ASDA Chocolate Raisins > Reviews (2)

Asda Milk Chocolate Raisins – 200g

Following my review of Tesco Chocolate covered raisins last year; I thought I would try Asda’s version of the same thing. I’m still hoping that this type of product qualifies for one of my ‘five-a-day!’ The packet describes this product as, ‘Juicy raisins covered in smooth milk chocolate.” Well, there is only one way to find out if this is true – eat them!

Packaging

This product is in a shiny blue and black plastic pouch, which is 18.5cm x 12.5cm x 1.5cm (approx). I will not go into detail as to what the wrapper looks like as you can see from the picture I have provided, which has changed since the one provided by Ciao. I was particularly pleased that the wrapper has a 4.5 cm clear strip across the front that enables the shopper to see the contents. Most of the information about the product is on the back

Nutritional Information etc.

This information is per 100g

Calories …… 430 kcal
Protein ……… 5.1g
Fat …………..15.1g
Sugars ……….63.8g
Fibre …………..4.2g
Sodium……….. 0.07g

(For full details see back of wrapping)

Ingredients

Milk Chocolate (55%), Raisins (44%), Glazing Agents, Modified Tapioca Starch.
The Milk Chocolate contains Vegetable fats in addition to cocoa butter, Cocoa Solids 25% minimum and Milk Solids 14% minimum.
(For a full list of what else the Milk Chocolate contains see back of pack.)

Additional information

• This product contains milk and soya.
• It may contain traces of nuts and peanuts.
• It has no artificial colours, flavours or hydrogenated fat.
• It is suitable for vegetarians.
• The best before date on my bag indicated that the contents would keep for 12 months. (Not in my house they wouldn’t!)

My Experience/Opinion

The bag opens very easily by pulling the top apart, or by getting a pair of scissors and cutting it. There was no obvious smell until I sniffed inside the bag and then I could detect the aroma of milk chocolate with a hint of raisin. There were161 chocolate covered sweets in my bag. Naturally, I counted them purely for the purpose of reviewing the product, it’s not some strange habit that I have. The raisins varied greatly in size and shape, so I would imagine that the amount in each bag will be different, but the weight will obviously be the same. Some of the sweets consisted of two or three raisins stuck together and covered with chocolate. Unlike the bag of Tesco ones I had last year, all of the raisins were fully covered with chocolate of about 1mm thickness.

The Taste?

I found the milk chocolate to have a pleasant taste and the raisins were moist and chewy. The raisins are of various sizes and obviously the larger ones are moister than the smaller ones.

How do you like to eat mine? Sometimes I like to suck them until the chocolate has gone and then chew up the raisin. This way you can taste the chocolate in your mouth and as it trickles down your throat. It is then followed by the pleasure of chewing the juicy raisin. The sweet also lasts longer this way.
Other times I just chew the whole sweet up in one go and get a mixture of the flavours together.

Somehow there seems less of a chocolaty flavour this way, but you get a good mix of textures at the same time. Whichever way you eat it, I think that the chocolate flavour is more dominant. If I’m honest, I usually eat two or three at a time!

I find that the taste of the chocolate lingers in the mouth and at the back of the throat for quite a long time but the raisin flavour soon disappears. For added pleasure, you can mix a bag of these with a bag of the chocolate covered peanuts. This way you get a great mixture of textures and tastes. I feel that it is worth mentioning that a couple of the raisins did have a very tiny pip in them. But the pips were so small it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of them.

So, are they good value for money? I thought that the smell, taste and texture were all good. I found that a bag of these lasts longer than a bar of chocolate. I find it easier to dip in and out of them now and then rather than be tempted to eat them all at once. That is probably a good thing as the bag says that it contains five portions.

I think that the description of juicy raisins in smooth milk chocolate is accurate. I wouldn’t describe the chocolate as being creamy, but neither do they. I felt that they tasted as good as the Tesco version of these, and are the same price.

Would I recommend this product?

Yes, if you like milk chocolate and raisins I think that this product is of quite good quality considering the price. The flavour of the milk chocolate is fairly basic and what I would expect of an own brand product of this type.

Price – I bought these at Asda (obviously) for 86p.

Website – www.asda.com

Thank you for taking the time to read this review and I hope that you have found it useful.

bryspy (only on Ciao)