Thursday, April 3, 2014

March 26th Graze, snack #2: Key Lime Pie



Graze box, March 23rd 26th, 2014 (overview here)

Second item (to be eaten): Key Lime Pie
Appx. value: $1.50

Contents: lime infused raisins, sponge pieces, mini meringues and green raisins

First impression: Well, it certainly looks intriguing – it’s colorful, and the cute mini meringues are like teeny white kisses. I can’t believe I never thought of green raisins before! Considering how much I love green grapes, I feel so shortsighted. The sponge pieces really aren’t what I’d been expecting; they’re a lot more like disks than the rounded capsule shapes I was expecting. The mix favors raisins (green and lime infused), but the amount of sponge pieces and meringues isn’t lacking at all. It looks like you’ll need a couple of each type of raisin for each meringue and sponge combo.

Taste – Parts: Lime infused raisins are an interesting flavor profile. There was a bit of a clash, in my opinion, and I was left with an odd aftertaste of acid, bitter, and sweet. At first that wasn’t pleasant, but then it grew on me – maybe I just needed to get used to the novel idea of infused raisins. Or maybe I’m just not as fond of lime as I thought I was. In any case, I ended up enjoying them individually as snacks during class, as well as the green raisins, which were much more tart than standard raisins, but just as enjoyable.

The mini meringues were delicious, though the size made it difficult to get those pockets of air that make meringues melt in your mouth, so they didn’t dissolve as well as a larger meringue might, but they tasted about on par with store-bought meringues I’ve had in the past, though had a slightly more concentrated sweetness, since they were less fluffy.

The sponge pieces were definitely not what I’d expected. When given the word “sponge,” one thinks of sponge cake or angel food cake, and this was neither of those things. Again, it wasn’t unpleasant, just not what I’d been expecting. They were not as sweet or as fluffy as I was expecting. “Sponge,” not so much - but not hard as a rock, they were just pleasantly crispy. The sweetness was subtle, and maybe could’ve done with a touch more salt to really round out the flavor. Just as they looked, they were a bit flat.

Taste – Whole: When taken in a one-bite sample, the key lime pie mix was interesting. It didn’t have the same taste as the real pie – the lime-infused raisins offset the balance – but I could taste a vague reference to the dish. Honestly, I preferred eating each of the parts separately rather than all together.

How was it to eat?: To get everything all together was a little unwieldy – holding the larger, harder pieces while trying to pick out the smaller, potentially stickier bits. While the raisins could get a bit sticky, it wasn’t too bad. I found that picking them out one by one, so they didn’t have as much time to warm to my hand, kept things clean. And the pieces are all durable, so no crumbs!

So, final thoughts?

Parts: 4
Whole: 3
Texture: 5

Overall: 12/15 – I’d definitely get this one again, I’d just choose to eat it bit by bit instead of all at once.

‘Til the next box review!
-BoxxyGirl

PS: Graze is a $6/box snack subscription. Interested in trying it? Use this link to get your first and fifth boxes FREE! Tallying it up to 4 boxes a month, that makes each of your first two months $18 – cheaper than a lot of other monthly snack boxes!

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