Barcel’s is a snack company from Mexico who has set up shop in the US under the name Barcel USA.  Based out of Coppell, Texas this young consumer packaged good company is bringing exciting new flavors to the US.  Although our version of Takis Guacamole is produced for the US snack market it is still manufactured in Barcel’s Mexican factory. 

Upon opening Takis Guacamole a jalapeno-like smell leaps from the bag.  The aroma is carried over into the flavor as only a non-spicy hint.  The creamy guacamole then takes over and is finished out by a powerful salty aftertaste.  The crunch is nice and the overall presentation tastes as if you rolled up a really salty Doritos and dipped it into guacamole, although this version is far less messy.  Initially our test panel consisted of three but after examining this Mexican chip our 10-year-old director of taste opted out of this sampling, which is very rare.  Both myself and the other tester enjoyed Takis Guacamole by Barcel but we both agreed the salt needed to be turned down to make this a regular in our household. 

Our sample of Hill Orange Cream Biscuits came in a snack pack that includes six stay-fresh packs of six biscuits.  Generally we try to review the entire snack but being the Hill snack pack offers six individual flavors we decided to take our time and review them individually.  The different flavors are in the large shinny blue bag and are individually wrapped in simple clear packaging with the flavor stamped on top.  The first flavor we pulled from the pack, well you may have guessed it's the Hill Orange Cream Biscuits. 

Although I spent many of my childhood years living in England I am a little upset I never encountered this particular flavor of Hill Biscuits.  They are phenomenal! The biscuit is crisp, thick, and subtle.  The powerfully sweet orange cream filling is what brings it altogether.  At first I personally thought the zesty cream was a little too sweet but I paired them with a hot cup of English tea and I was very pleased.  My son was the only other tester tonight and he agrees, the Hill Orange Cream Biscuits are amazing!  Now we have to pace ourselves before jumping to the other five flavors.

Our test group for this US based granola snack was wide and varied.  We had enough to actually make the tests in rounds.  The first round consisted of our normal testers:  I, my lovely lady, and our 10 year old director of taste.  The other 2 testers immediately fell in love with both versions of Burdhouse Bakery Granola.  I on the other hand had to warm up to it.  We sampled it straight from the bag and did not compliment the granola with anything else.  Something strange then happened.  I put a portion of our sample in our pantry and I found myself visiting the snack several times a day.  The snack secretly won me over and out of a vast selection of snacks from around the world I found myself reaching for the Burdhouse Granola.  I then paired it with milk and fell in love!  The next round of the taste test consisted of 6 men ranging in age 24-32.   All of the men involved in the taste test all scored this snack high marks.  The third and final round was all women ranging in age from 26-45 and agreed independently with the men.   What does that mean?  This is a fantastic healthy snack for people of all ages and genders! 

Our French snack is the Petit Herisson by Cemoi Chocolatier Francais.  This translates to Little Higgy!  Cemoi is a very old confectionery company that got it's start in 1814 when chocolate maker Jules Pares built the first chocolate factory in France.  This snack company is so old that they were among the first factories to use electricity in 1892, many years after their start.  Fast forward to the future and they now have a total of 22 factories with 14 still being in France.  Now we know a little about Cemoi, let's take a look at the Little Higgy aka Petit Herisson.

Our snack from Germany is the Toffifee Hazelnut Cup by a company named Storck.  Originally started way back in 1903 by August Storck, the company was first known as Werther's Sugar Confectionery Factory.  With only three employes Storck set out to tackle the snack market in his hometown of Westphalia. Fast forward to today and this German Snack company is a powerhouse and owns many loved brands including Werther's Original, Merci, Risen, Mamba, and of course, Toffiee.  Toffifee by Storck was launched in 1973 and it's popularity quickly spread.  Today this caramel cup is loved by people of all ages in over 90 countries.

So avid snack enthusiasts and carefully readers may have noticed the image of our German snack is labeled Toffifay, and a majority of our snack review is referring to Toffifee.  No this is not a typo, although those do happen on a rare occasion.  This package is developed for the English speaking market.  We believe they made the text change so it's pronounced right although sounding them out individually we don't really notice much of a difference.  The packaging for Toffifay by Storck is a rigid cardboard open container that slides into a light weight casing.  When first open the thicker cardboard container features 15 tempting pieces sealed behind clear cellophane.  Overall the packaging and presentation was enjoyable and made excited to get onto the test.

Our taste test of Toffifay by Storck was a rare solo test.  We are currently adding another eCommerce business to our portfolio of websites so I found myself alone.  My time for traveling through out Europe and ultimately Germany was long ago.  I spent a little while trying to recall if I personally encountered Toffifay when in Germany.  Once the taste test started and I began to right this snack review, I quick realized that there is no way that I previous tasted this German treat.  The first thing that tipped me off was the presentation, you actually squeeze the hazelnut cup from the package.  The second clue for me to determine any previous interaction was the taste.  The Storck Toffifay is a delicious snack that I am pretty sure I'd recall.  Each cup is a whole hazelnut in chewy caramel with chocolate hazelnut filling and dark chocolate!  Storck took time to combine some very popular snack ingredient to create something that is truly delightful.  It's not too sweet and each ingredient holds it's own nicely.  I am very satisfied with this snack and wish I found it sooner.