Like Air Puffcorn - Pumpkin Spice

One thing these trendy allergy-free popup snack companies are sure to do is make way too many seasonal/limited edition flavors in their first few years. This is a total waste of resources and overwhelms the consumer! No wonder they all shut down soon after!! Stick to 1-2 per year like Haribo... fools..

Anyway, I do like a seasonal flavor. Hehe. This one is your typical pumpkin spice spice (though strong on the "spice" (nutmeg - allpice - clove) and light on the cinna-sugar), and the puffcorn is the same base as ever. The problem is, the base is savory by nature (although there's no onion or cheese this time, it still "evokes" those cheese puff vibes to me), and pumpkin spice (which does have some brown sugar in it) is sweet by nature. I think this is supposed to be a sweet snack, but it isn't quite sweet enough to get there. It's kind of like those spiced tumeric chai teas I got a while back. I can see how someone might enjoy this, and the base and seasoning are both pretty tasty on their own, but the combo disconcerts me as a sweet+savory combo hater. Anyway, it is nut free (actually, everything free) so I like it but I would not get this flavor again. I hope they defy the odds and keep pushing out nut free snacks! Go team! 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10 

North Coast Organic Cinnamon Applesauce

I recently realised that apples in applesauce are cooked, which meant I could eat them! So I got this in my veg box, but it's kind of dumb because the form factor is: tiny pouch you have to suckle. I hate this. It makes me feel like a baby, or a vaper, or both. However, they are Top 9 free and taste good. The texture is a little too "paste" for my preference, but I guess that's necessary if you're going to slorp it through a tiny tiny tube nub thing. Actually, these are hands free, so would be great to take to school, but for some reason I just had this in my house sitting in a chair like I was eating a meal. Mistakes were made. The taste is applesauce.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [4.30$ for 4]
Taste: 6/10 

Haribo Balla Bites Sour

Truly, Haribo stays innovating. These were quite good! There are four different flavors (each of which contains 3 different flavors), and they are actually different, but not particularly identifiable. They're too small to isolate the components of, I think. They all do taste good though. The sorbitol in the ingredos made me nervous, but I didn't suffer any ill effects! Not too sour, but a little bit sour and a little bit sweet. Very easy to eat a lot of. A soft and unique texture. They're called Pico-Balla in the EU, but I still don't know what Balla means. Maybe they made it up.

Apple outside: This is my favorite one, I think. I do get a lemon vibe. 7

Strawberry outside: I do get strawberry? And orange? 6

Orange outside: This has the best insides (along with apple, which has the same insides, as there are only 2 combos of 2 insides). The sour part is the best part still, but it's all good. 7

Lemon outside: Yes, there is lemon! Better than the strawberry one, because more neutral, I think. 6

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10 

Starburst Fruit Creme

Sharing size? Be so for real, Starburst fruit creme. I ate these in approx 3 days during A Great Sadness. But I probably would eat them during a great happiness too, because they are pretty good. Better than regular, I think, because they're a bit muted. Like a Red Symphony Bar to normie Hershey's bar. The flavors are:

Peach: Yes, it does taste like peach. Turns out, not my favorite flavor. 6.

Strawberry: Yes, it does taste like (a creamified) strawberry. It's good, although maybe a bit less than the normal pink one. 7.

Grapefruit: Now this is a rare candy flavor! I like it, it's really fun. I like and miss grapefruits. This is accurate, citrusy and nice. 8.

Orange: This is boring, but better than normie orange because less sharp. Creamified indeed. 7.

I wish there were creme yellow (what's yellow, lemon?) and red (cherry?) instead of peach. But maybe next year. Always room to grow, in life and in Starburst.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10 

Like Air Puffcorn - White Cheddar

Woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown: They're saying it's good for school lunches!!! 

This stuff is fine. Same company as those weird dessert puffed rices, but these are puffed corn, which is a much more canonical puff. Essentially this flavor (white cheddar) is simply pirate's booty, right down the random onion powder (whyyyy on a cheddar flavor) and yeast extract (obvi). The upside is, Pirate's Booty has gotten more and more evasive with their allergy info (esp regarding nuts), and this company is proudly nut free right on the front (for now). (Also gluten free! Two worlds collide... briefly!)

Maybe because of the onion, this tastes a little like a square school lunch pizza. One fun aspect is that the puffs aren't any particular shape, like sphere, but rather weird goobly octopus-shaped blobs. The packaging makes it seem like they're aiming to be popcorn shaped, but haha, they definitely aren't. Anyway, fun shape and size. Medium fine taste. Good allergy info. All in all I'm pleased with the experience (although I wish my store had Big Bag and not single serve tinybag, for earth and also My Deep Hunger).

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10 

Giant Brand Tri-Color Rotini

As brands go, Giant Brand has always been dependable with allergy info - they're good users of the "may contain" statement (i.e. this one may contain egg). I don't know their legume situation, but in this case perhaps ignorance is bliss. Anyway, these noodles were weirdly skinny for rotini - am I crazy or do I just buy weirdly thick rotini? Not sure. The taste was fine, anyway, nothing special. 

Overall
Cost: ??/10
Taste: 5/10 

Nature's Promise Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I'm always fascinated by the products at my parents' house. They never bought this stuff when I was a kid! What's happening?? In 20 years, will I be so different? Will I stop mainlining Dunkin and start being a Peet's fan?! I doubt it, but check back in 2046 to find out (if blog still exists... woe).

Used this on my pasta + broc, as one does, and I didn't like it as much as my normie FB olive oil. Is that because it's (organic) EVOO and not just OO? Probably, actually. But it had a very strong flavor. I don't want a strong flavor! I want the most neutral fatty liquid possible. Shoulda gone for butter, maybe. But I wasn't allergic, so it was fine. I think is the Giant store brand, but the organic one. Isn't it weird that store brands have bifurcated in this way? Yes. OK... bye!

Overall
Cost: ??/10
Taste: 5/10