...In other high-tech beverage delivery: as well as these giant Costa Express vending machines popping up in London stations and supermarkets, Costa has rolled out a baffling range of handcrafted Iced Coffees , which seem to consist of the usual coffee, blended with ice, on top of a layer of cold milk. Tasting mostly of Trebor Refreshers , the Starburst Mixed Berry Milkshake is the highlight so far of this year's McDonald's Taste Of America initiative, which axes New Orleans and Miami , and mixes up Arizona and Texas. Or, more patriotically, Foodstuff Finds has been sipping on Victory Tea , which sounds like the sort of thing they drink in George Orwell's 1984 (and looks like it has a bit of retro-styling about it too). ]]> http://www.snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=1204291936cas "James Quin" reports: Found these on a shopping trip on 21/04/2012. No "imported by" label, making it difficult to pinpoint a UK distributor. Though it does say on Herr's official website (the apparently Pennsylvania-based http://www.herrs.com ) that they will ship out cases of 24 bags at a time.

...A no-nonsense sighting there from possible first-time spotter "James Quin" , though UK crisp enthusiasts are also catered for in the form of: (current Waitrose-exclusive?) PopChips ; the battle between Kettle Baked Crisps and Walkers' Baked Stars ; plus the similarly oven-origined Jacob's Oddities (NB: that last link goes to Stuart Campbell's website, containing continuous strong language directed at the Commodore 64, and deservedly so in my opinion).

Or, in more substantial savouries, "Marc" seems very excited about the Chixxs A Taste Of The World Italian Pesto Chicken Bites he paid £2 for in Tesco (also available in Indian Masala Chicken Goujons, or American Hot Chilli Chicken Wings). I couldn't quite make out what was going in on his photo, but as "Marc" explains: "Posh Chicken Nuggets - what's posh about them? Well, inbetween batter and breadcrumb... not sure what it it's called, smells mildly spicy, 20 odd minutes in the oven! Verdict: A good honest product, I can see these doing well." ]]> http://www.snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=1204151010cpi Fascinatingly, Chocolate Therapy was available in the UK (if not on the NHS) about 6 years ago , but as regular correspondent "Graham" reports: B+J have gone overboard on the chocolate with their newest US flavours. Nougat Crunch is their usual sweet cream ice cream, bits of wafer cookies and a tasty chocolate nougat swirl, but while it's not bad it's actually not all that different from their Americone Dream . Chocolate Therapy , meanwhile, is just chocolate cubed - chocolate ice cream with cookies and a chocolate pudding ice cream swirl. I like my chocolate, but even that is a bit too much for me.

...In other Unilever revelations: Solero Fruit Ice Pineapple is apparently "the only lolly product on the market made with real fruit pieces" ; real fruit chunks are also a highlight of Strawberry flavour Carte D'Or (also now available in an Amaretto, Vanilla and Chocolate SKU); and light-brown coloured ice cream seems to be the distinguishing characteristic of this year's new Cornetto Enigma Yummy Cookie Flavour (about £1.50 or something in Tesco). Elsewhere, a promising contender for Worst Product Name Of 2012 arrives in the form of Haagen-Dazs Secret Sensations , echoing the unintentional hilarity of Surf's Twilight Sensations detergent and Primark's Secret Possessions underwear range. ]]> http://www.snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=1204080901sbc "Allan" says he saw a resurrected from several years ago Limited Edition Yorkie Honeycomb for 70p in Tesco, Hayes - but today's main freezer-cake-resembling sighting comes from what may be the international web-activism collective "anon" , who show their softer side with the report: A very nice soft chocolate biscuit base with chunks of Galaxy milk chocolate and a milk chocolate layer. Extremely addictive!

...To be honest, I haven't been particularly inspired by this year's Easter ranges, though there have been some interesting-looking Cocoa Deli eggs in pound shops, and I think I saw a giant Tango Egg and Mug in Morrisons. So I'll leave it to the ever-reliable gobble monkey to wish you a Happy Egg Day 2012 , hopefully not excessively haunted by the prospect of Marks and Spencer's "Percy Pig flavour" Hollow white chocolate pig with dried raspberry and strawberry concentrates and decorated with sprinkles (2%) , complete with ( gobble monkey description) "edible thong". ]]> http://www.snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=1204011641daa Sorry, I was going to write a hilarious April Fools post in the style of Jim's Chocolate Mission or something, but fortunately received this recent sighting of something that's been around a while - anyway, as "Phill" reports: Found these in my local shop. They're basically an energy drink latte. The tin says 'Do not shake' and I will say DON'T shake it. I think it's got a widget in it to mix it and foam it up. I told my girlfriend to shake it, as I'm used to shaking the Starbucks ones . Upon opening it, it sprayed everywhere. I then noticed the warning about not shaking it... Ooops.

...In other effervescent developments: "Phill" avoided similiar problems with these Limited Edition Fizzy Cola Rocky biscuits , which he saw for 79p in Sainsbury, Cameron Toll, Edinburgh, "and couldn't resist. They smell and taste just like a cheap cola. Worth a try if you see them." GlaxoSmithKline have at last started to address their ludicrous sugar content with Lucozade Revive (in 11g-carbohyrdrate-per-bottle Lemongrass with Ginger, Orange with Acai, or Cranberry with Acai), plus a Caribbean Crush version of "the hard stuff"; or, for something even less sparkling, there's Flat White Emmi Caffe Latte , "mineral water and juice blend" Volvic Juiced , or tea/still lemonade non-carbonate Monster Rehab , which I thought I'd seen two flavours of in Wetherspoons but the other one might have been Monster Absolutely Zero . ]]> http://www.snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=1203182028sbc "alan witthoft" reports: Found this at Geneva airport - was a bit sceptical at first as I am not crazy about almonds but then remembered Toblerone already has almond in it, so large crunchy bits of the stuff don't really change the taste, just the texture! It's really very nice. Toblerone with crunchy caramelised chunks of almond, it's a winner, I say get some!

...Further jet-setting here from "alan" while, in other Kraft Corporation concoctions, "Phill" provided this pic of the previously mentioned-in-passing Philadelphia blended with Cadbury Milk Chocolate , which he found for just 78p (introductory offer) in Best Buy, Winchburgh, admitting: "I've not tried this, but my girlfriend seems to be enjoying it." Oh and I naturally assumed there were almond pieces on the outside of Walls' for-once entirely-accurately-named Magnum Infinity (Tesco, something like £2.20/3), but they turned out to be cocoa nibs , contributing to an overall effect that should be advertised, Dirty Harry-style, as "Magnum Infinity, the most chocolatey icecream in the world - chocolatey enough to blow your head clean off." ]]> http://www.snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=1203041005cpi " choccieman " reports: Hurrah, it's always a good day when a new B+J's product hits the market. OK we're never going to get the kind of glorious variation they get in the states but it's a start. So this is the first flavour (of hopefully a whole range ) to feature a caramel core (hence the name) running through the centre of, and partially separating, two flavours of ice cream.

In this instance those flavours are caramel and chocolate with chocolate chunks. Which is quite convenient as I like the chocolate and mrs choccieman likes the caramel. It's an excellent combination and whilst it isn't quite as good as the core sundae you'd get from a B+J's stand at the cinema and won't replace our current fave of Coconutterly Fair it's still great and hopefully there'll be more varieties to follow soon.

...Cheers " choccieman " - no sign of this so far in the Old Kent Road Tesco, but they did have the long-awaited UK version of The Vermonster , which was OK but in my opinion not as good as Cadbury's Gooing For Gold . For posher freezer cabinets, Foodstuff Finds detected "elements of fern and [...] a very fragrant but also slightly woody taste" in Heston from Waitrose's Chocolate and Rosemary Ice Cream , while we can also look forward to: Unilever's biggest chocolate hit yet - Magnum Infinity in Chocolate, or Chocolate and Caramel; Rowntree's Sour Pastilles ice lollies ; plus, from Haagen-Dazs, both Mint Leaves and Chocolate flavour and these Secret Sensations , which contain "a liquid centre of sauce enveloped by ice cream", in Chocolat Fondant or Creme Brulee. ]]> http://www.snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=1202262114fah "Marc Carran" reports: After spotting 'Chicken', 'Bacon', 'BBQ Sauce' in the same description, I could not resist having a look at what this might be. From the box: "Joe hates to be hungry. His sweet and smokey BBQ melt recipe is packed full of flavour and is sure to feed your hunger. Chicken breast and crispy bacon pieces smothered in BBQ sauce and melted cheddar cheese served with potato wedges. Oven cook from frozen in 50 mins. When cooked in the oven my wedges really crisp up nicely!"

50 Minutes?!! Good thing there were some microwave instructions included too. 50 minutes is far too long to wait for Chicken and Bacon! Convenience meals... You know the score. Some are cheap (and nasty) and do the job, some are simple and exquisite and some are inbetween. After inspecting the ingredients, at around 15g of fat, I suspect this to to be somewhere inbetween.

Hungry Joe's, by the way, is a brand created by Kerry Foods . Joe (the guy I guess who is on the packaging) just looks like a normal bloke, your "Average Joe" I guess (arf).

Taste test now... It's good, but not great, everything's ok, but nothing special. However, one thing disappoints me, Onions! I hate them, I don't think they needed to be included with the BBQ Sauce. BBQ Sauce sauce needs to be thick and sweet with a mild tang.

...Always nice to hear from our old friend " Marc Carran " - while, in other meaty meals: beef chilli, hot beef chilli, or bean and vegetable chilli are the three variants of Baxters' new ambient Chilli Bowls ; Burger King have adapted last year's Melt 'n Middles into a Subway-style £1.99 King Of The Day ; and, for struggling vegetarians like myself, I couldn't taste any pear in New Covent Garden's Passionate Pepper and Pear soup , photographed here with Iceland's equally alarming Beef Yorkshire Pudding Wrap with Gravy . ]]> http://www.snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=1202121229sbc Zeddy reports: Shock horror news! Cadbury make an improvement to an existing bar . Yes, the Bubbly bar has a new outer texture and has dropped to 100g in size BUT it is for the better (well not the size, obviously). The new knobbly outer surface makes for a visually appealing bar and actually improves the bar's feel in the mouth. The other variety has white chocolate encased in milk chocolate. Now Kraft... if you can do a Bournville version and a Bournville with mint, they will steal a march on Nestle and their waxy Aero offerings.

...for what it's worth, I thought the bar looked a bit like something you might spray on the outside of a punctured spaceship in a 1980s scifi film, but in other blobs of chocolate: gobble monkey got stuck into Cadbury's Bitsa Wispa ; while Zeddy also located two kinds of Dark Chocolate M and Ms for $3.50 in a CVS Pharmacy, Davenport, Florida, elaborating: "I obtained these when looking for some medicine to clear up the 'nasty infection' I caught whilst on holiday. (It turned out to be Norovirus, since you ask.) I think they are a progression into standard pouches from the special editions that they launched a couple of years ago in the US. They both have dark chocolate inside (the 'semi-sweet' variety that the Americans love - think Mars Midnight )."

"The raspberry ones do taste fruity, although whether I would say real raspberry is another thing. I don't like fruity chocolate 'and so for me, I'm out.' Others may like this sort of thing. The mint ones are great with the nice contrast of sweet dark chocolate and not too overpowering mintiness. My mint-hating other half actually likes them (she will happily eat After Eights, so she changes like the wind). Mars should do us a favour and bring them to the UK but when did they ever listen to the consumer?" ]]> http://www.snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=1202050926fah Sorry I had a bit of a picture hiccup with these over the last week, plus everyone seems a bit cagey about their ideas for the flavour-identifying competition, eg "Marc One" : "The latest offering/gimmick (delete as you see fit) from Walkers. Have all 3 but not tried yet. I already know what they taste like without trying them... They all taste the same don't they?"

"Found a six pack with two of each flavour," admitted "Allan" , while "Pilch" didn't provide much more detail, confiding: "Knowing my penchant for unusual/new crisp flavours, my wife came home with these today. I would say what they taste like, but a) I haven't tried them yet, and b) there's money up for grabs! £50,000 per correct flavour guess , apparently..."

...Anyway, in other curious combos: The Grocer has energising news of a meat pie infused with Red Bull ; Foodstuff Finds has dared sample possibly Birmingham-based delicacy Lucky Me! Artificial Bone Marrow Flavour Instant Noodles ; and our old friend gobble monkey has found Kraft Philadelphia blended with Cadbury Milk Chocolate for £1.62 in Waitrose, presumably the ideal condiment to go in a sandwich made of Smarties . ]]>