Orange Fruit Bar from Oskri

Photo from Love with Food.
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Product Information:

The Oskri All – Natural and Gluten – Free Orange Fruit bar is the perfect refreshing snack on the – go.

I received this Orange Bar in my January Love with Food box.

Tea Suggestion:

To go with this orange bar, I decided to go with a green tea and I brewed up this Organic Long Jing from Steepster.  I loved the tea and liked the bar … I don’t know if this would be a “perfect pairing” or not but I enjoyed tea time.

What I Think:

This is a really unusual fruit bar, but I am enjoying it.

Most of the reviews on Love With Food that I saw were kind of negative about this product.

I liked it though.  It has a bright orange flavor, and I can taste and feel the dates, raisins and figs in this too.  I feel the texture of these dried fruits … and taste the sweetness from them.

There are also dried bits of orange in this, and it presents a somewhat hard, almost ‘crunchy’ chunk in the bar.  At first, I was kind of put off by this, but, after a couple of bites, I started to enjoy this element of the bar, and it reminds me a little bit of the Orange Crisps from Simple and Crisp.

My Final Thoughts:  

Definitely different, but I didn’t hate it.  I actually liked it after I became accustomed to the textures that are in the bar.  It’s a different taste, a different texture, but it’s bright and has a really vibrant flavor.

Hot Cross Yum Snack Mix from Graze

Snack Mix Ingredients:

sponge pieces, cinnamon and honey almonds and orange infused raisins

I received a tray of this snack mix in my November Graze Box.

Tea Suggestion:

For this “cake” like snack from Graze, I decided to go with a cup of hot black tea.  I chose this Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Black Tea from Eco-Cha.  The sponge “cookies’ and the almonds accentuated the sweet vanilla-like tones of the tea, and I found that the cinnamon notes of the tea came out a bit more when I enjoyed the two together.

What I Think:

The name of this snack is Hot Cross Yum and they certainly got the YUM part right.  I’m loving every bite of this snack!

The “sponge pieces” are like tiny, soft cookies.  Or perhaps a piece of slightly dry cake.  It’s sweet and yummy and reminds me a bit of a Nilla Wafer but without the crunch of the Nilla Wafer.

The raisins are amazing, and are quite possibly my favorite component of this snack, and that isn’t something I’d usually say about a raisin!  But the orange infusion adds a really interesting dimension of flavor to the otherwise boring raisin.  These taste bright and sweet and orange-y and delicious!

And the almonds add a nice crunch to this, as well as a delicious cinnamon-y note.  Of the three components, there were far fewer of the almonds than of the raisins or the sponge, and I think I would have appreciated a better balance of ingredients, but, since I really liked the raisins I didn’t really mind that there were more raisins than the other two ingredients.

My Final Thoughts:  

I “liked” this snack.  It’s definitely yummy.  I love the sponge pieces and the raisins are amazing.  A really tasty combination of flavors, made even better with a cup of black tea.

Orange Dried Fruit Crisps from Simple & Crisp

Product Information:

These natural orange crisps from Seattle, Washington are a delicious cracker alternative. Orange slices add a burst of citrus to cheese plates, cocktails and craft beer. Pair with our favorite cheeses: Jasper Hill Cheddar, Willow Hill Autumn Oak and Cypress Grove Midnight Moon.

I received a package of these dried fruit crisps in my September Knoshbox.

Tea Suggestion:

I love the bright and complex flavor of these crisps!  I went with a chocolate-y tea to enjoy with them mostly because the idea of chocolate and orange really appealed to me at the time.  So I brewed up a cup of this Choco Nut Black Tea from the Ambessa Line from Harney & Sons.  It was indeed a deliciously decadent tea time!

What I Think: 

Wow!  These are amazing!

At first … I was … a little hesitant.  These are very thinly sliced pieces of orange that have been dried.  Peels and all!  I even see bits of seeds in some of these slices, and that just … seemed … weird.  But then I kept reading praises of these on Knoshbox’s facebook page so I decided to break open the package and give ’em a try.

And they’re really, really good!  They’re crispy, a little bit chewy, and even a little bit juicy once you bite into them.  I can feel that “burst” of juicy flavor – even if I don’t feel the juice itself – when I bite into the pulpy section of these crisps.

It’s a very bright and invigorating sort of taste on the palate … my palate seems “energized” when I eat these.  It is sweet, tart, and a little bit bitter.  A really interesting contrast when eaten on their own, these also made a nice “cracker” for cheese.

I didn’t try these with the above suggested cheeses.  Instead, I tried them first with a bit of room temperature goat cheese and found this to be a nice pairing.  The tangy quality of the goat cheese brought out not only the tangy notes of the orange, but also the sweetness.

My Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed these.  I was skeptical at first just because … I wasn’t sure how I’d like the orange peels (well, specifically the pithy part), but they add a hint of bitterness to the bright citrus sweetness.  I really liked these with the goat cheese.

Orange Cranberry Cookies from Cougar Mountain Baking Company

Where to Buy:  Whole Foods Market
and where Cougar Mountain Products are sold

Product Information:

Ingredients:  Unbleached wheat flour, brown sugar, sugar, butter, dried cranberries, canola oil, eggs, orange juice, skim milk, orange extract, baking soda, salt, vanilla.

For more information about Cougar Mountain Baking Company, visit their website.

What I Think:

I found this cookie at my local Whole Foods on my most recent visit, and it called out to me.  Perhaps it is just my longing of autumn that made this particular cookie so appealing to me.  It could have just been that I was hungry and when I saw the cookie my tummy growled, begging me to grab that cookie!

And I’m glad I did, it is very yummy.  I like the texture of this one.  It is soft, but it isn’t too soft (although, I do like the very soft cookies too!).  It has a firm texture to it without being crunchy or hard.  As I eat the cookie, it feels substantial and wholesome – while at the same time being a treat.

The two flavors of orange and cranberry really come through.  They are a well-balanced set of flavors – it doesn’t taste more orange than cranberry or the other way around.  The dried cranberries are chewy and enhance the overall texture of the cookie, while the orange flavor tastes bright and sunny!

I also like that these are locally made (based in Seattle, but, there is also a satellite bakery in Portland), and reasonably priced – around a dollar for one large cookie!  YUM!

My Final Thoughts:

A yummy cookie that tastes good!  I look forward to seeking out their other flavors!  Goes great with tea, too!