Bite of the Best

The Rainier Fruit Company has introduced a new apple from its orchards in Eastern Washington. Lady Alice is available now through May, or while supplies last.

This heirloom-like apple is characterized by a banana-yellow color and sweet, crisp, dense flesh with a hint of tartness. Since it is slow to brown when cut and it retains its texture when heated, Lady Alice is good for cooking and baking.

Snikiddy introduced a line of All Natural Snacks that include Baked Fries and Eat Your Vegetable chips. The snacks are made with non-GMO ingredients, certified gluten and wheat free. In addition they do not contain any artificial colors, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, hydrogenated oils or  monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Each 1-ounce serving of the Baked Fries contains 130 calories, 0 grams saturated fat (of 4.5 grams total), 180-210 milligrams sodium and 2 grams sugar. Each 1-ounce serving on Eat Your Vegetable chips, made with real vegetables, contains 30 calories, 0.5 grams saturated fat (of 7 grams total), 110-150 milligrams sodium and 2 grams sugar. 

- Alyssa Tucker, Bite of the Best Intern: The Barbeque flavor Baked Fries were crunch with a tangy barbecue flavor. The Sour Cream & Onion  Eat Your Vegetable chips tasted just like a regular chip — you wouldn’t know they were made from vegetables.

Doug’s Nuts introduced it’s original blend of almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts, sweetened with organic sugarcane, blackberry honey and oatmeal stout, then finished with organic vanilla extract, maple extract and sea salt.

Each 1-ounce serving contains 170 calories, 1.5 grams saturated fat (of 14 grams total), 85 milligrams sodium, 3 grams sugar and 5 grams protein.

Lindt has recently launched Lindor Caramel Truffles, a milk chocolate shell infused with caramel.

Each 1.2-ounce serving, or 3 balls, contains 223 calories, 13 grams saturated fat (of 18 grams total) and 14 grams sugar.

ThinkThin has introduced a new line of chocolate and coconut bars that are gluten free. Compared to the Mound Bars, thinkThin has 60 fewer calories, 30 less calories from fat, 5 grams more fiber and 11 grams less sugar.

Each 1.5-ounce bar contains 170 calories, 7 grams saturated fat (of 9 grams total), 105 milligrams sodium, 10 grams sugar and 6 grams protein.

Foodman’s Original introduced an all natural granola snack made with Matzo, unleavened bread.

Use the granola, which is made with all Kosher ingredients, as a snack, in baking, yogurt or oatmeal.

Each 1/2-cup serving contains 260 calories, 3 grams saturated fat (of 13 grams total), no sodium, 15 grams sugar and 5 grams protein.

Lindt recently introduced Excellence Wasabi and Strawberry Bars made with 47% cocoa dark chocolate enhanced with strawberry pieces or spiced with wasabi flavor.

Each 1.4-ounce serving, or 4 square pieces, contains 200 calories, 7 grams saturated fat (of 12 grams total)and 19 grams sugar.

- bonnie:  Combining dark chocolate and spice is perfection. But sadly Lindt used artificial flavors instead of real wasabi to add the heat. At least the strawberry has real strawberry pieces in addition to the artificial flavoring.

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Coach Farm has trimmed the fat and calories on its current line of Goat Milk Yogurts and added a new Maple Brown Sugar flavor.

Originally the yogurts contained between 7-10 grams saturated fat (of 10-16 grams total) with 210-240 calories and now have been reduced to 3-4 grams saturated fat (of 5-6grams total) with 140-190 calories.

Each 6-ounce serving contains 150 calories, 3 grams saturated fat (of 5 grams total), 65 milligrams sodium and 10 grams sugar.

Cracked Pepper and Sea Salt is the newest edition to the Hawaiian Kettle Style Chips line.

Each ounce, 13-chip portion contains 140 calories, 1.5 grams saturated fat (or 8 grams total) and 290 milligrams sodium.

- bonnie: I really liked the crunchy texture of these flavorful thick chips.

Baker’s Chocolate is now available in Semi‐Sweet and Premium White Morsels in a re-sealable, stand-up bag.

Each 1-tablespoon serving contains 70 calories, 2.5 grams saturated fat (of 4 grams total) and 8-9 grams sugar. 

Planters NUT-rition line now offers three Sustaining Energy Mix varieties. Each nutritious blend includes  honey roasted peanuts, candy-coated dark chocolate soy nuts, crunchy honey soy clusters with soy protein and / or roasted almonds. Each serving provides 10g protein. 

The complete list of ingredients and Nutrition Facts panel were not available at time of posting.

Planters has added Roasted Onion & Garlic and Honey BBQ Roasted flavored peanuts to their already existing line of peanuts.

Each 1-ounce serving contains 160 calories, 2 grams saturated fat (of 13-14 grams total), 120-160 milligrams sodium, 2-4 grams sugar and 7 grams protein.

The Balance Bar Company has the Balance Bar Dark, a new line of nutrition energy bars available in three coatings – Dark Chocolate Crunch, Dark Chocolate Coconut and Dark Chocolate Peanut. This line features Rainforest Alliance Certified cocoa with 40% of total calories from carbs, 30% from protein, and 30% from fat. The line is also certified gluten free and certified kosher dairy.

Each bar contains 180 calories, 3.5-4 grams saturated fat (of 6 grams total) and 13 grams proting.

-Christin Chan, Bite of the Best Intern: I cannot rave enough about these energy bars, which are perfect for the dark chocolate lover. I loved every single flavor.  I highly recommend these!

Shelf-stable Greek Yogurt bars made with nuts, fruit and granola, are available from Rickland Orchards. The bars are available in Blueberry Acai, Cherry Almond, Toasted Coconut, Cranberry Almond, Apple & Honey, Orchard Peach, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter and Strawberry.

Each 1.5-ounce bar contains 150-170 calories, 2.5-3 grams saturated fat (of 6-10 grams total), 40-50 milligrams sodium, 8-12 grams sugar and 7-10 grams protein.

Tyrrell’s Chips, a premium English potato chip brand, is launching seven flavors in the US. The chips  are hand cooked in small batches in the West of England in Hereforeshire. The chips are made from the Lady Claire and Lady Rosetta potatoes, sourced from local farms to maintain the chips quality year round.

Each 1-ounce serving size contains 144-153 calories, 1 grams saturated fat (of 8-11 grams total) and  70-180 milligrams sodium.

- bonnie: These chips are lightly salted, a plus to those watching their sodium intake.

Lindt USA has introduced a limited edition Lindt Mocha Coconut bar, developed by the winner of the Lindt EXCELLENCE Recipe Challenge, a student scholarship contest in conjunction with The Culinary Institute of America (CIA).  For every Lindt Mocha Coconut bar purchased, Lindt will donate $1 to The Culinary Institute of America.

Each 1.5-ounce serving contains 220 calories, 9 grams saturated fat (of 14 grams total), 10 milligrams sodium, 18 grams sugar and 2 grams protein.

- Alyssa Tucker, Bite of the Best Intern: I enjoyed the rich chocolate coconut flavor with the subtle mocha after taste.

Lucy’s introduced new Brownie Cakes (small-sized brownies, packaged in four 2-brownie packs) and Snack N’ Go Packs (gluten-free, vegan, and non-GMO cookies packaged in six 3-cookie packs in three varieties).

Each brownie cake contains 120 calories, 0.5 grams saturated fat (of 4 grams total), 45 milligrams sodium and 2 grams protein.

Each pack Snack N’ Go Cookies contains 130 calories, 2 grams saturated fat (of 5-6 grams total), 12 grams sugar and 2 grams protein.

Lucy’s products do not contain trans fats, cholesterol, milk, eggs, peanuts or tree nuts.

- Christin Chan, Bite of the Best Intern: I sampled both Brownie Cakes and Cookies in all flavors. I could not stop eating them! They are the perfect size for a small snack with just enough flavor without being too sweet. 

Hershey’s introduces its holiday special, Snap-Apart Snowman, made of solid milk chocolate and snaps apart to eat, share or to rebuild.

Each 2-ounce snowman contains 240 calories, 10 grams saturated fat (of 16 grams total) and 31 grams sugar.

Twizzler introduces its holiday Pull ‘N’ Peel 2-ft. bar in cherry flavor that can be peeled into strands and shared with friends.

Each 2-foot 2.5-ounce piece contains 240 calories, 1 grams saturated fat (of 1.5 grams total), and 30 grams sugar.

The Oatmeal and J&D’s Foods has introduced the world’s first Sriracha Popcorn made with red chilies, garlic, sugar and vinegar.

Each 1.5-ounce serving of this Thai inspired snack contains 100 calories, 2 grams saturated fat (of 6 grams total), 540 milligrams sodium and 5 grams sugar.

Grapple brand apples introduces a new kind of apple that uses Washington State Gala or Fuji apples that crunches like an  apple, but tastes like a grape. The apple has no additional sugars or calories. The ingredients are both FDA and USDA approved. To give the apples the flavor of grapes, the fruit is “gently bathed with an ingredient mix that is primarily grape flavor and pure water. Through this method, the naturally porous  apples take on a unique taste and aroma kids love.”

Each medium-sized apple contains 95 calories and 14 percent of the Daily Value of vitamin C.

- bonnie: The crunchy apples do have a pleasant hint of grape flavoring that kids will like.  But I wonder why this product is needed, as kids like the flavor of apples. Grownups, too. 

One caveat: I found that the grape flavoring emitted an off-odor in my refrigerator. So if you do buy them, consume quickly.

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Equal Exchange has launched a line of organic, fairly traded chocolate bars  in three varieties: Milk Chocolate Crisp with Puffed Rice and Quinoa, Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Fruit and Nut.

Each serving of about 1.5-ounces contains 210-260 calories, 8-10 grams saturated fat (of 13-16 grams total), 18-22 grams sugar and 3 -4 grams protein.

Kettle Brand Bakes adds two new flavors, Sour Cream & Onion and Cheddar & Toasted Tomato, to their already existing line.

Each 1-ounce serving of about 20 chips contains 120 calories, 0-0.5 grams saturated fat (of 3-3.5 grams total fat), 135-160 milligrams sodium, 0-1 grams sugar and 2-3 grams protein.

- Alyssa Tucker, Bite of the Best Intern:The Sour Cream & Onion chips are  packed with actual potato flavor  and are crunchy, without they airy texture of  other baked chips. Plus, the chips don’t leave your hands greasy.

Fiber One has introduced Chocolate and Strawberry PB&J Chewy granola bars designed for kids.

Each 1-ounce bar contains 100-110 calories, 2 grams saturated fat (of 3-3.5 total), 5 grams fiber, 7-8 grams sugar and 1-2 grams protein.

Olive Coast offers Medietteranean inspired kettle cooked potato chips made with 100% olive oil. These chips have no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives; they are also Kosher.

Available in Tuscan Herb & Garlic or Sicilian Style Tomato & Asiago, each 1-ounce serving contains 150 calories, 1.5 grams saturated fat (of 9 grams total), 140-150 milligrams sodium and 2 grams protein.

- bonnie: I wish these crispy chips were also available unseasoned!