Cookie Comparisons

Newman-O’s

I know I’ve been slow with the Newman’s Own Organics reviews; although, I could have stopped at the chocolate bars and you would have already experienced the best. However, these Newman-O’s merit special attention.

The line-up includes chocolate-on-chocolate, mint-on-chocolate, and ginger.

There’s my youngest brother enjoying the chocolate crème.

The NOO website explains their source of organic cocoa and palm fruit oil—basically, the company strives for environmental protection and fair trade for workers when they source ingredients.

Personally, I thought the full-on chocolate cookies were a bit too much. The mint crème was excellent, but my favorite by far was the Ginger-O’s. I love all things ginger, so it’s really up to your individual taste.

This brand also comes in original, peanut butter crème, and wheat-free.

Newman-O’s rating

  

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Joe-Joe’s

If the price of Newman’s Own Organics does not attract you, but the Oreos are still out of the question, try Trader Joe’s brand Joe-Joe’s. This cookie has vanilla bean crème—now that’s good filling. Compared to the usual Oreos and other Oreo stand-ins, these taste less artificial. And they’re actually cheaper! (12 cents/oz. for TJ’s cookies compared to 24 cents/oz. for Nabisco according to Tracking TJ’s in 2006)

Joe-Joe’s rating

  

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Oreos

The problem with Oreos—or rather, the reason for the above crème sandwich cookies—is the hydrogenated vegetable oils and high-fructose corn syrup. And do you really want vanillin (an artificial flavor) more than real vanilla bean? But as far as taste goes, real Oreos are probably better than…

Dunksters (distributed by ALDI) (Bi-Lo)

Dunksters rating

 

But, remember, there’s more to life than chocolate and cookies…

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first things first: chocolate! [review]

Back in March I received a box of Newman’s Own Organics’ finest organic snacks and sweets.

Please note that the products mentioned in this post were sent to me, free of charge, for the purpose of reviewing on this blog. I will attempt an unbiased analysis.

Chocolate tops the list—and with good reason! The line-up includes milk (38%), mocha milk, dark (58%), espresso dark, orange dark, and super dark (70%).

More Than Just Chocolate

The company was founded by Nell Newman as a shoot-off from Newman’s Own, which gives all profit to charity, so it’s almost a given that their chocolate is USDA Certified Organic and Rainforest Alliance certified. From GreenAmerica:

• RA standards prohibit the use of forced labor, child labor, and discrimination. At least 30% of the primary ingredient needs to be certified in order to earn this label.
•   This label means that at least 95% of the ingredients of the product are certified organic.

How is it?

This Signature Series is excellent. Don’t just take my word for it—reviewers include my mother, my little brother, and my best friends. Everyone agrees it is remarkably smooth and comparably better than main chocolate brands—it’s an indulgent piece of work. I think the word I heard was, “divine.”

   This is truly the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted.

My favorite from NOO, of course, was the super dark chocolate. I recently bought some Lindt dark chocolate that, as excellent as it is, lacks NOO’s balance of sweet and bitter creaminess. Both were 70% cacao, but that’s not always the best indicator of quality.

By the way, I enjoyed the “N’” imprinted on each square—I could almost pretend they’re for “Newton” (my name) instead of Newman… And check out that gold foil!

Where to buy

The most frequent question I’ve received when talking about Newmans’ Own Organics is Where can I buy this?!

On their website, one can find a list of stores carrying their products by region and online.

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superGOOD. mango + chocolate goji

Kopali Organics

The other day I came home from school, ready for a snack (as always at that time of day). There was no second guessing about what would be consumed however; it was waiting for me in the mailbox!

Kopali Organics sent me dried mango and chocolate-covered goji berries to devour review!

Please note that the products mentioned in this post were sent to me, free of charge, for the purpose of reviewing on this blog. This is my attempt to present an unbiased analysis. Since I don’t have the budget to fork over the money for these products, I will not consider cost in my evaluation.

The company:

Kopali Organics is for those “who care about the quality of their food and the environmental and social conditions under which it was grown, produced, and traded.” They support sustainable farmers and their communities and families in nearly a dozen countries.

Their products are USDA certified organic, Rainforest Alliance certified, and fair trade certified where appropriate. (Also read my post on shopping with a conscience.)

PS – I emailed all the companies at the same time about product reviews; Kopali was the first to respond. Thank you, Kopali Organics!

The goods:

I tried the dried mango first. The chocolate was melted (from the hot mailbox) so I stuck it in the fridge; the next day I burned off my tastebuds on some tea… so, this review has been late in coming. (I wanted to wait till I could taste it as well as possible.)

Dried Mango

I consider myself quite an expert on dried mangoes! For authentic Filipino gifts, my mom would buy beaucoup bags of sweet Philippine dried mangoes for our supporters and family. I’ve had my fair share of the tropical wonder known as mango.

The Philippine dried mangoes, however, are sweetened (soaked in sugar syrup before drying), as well as sulfured (a preservative). This is not necessarily evil, but if your food philosophy leans toward fewer ingredients and less processing (i.e. more natural and whole), than you might prefer Kopali dried mangoes.

The Kopali mangoes, besides being organically grown, have no added sugar or preservatives. I think God made mangoes the perfect degree of sweet!

These were chewy, tangy-sweet, and perfect. I thought I was in the tropics again! Mmm.

The 1.8 oz. bag contained enough mango to provide 35% recommended daily amount (RDA) vitamin A, as well as 10% RDA calcium (who knew?) and 8% RDA iron. One serving has 4 grams of fiber and 34 grams of natural sugars.

Chocolate-Covered Goji Berries

Besides on the UliMana truffle, I’ve never had goji berries before. (Look how this product review endeavor is expanding my gustatory horizons!) However, I’m not sure I like goji berries that much. They remind me of raisins. I guess I can’t compare it to more common dried fruits, though.

Of course, the dark chocolate is great. I love the chocolate (it’s fair trade!). So as for the product itself, if you like gojis, I think you will like Kopali’s product.

The texture is addicting—the berries have a slight crunch while the chocolate is so smooth. Texture is really important to me. The combination is also a superfood wonder. The bag contains two 1-oz. servings, each with 25% RDA vitamin A, and a little bits of calcium, vitamin C, and iron.

The berries are actually a great snack, not just empty sugars that make you hungry again. And you don’t feel sick from chocolate, either. Those are the benefits of quality food!

Other Products

They also sell dried pineapple, dried mulberries, dried goldenberries (all organic), chocolate-covered bananas, chocolate-covered espresso beans, chocolate-covered mulberries, and chocolate-covered cacao nibs, as well as a mix (goji berries, mulberries, pistachios and cacao nibs). Every bag has a full serving of fruit.

I would really like to try the pineapple! Mmm, more tropical fruit. You would think I would have gotten enough of it when I lived in the Philippines… but, enough fruit? C’mon.

Why I Buy Second-Hand

For Those With a Conscience

I’ve been reading a dynamite book called The Rough Guide to Shopping with a Conscience. I call it dynamite because it gets me passionate about the issues discussed—it makes me want to do something.

Often, however, I can’t do much, and I get frustrated. So this is my way of channeling that passion—sharing it with people! So read and believe! (At least, read.)

This book covers topics such as:

• sweatshops
• fair trade
• ethical investment
• organic produce and free-range meat
• “green” energy
• transportation 

Interested at all in the consequences of where you put your money? Check out this book.

From the back cover:

Shopping can sometimes feel like a moral minefield.

The issues: Do boycotts work? Is buying local better? How can we reduce our impact on global warming?

The products: From coffee to cars, fish to furniture, pensions to plane tickets—the problems and the ethical options.

The companies: Where to shop and what to look for in food, clothes, banks, travel agencies and much more.

The book presents the pros and cons of boycotts, localization, and selective shopping (choosing among companies), making me re-think some of my guiding principles when it comes to spending money. I still have my “Buy Local” enthusiasm, but on the other hand, what about impoverished workers overseas? Am I harming them? This leads to the problems of sweatshop and fair trade. As you can tell, it’s complicated and I won’t attempt to explore those topics in this post.

My solution: support neither the locally-produced goods nor the imported clothes—buy second-hand and bypass all the mess.

CLOTHING

Plato’s Closet

I’ve mentioned Plato’s Closet before, when writing about a particular Saturday. This is a teen-clothing shop that buys and sells brand-name, gently-used (or even new) clothing. It has over 250 stores across North America; the nearest to me is in Matthews, NC.

I love that the store has everything I need all in one place—shirts, jeans, shorts, shoes, belts, jackets, hats, jewelry and sunglasses. The only thing you won’t find is socks and underwear! They even sell books and DVDs.

Also, there are some great deals. I’ve bought a shirt for $4 (that I’m wearing right now) that had its original price tag for $24.50!

Another attracting quality of Plato’s Closet (which makes it relevant to this topic) is the “recycling” theme. Apparently, the philosopher Plato spoke of reusing and preservation, parallel to the founders’ idea. For my purposes, I’m not buying directly from any company (thus supporting the production of new stuff), but supporting the re-use of products.

Another “re-use’” store close to home is Sweet Repeats (in Waxhaw). They sell both teen and children’s clothing at this consignment shop. The selection is less than Plato’s, but the overall quality is higher. The store is also less busy and crowded, with more room to browse. This store is competitively priced with Plato’s Closet.

BOOKS

There’s a store in Waxhaw that sells donated books for very low prices, and all proceeds benefit the public library. That’s what I call guilt-free shopping.

BETTER YET

It’s easier and simpler to not buy anything at all. Of course, that’s not possible, but personally I’m trying to refrain from unnecessary buying for a while.

Update to UliMana product review

1. Goji Cherry Truffle                      

Read the original review.
2. Dark Truffle                                  

This was plain and almost bitter. For simplicity in chocolate, I look to TJ’s 73% bar.
3. Hemp Nut Brownie                     

I disliked this the most. I don’t think it’s worth the money.
4. Chocolate Apricot Walnut       

On to the delicious ones! What a great idea… the apricot and the walnut were of high quality and the three elements (fruit, nut, chocolate) balanced each other well.
5. Lemon Fig Bar                            

Mmm… there’s some coconut in there, too. This reminds me of Katie’s “babies,”
6. Chia Moon Drop                         

This was the prettiest, and I saved it for last, but unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it much.

Look for more reviews soon!

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