Product Spotlight - Robinsons Fruit Concentrates

     So today’s Product Spotlight features a line of drinks that Jolly Grub has gotten me hooked on – Robinson’s brand drink concentrates!

     Before there was ever MiO, the fruit flavored drink concentrates in squirt bottles, thee was Robinsons. This brand has been around since 1823, and was independently owned right up until 1995, when Britvic bought it, a large British soft drink production company. It even has a royal warrant, which means that Robinsons is an official supplier of fruit concentrate to the crown! In fact, every year Robinsons actually is one of the main sponsors of the Wimbledon tournament, or similar tennis tournaments – and have been for years!

     I tried the Summer Fruit flavor, and I can tell you it is much better than the MiO, as it does have a bit less of an overly sweet characteristic, which I prefer as it tastes less manufactured.

     It really does go a long way when pouring drinks, making several pint worth of drink before ever needing to get more!

     They come in a variety of flavors including Fruit Shoot, Fruit Squash, No Added Sugar Fruit Squash, Fruit & Barley, Barley Water and Select – all of them very delicious!

     If you would like to try some for yourself, give Jolly Grub a ring, or click here!

Candy Spotlight - The "Wispa" Bar

     So this will be the first installment of a new spotlight series I will be doing entitled simply that: Candy Spotlight.

      I had thoughts about doing a post like this for a week or so, but I was stumped as to where to begin, as the UK has a near endless amount of different candy that comes in different shapes, sizes and flavors.  It struck me – “Why not just start with my favorite?” And so I did, it’s the Wispa bar!

     Wispa was first launched nationally in England in the year of our lord 1983, after an extremely successful trial run in North East England in the previous two years. It is made through a unique manufacturing process in which a gas, usually CO2 or Nitrogren is aerated into the chocolate while at very high pressure. As it cools, the pressure is slowly brought down to normal, leaving gas bubbles trapped inside! The reason it is called “Wispa” is because of the sound that it makes while you eat it – a light “whispering” sound – this can be heard if you hold the candy up to your ear (although you may seem a bit odd if you do this on the train).

     In 2003 Wispa was discontinued by Cadbury in favor of the “Dairy Milk Bubbly”  when Cadbury was relaunching the Dairy Milk brand. The reason we all still see Wispa bars in stores is because it was changed back after an overwhelmingly success Wispa “limited-time only” run in 2007, and by 2008 Wispa was permanently added back on to Cadbury’s line.

     This is a favorite Candybar of mine for a few reasons, the first being it’s flavor. I’m not sure if the gasses are coming in to play, but the fact that the chocolate is airy certainly allow the flavor to spread across your palette and melt evenly. The texture lends itself well to the chocolate, almost like a mousse without the long wait at a fancy restaurant.  The bar leaves you with a delightful taste in your mouth, all while being a nice light snack – not super heavy and slowing like many of its contemporaries.

     

This candybar is certainly recommended, and you can find them at Jolly Grub here! Special thanks to Jolly Grub for hooking me on these treats, and here’s to hoping you manage to get some before I take them all!