Merrydown Medium Cider Review

Having recently celebrated the Queen’s diamond jubilee and with the Olympics starting in July, there’s plenty of reasons to crack open a bottle of something bubbly at garden parties, picnics and BBQs. My husband is a fan of traditional ale, but I personally prefer a yummy cider or perry. That’s not to say that I’m not picky, there are far more bottles I reject than accept. Having had the opportunity to testdrive Merrydown Medium Cider I’m very pleased to report on my personal findings!

The Merrydown story began in 1946 when three friends turned their garage bound hobby into a business. The first batch of Merrydown was called apple wine and was pressed in a 300 year old oak cider press borrowed from a farmer. The current recipe is free from artificial sweeteners, colours and flavours.

From a visual perspective the cider is a light yellow tone, with sporadic bubbles floating to the surface. It’s not heavy on the fizz which I infinitely prefer, so many other makes seem to relie on fizziness to disguise less than perfect flavour.

Taste wise Merrydown is very refreshing, summery and fruity, so much so than I’ve been forced into that most woeful of situations, creating a fake word to sum the flavour up ‘Applely!’

Having received several bottles I’ve been handing it out to friends and family alike and have yet to find anyone who doesn’t rate it highly. It has a lighter quality than many ciders but with such a satisfying taste that it hardly fails to impress. It would cook beautifully, but while I kept vowing to use it in this way I have to admit that it didn’t hang around long enough. A full selection of complementary recipes is available on the Merrydown website.

The Apple flavour itself is somehow exceedingly British, there’s nothing sharp or pert about it. Just like Brtish Apples themselves it has a roundness that just rolls off the tongue. It would make a fabulous addition to a traditional summer picnic or garden party. At 7.5% it’s average in terms of alcohol content.

Would I recommend this product?

I would and I have been, it really has such a lovely flavour I don’t see how it can fail to win fans.

Could it be improved in anyway?

Not really, it’s perfect as it is. Maybe if it came with free bunting 😛

Details

For more variations, stockists and a selection of scrumptuous summer recipes visit the Merrydown website.

Rachel’s Organics Yogurt Review

I love yogurt, it’s good for you, it’s yummy and it’s a wonderful ingredient to cook with. But with so many varieties on the market it can be hard to make a choice when you hit the shops.

I’ll attempt to make that choice somewhat easier with today’s review of Rachel’s Organic Yogurts. I’ve previously posted a couple of recipes using these yogurts and they were both extremely successful. For more yummy treats visit the recipe section of Rachel’s Website here.

Greek Style Honey

I’ll start with Rachel’s Greek Style Honey Yogurt. Having previously used this yogurt in a yummy BBQ recipe I had some experience of how delicious this particular flavour is. Eaten on it’s own it has a thick, creamy texture. This flavour is very smooth, not a hint of sharpness. The honey flavour is balanced perfectly, not so potent that you can feel your head spinning with sweetness, nor so subtle that you have to concentrate to remember it’s there. It’s become a fast favourite here, both children and adults rate it highly!

This variety is available at:

  • All Waitrose
  • Most Tesco supermarkets
  • Most Sainsbury’s supermarkets
  • Most Morrrisons
  • Ocado
  • Independent health and whole food shops

Available in sizes 450g & 350g

Greek Style Coconut

Next we tried Rachel’s Greek Style Coconut. Much like the honey flavour, the texture of this yogurt was thick, creamy and very luxuriant. The coconut addition is the main difference in texture. It isn’t just a flavouring, you can feel the coconut landing on your tongue. Personally I enjoyed this extra sensation, but if you’re expecting a completely 100% smooth yogurt, this isn’t. Again my children loved this flavour too, so it’s definitely family friendly.

This variety is available at:

  • Most Sainsbury’s supermarkets
  • Most Waitrose
  • Some Tesco supermarkets
  • Ocado
  • Independent health and whole food shops

Available in sizes 450g & 350g

Wholemilk Blueberry

Wholemilk Blueberry had a slightly more runny consistency. We ate it with some pudding and were delighted at the light, natural taste. Again not overly sugary, very fresh and authentically fruity. You can tell it’s a quality product.

This variety is available at:

  • All Waitrose
  • Ocado
  • Independent health and whole food shops

Available in 450g sizes

Low-fat Apple and Elderflower

This flavour was actually my favourite of the bunch. Extremely fresh and delightful. It’s actually because I liked it so much that I had one teeny, tiny complaint. It was a little too runny in consistency. I tasted some that had thickened on the lid and the flavours were more potent and even more delicious. A slightly thicker texture would make this the most heavenly yogurt imaginable (in my opinion).

This variety is available at:

  • Ocado
  • Independent health and whole food shops
  • Most Sainsbury’s supermarkets
  • Most Tesco supermarkets
  • Most Waitrose

Available in 450g sizes

Tropical Multipack: Peach & Passion fruit, Mango & Vanilla, Orange & Mango and Pineapple & Papaya

Finally I’ll finish with a Tropical Multipack. Each yogurt was a decent size and had very attractive packaging. I immediately launched in to try out the Mango & Vanilla pot. Perhaps I was expecting too much, but I was a little disappointed that the vanilla flavour was not very strong. It tasted predominantly of Mango with a literal hint of vanilla.

Peace & Passionfruit was very pleasant, but didn’t strike me as the most original flavour I had ever tasted. But in comparison to a lot of brands, this is definitely fresher tasting.

Orange & Mango was  a fresh little pot of yogurt that was a pleasure to eat.

Pineapple & Papaya. I loved this flavour, fresh, simple and delicious. I’d like it in a larger pot.

Overall I absolutely loved these yogurts.  As a family we are definitely Rachel’s converts. The fact they are tasty, organic, stylish and come with ingenious pots that are a doddle to recycle are all in their favour.

If you forced me to pick a Must Buy yogurt out of this little group (and that would be a hard task) I would say if you can only buy one pot, then go for Greek Style Honey. It’s a wonderful product, versatile enough to be eaten on it’s own, over breakfast/desert, added to recipes and more. I really can find no fault with it.