun.

October's Goodies Box was a great experience. It was a perfect mix of fun, tasty, grown-up treats in a month that's normally reserved for those plastic pumpkins stuffed full of the same old candy you see year round.

My first box came to me in the mail with a nice postcard in it, which included a Trick or Treat greeting on the front, and on the back was a short explanation of each snack. Here's a break down of each treat and my thoughts on it:

Sheila G's Brownie Brittle:
The Brownie Brittle from Sheila G's, surely the most popular goodie this month, was a crispy, chocolately treat- chips of crunchy brownie that were dotted with smooth chocolate chips.

Dang Coconut Chips:
My second favorite, the Dang Coconut Chips, are curls of dried coconut, lightly sweetened, with an almost creamy flavor. Perfect as a topping, or you can just eat them straight out of the bag like I did. 

Smartfood Selects Cinnamon Brown Sugar Pop Chips:
Light, airy, popped wheat snacks, and this month the Goodies Co. included some of the cinnamon sugar ones. Good if you want a little something that isn't too heavy. The Smartfood brand pop chips were more filling than I had expected, denser than most pop chips. I'd recommend them to anyone looking to pack something new into their lunch.

Nutella To Go:
It's the famous chocolate-hazelnut spread packaged to go. What more do you need to know? (Okay, so there's some bread sticks in the container, but that's only so you can eat it like a respectable human being, rather than eating it with your finger which personally I find perfectly acceptable.)

Mayesa Cacao Drink:
ndulgent, with its deep cacao flavor, not too sweet, and it's made from all natural ingredients. The packaging is really quite beautiful on this drink too, and I can tell this company takes a lot of care to make this all natural treat.

Fruitfuls Fruit Snacks:
Trick or Treat! Better than most filled fruit snacks. The filling wasn't gross or gooey.


Overall, this first Goodies Box for me was an exciting experience! I can't wait until next month!