Part of Jones' traditionally offbeat holiday soda flavors, Jones Cane Soda Gingerbread Man almost perfectly captures the flavor of gingerbread man cookies. It is similar to a very good ginger beer, but with the added notes of spices and molasses. Tasty but not really refreshing, it was a good accompaniment to roast pork, but not a quaffing soda to quench a thirst.
Java Pop Caramel Soda has a light coffee taste completely dominated by a rich and delicious butterscotch caramel flavor. Absolutely mouthwatering - although I found it to be a little too sweet for my taste, it is probably one of the most wonderful beverage flavors I have ever had.
I discovered Julmust at IKEA, where the signs described it as "Swedish Root Beer." I'm pretty sure that they only said that because the unique flavor defies easy explanation.
Sometimes when I buy a product, my expectations and the actual experience are so widely at odds with one another that it's like I've been the victim of a "bait and switch" scam. These Brunswick sardines are a pretty good example.
That picture on the left shows what was in the can labeled as packed in "Louisiana Hot Sauce." The "sardines" are sitting on the plate - two massive cuts from the body of a good-sized fish.
Behold Kraft Easy Cheese Original Cream Cheese flavor: introduced in 2007 and already relegated to clearance bins and job lot stores, this curiosity may well have come and gone from your local supermarket without ever attracting your attention.
I was born in 1960, and I can not remember a time without Pop-Tarts. When I was a kid, my mom always seemed to have a box on hand in the cupboard. They were an occasional treat, usually served up with a glass of milk for an after-school snack; Mom used to buy the ones filled with strawberry or blueberry jam though I'm pretty sure that more kinds of fruit-preserve filling were available.
Now, if you don't like Pop-Tarts to begin with, nothing I write here is going to change your mind about them. The basic flavors in Pop-Tarts haven't changed all that much since I was a kid, and with the exception of the fillings, there isn't anything different about these. The pastry crust is still pretty industrial, kind of flaky/crumbly, with a quite pleasant shortbread note to it. The frosting is still that hardened confectioner's-glaze style stuff that reminds me of hardened royal icing.
Nissin Cup Noodles Souper Meal, Chicken Flavor with Vegetable Medley
Nissen Chow Mein, Teriyaki Beef Flavor.
Miss Vickie's, a Canadian potato chip brand now owned by Frito-Lay, Inc., is a kettle-style chip that claims to be cooked in small batches.
Matjes herring (or "soused herring" as it is often known in English-speaking countries) is another interesting tinned fish product; the container pictured is from Abba Seafoods of Sweden.
I opened a can and poured off some of the dark lavender-colored brine. The herring bits were translucent and pink with their silver skin still clinging to one side. There was a distinct aroma of dill, but it was overpowered by the strong smell of cloves, which I reckon was the "spice" listed on the label.
The Swedish Food Market at IKEA always has a few surprises lurking within. On a recent trip, I picked up two varieties of Kalles Kaviar (a smoked fish roe spread.) In Sweden, it's one of the most popular snacks/sandwich spreads on the market and it's available straight, with cream cheese, with dill, and a "light" version. IKEA carried English-language-labeled product in two of the flavors: straight Creamed Smoked Roe, and Striped (cream cheese accompanies the roe but is not blended with it, so the product comes from the tube in an attractive pink-and-white-striped extrusion.) I sampled each variety on plain saltine crackers.
Creamed Smoked Roe - soft pinky brown, flecked with little bits of herbs and seasoning. Aggressively fishy flavor, just as you'd expect from a poduct made with roe, but with a richer tone I couldn't quite identify and very sweet. Checking the label, I found that tomatoes and sugar are both important ingredients. Not bad as a snack spread, but the sweetness kind of put me off a little. I think this would be great served on toasted rye rounds with sliced stuffed Manzanilla olives and egg salad, or as a stuffing for salty green olives where the tart/bitter flavors of the olive could balance the sweetness in the spread.
Striped Smoked Roe - Packed with soft cream cheese alongside the roe, this spread is much lighter than the straight roe, with a distinctive salmony-orange color and a milder, more delicate taste. The gentler flavor makes it more suitable for a general snack spread or sandwich filler. Still, the smoked roe itself is heavily laced with tomato and sugar, and I found it to be just as disconcertingly sweet as the other.
IKEA is well known for their well-designed, affordable home furnishings (many of which need to be assembled by the consumer.) But their stores also have small cafeteria-style restaurants where you can take a break and buy some lunch or a snack after winding through the cavernous showroom and marketplace.
The cafeteria is just about the only part of the building with windows, and the combination of light colors, bright metallics, and simple furniture design gives it a bright, airy, relaxing atmosphere that adds to the "refreshment factor." The selection is limited - I think there were five or six main selections along with a single soup choice and a variety of desserts - but that's to be expected at a retail store's lunch counter.
The Swedish Meatball platter was pretty much as expected - about a dozen small and quite delicious Swedish meatballs, nice balance of meat and filler, pleasantly seasoned. They were topped with a light brown gravy that most certainly from a packet and which had a distinctive soy-like flavor to it (quite like Maggi sauce bottled for the American market.) Sides included roughly mashed red potatoes (creamy and delicious with chunks of unmashed potatoes and potato skins mixed throughout) and lingonberry preserves (sweet and tart, loaded with whole berries, quite a bit like cranberry sauce.) For dessert, the ladies also selected a wonderful apple cake: a two-inch-deep graham cracker crumb crust filled with big chunks of stewed apples, topped with a buttercrumb crust and vanilla custard sauce. It was much more like a deep-dish pie or apple tart than a "cake."
The Garden Vegetable Soup was also very pleasant, although once again it was obviously an "envelope" soup; the broth had the distinctive flavor of reconstituted soup mixes, and the potatoes had been quite obviously dehydrated. But it had been enriched with frozen lima beans and corn, as well as slices of fresh zucchini and yellow summer squash. The weather outside was cold and rainy, and the hot soup was particularly welcome.
I found Garlic Man here on a cellophane package of garlic imported from China. It was pretty good garlic, I admit, but not as good as the stuff grown closer to home (which doesn't have as far to travel.)
