With over 40,000 products in the average supermarket, people don't have time (or the money) to test every product on the shelves – so we do it for you! (Points system explained below the products!)

Each week we will post the latest reviews and I hope you will log in to see what’s hot…and what’s not!

Amano Artisan Chocolate: Madagascar Premium Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Appearance	Packaging	Total
30	13	15	15	n/a 10	5	5	93

This product is a HIT!

This is what chocolate is supposed to taste like! The heady aroma, beautiful (shiny) finish and melt-in-your-mouth texture all create a winning combination. We love that each package shares the heritage and origin of each particular cacao bean and we love the package design that makes each bar seem like a treasure from another time. At $6.95 for a 2 oz. bar this luxury product is for chocolate connoisseurs who will revel in tasting the differences between each bean, developing their chocolate palate. If you have ever considered a wine and chocolate pairing tasting, we would recommend this excellently executed product. Available in other flavors.

Retails for $6.95 / 2 oz.

Amano Chocolate
Orem
UT
801 655 1996
amanochocolate.com

Wish-Bone Bountifuls Dressing: Berry Delight Flavor

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Appearance	Packaging	Total
29	15	15	15	n/a 10	3	2	92

This product is a HIT!

Not being huge fans of raspberry vinaigrette we must confess we approached this tasting crinkling our noses, only to be happily surprised by Wish-Bone. Unlike the typically sickeningly sweet raspberry dressings, Berry Delight strikes a good balance between all the raspberries, blueberries, cranberries and cherries (that you can actually see). This new product might even get some people eating more salads! There’s no fat and while we wish they would reformulate and get rid of the gum in the ingredients, overall this dressing looks, smells and tastes much better than most of those on the market. Available in other flavors.

Retails for $3.43 / 9.5 fl oz.

Unilever
Englewood Cliffs
NJ
800 343 9024
wish-bone.com

South Beach Living: Sugar Free Dark Chocolate Vanilla Marble Reduced Calorie Pudding

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Appearance	Packaging	Total
28	19	11	10	n/a 10	5	5	88

This product is a HIT!

Here’s the good news: if you like the flavor of chocolate and are looking to eat less sugar, this product is going to be a winner for you. It contains a really good chocolate taste, but as far as the vanilla flavor, we hunted around the whitish swirl, hoping to find it but it we couldn’t. Maybe you’ll have more luck. We do understand that the South Beach Living brand is designed to meet the criteria of the South Beach Diet, however we wish that this product didn’t contain 4 different types of sweeteners and inulin (although this is one of the few products in which the inulin was undetectable). A quick glance at the ingredient list and you’ll see it’s far from being “natural”, but it's surprisingly good nonetheless and a sugar-free product without any kind of an aftertaste is quite an accomplishment in our book.

Kraft Foods Global, Inc
Northfield, IL
800 932 7800
southbeachlivingfoods.com

La Cense Beef: Steak Burger

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Appearance	Packaging	Total
20	15	15	15	8	5	5	83

We’re huge fans of grass-fed beef and were really looking forward to this Steak Burger. It was cooked on an outdoor gas grill and knowing that grass-fed beef has about 1/3 of the fat we adjusted the cooking time accordingly. While the product is higher in omega 3s, vitamin E and beta-carotene and lower in calories we just found we had to sacrifice too much flavor in return. A burger, especially hot off the grill in summer, needs to be chock full of flavor! Available in other cuts.

Retails for approximately $3.37 / 6 oz burger.

La Cense Beef, LLC
Dillon
MT
866 255 4985
lacensebeef.com

Pogos Potato Cheese Sticks: Jalapeño cheddar Flavor

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Appearance	Packaging	Total
10	15	10	10	n/a 10	5	5	65

This product is a MISS!

On the package the brand name of “Medora” snacks is defined as “a Mother’s gift”. We beg to differ: there’s nothing maternal or comforting about the aroma that assaults your senses as you open this bag, that actually stops you in your tracks. Pogos seems to be a product in search of its identity – is it a potato cheese stick, or is it a potato pellet as the ingredients list describes? As far as taste goes it seems more like a wheat cracker than either a potato stick or a pellet while the jalapeño seasoning overpowers any hint of cheese flavor. The label touts that these Pogos are baked with 100% real cheese, while in the ingredients list cheese only gets a mention as part of the “Seasoning”. Available in other flavors.

Retails for $1.49 / 2 oz.

Medora Snacks, LLC
Rockville Centre
New York
877 633 6721
medorasnacks.com

Points System:

Each product is judged and taste-tested based on the following seven criteria:

1. (30 points) Taste: The most important attribute of any food

2. (20 points) Value: Is it worth it?

3. (15 points) Health: Based off the nutritional information, is it nutritionally balanced?

4. (15 points) Ingredients: What's in it, how natural is it?

5. (10 points) Preparation: When applicable, how accurate or good are the directions?*

6. (5 points) Appearance: Is it appetizing and does it resemble its photo or description?

7. (5 points) Packaging: Is it appropriate for the product and does it have any benefits such as reseal ability, added freshness, better storage, etc?

*Products that do not require any preparation will have the full value of these points included in their total score.

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