Think Gum

The nice people at Think Gum got in touch with me and asked me if I would like a sample of their gum to review at the perfect time. I'll never lie to you guys: lately, my attention span has been about as good as the dog's in "Up". I sit down to try and write, and it's like "WAIT! There's something shiny!" or "Oooh, Dr. Phil has on moms who dress like they are cast members of Jersey Shore!" or "Damn, gotta go to work!" (Sadly, the glamorous world of food reviews does not allow me to avoid a "real" job.) Well, now is the perfect time, I suppose, so here goes the review...

Some of Think Gum's benefits are supposed to be that it has (I'm cheating and using the package blurb here) "brain-boosting herbal ingredients that are proven to enhance concentration and improve memory." Ummmm, what were we talking about again? Oh yeah, gum...

Think Gum was actually founded by a young whippersnapper named Matt Davidson who came up with the idea for the gum while studying molecular and cell biology in college. Matt went to U.C. Berkeley -- and Berkeley, of course, is known far and wide for its enduring love of all things herbal. Matt happened to be reading a study about how in a particular factory, the factory managers kept track of how the workers performed while working and breathing in different herbal extracts. While to me that sounds like the stuff bad sci-fi movies and conspiracy theories are made of, Matt actually took the time to learn something and paid special attention to the fact that the workers responded well to scents like peppermint and rosemary. He then set about on his own idea, and after a lot of work, Think Gum was born.

All of that is interesting and everything, but how does it taste?

Good question. Each piece contains not only the peppermint and rosemary, but also ginkgo biloba, bacopa, vinpocetine...and guarana, which is a natural source of sweet, sweet caffeine!



Each piece has a thin candy coating. I liked that the candy shell yielded softly and didn't cause crunchy shards to break off like most candy coats do. Actually, it reminded me more of the coating on the Premium M&M's. Rather than being a crunchy candy coat, it's almost a soft, lacquer-like shell. The texture is also a little different from most gums. Sure, it's chewy -- but it is also soft, and it's not sticky.

Tastewise, it starts out all about the peppermint. It's a fresh, earthy taste -- sort of like chewing on a fresh sprig of mint. It's sweet, but not in a candy way. The mint flavor stays at the front and is strongest for about the first three minutes of chew. After that you start to taste the rosemary.



The rosemary side is distinctly more bitter...but in a good way. It takes some of the edge off the peppermint before it reaches the point where you'd get that menthol-ish burn peppermint sometimes causes. It's an herby, robust flavor. The more you chew, the stronger that flavor seems to get. If it gets to be too much for you, or if you just want to recharge it, I suggest simply holding the gum in your mouth for a few seconds without chewing. That seems to "reactivate" the mint, and the gum will taste sweeter again. Between the mint and the rosemary, the flavor of this gum has amazing staying power. I chewed a piece for about half an hour before it started to weaken.

As for feeling like I was retaining things better, or whether my concentration had improved, etc., that's harder to say. I am currently on so much medication that I'm probably the worst person to even try to review it in that context. But I can say that I felt more alert after chewing, and I'm guessing that's at least partially from the caffeine. Each two-piece serving of gum contains about the same amount of caffeine as half a can of soda. And that's not overdoing it. I like that I got a little boost without it being so much caffeine that I feel like my heart is going to burst out of my chest, or I may want to do extreme sports or party like a drunken frat boy, or any other overly caffeinated cliché you can think of that I didn't.

Overall, I liked this gum a lot for its unique flavor. I like the fact that it's both herby and minty, and manages to pull it off without tasting either like medicine or like chewy dried spices. I also liked the little energy boost I got, and I will definitely keep on chewing!




PURCHASED FROM:
Sample from company.

CALORIES:
5 calories per two piece serving.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
thinkgum.com

Panda Licorice: Soft Herb

Once again, we all need to thank the glorious nation of Finland for yet another Panda licorice product!

All right, this review can go one of two ways:

1. I could be tasteful and classy and mention how this version of Panda contains all natural, fat free goodness of the popular classic flavor (my own personal addiction), as do the fantastic cherry and raspberry versions. Additionally, the Soft Herb version contains extracts of 18 different herbs, specifically:

* Peppermint leaves
* Shop vervain wort
* Orange leaves
* Marsh mallow root
* Glycyrrhiza glabra
* Blackberry leaves
* Plantain herb
* Torch weed flowers
* Thyme leaves
* Lungworth leaves
* Elder flowers
* Milfoil flowers
* Iceland moss
* Sage leaves
* Star anise
* Mallow flowers
* Primrose flowers
* Red poppy flowers

OK, to be fair, I am not sure what many of those herbs are, either. But it sounds healthy (and sort of like things actual pandas probably eat)...

-OR-

2. I will over-use the word "dude" and make copious stoner and hippie references. If you have actually read this blog before, I think we all know which way this is headed...

Aaw, dude...there's like, herbs in my candy, man. Seriously! Like, herbs! Uuuuhhh...I like it when my munchies are all, y'know, healthy. (And again, Panda is my addiction of choice.)



Looking at the pieces of Soft Herb, I didn't notice any difference between this version and Panda's classic black licorice. The smell is almost the same as well, maybe not as strong, but the molasses notes that I love are still there.

Taste-wise I was wondering how all the herbs would, like, make sweet love to my mouth. (Wait, that sounded wrong.) Actually, it's an interesting effect. I think I was expecting something woodsy or savory. Instead, it is almost as if they took classic black Panda and mentholated it. At first it's weird. After all, menthol is not really a taste you expect outside of cough drops.



Even weirder is that it really grows on you. Part of it is the flavor. The menthol has that quasi-minty taste, and it pairs well with the molasses. The chew is the same -- soft, and a tad sticky. What's neat is that it also leaves your mouth feeling both warm and cool at the same time, if you can imagine such a thing. I still prefer the classic black flavor over all others, but I really liked this one. I guarantee it'll be real easy to Finnish the box. (Get it? Finnish? Aaaaww, dude...ever notice how herbs make everything, like, sooooo funny?)

Finally, since I am indeed a giver, I am going to make a suggestion to those of you who are ingesting herbs above and beyond those contained in this licorice: You need to groove like the old school stoners did -- you know, back in the days of yore when herbs were really herbs, man. So sit back in your favorite beanbag chair, fire up some patchouli incense, grab a box of Soft Herb Panda Licorice, and munch out while contemplating the hidden cosmic meanings in the song American Pie. (Like, it's really deep, man, it goes like, waaaayyy beyond like, the day the music died, and like, Buddy Holly dying, y'know, in that bummer of a plane crash and all...) In fact, I am so generous that I have even provided a link to the song...in Finnish, of course.



Dude...hyvää päivänjatkoa! (That means "Dude...have a nice day!") And I mean it sincerely, with love and flowers for all of you. I'm just sorry I couldn't find a Finnish cover of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample from company

CALORIES:
130 Calories per 15 pieces.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
All Natural. Kosher. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
internaturalfoods.com

Glico Pretz- Basil

Sometimes even I would prefer a salty snack. Pretz are the savory cousin to Japan's popular world over treat Pocky (I am a Pocky addict)
Pretz much like Pocky comes in just about any flavor you could possibly imagine. I'd like to thank my friends over at JLIST.Com for sending me out this pouch of Basil Pretz to try.

I looooove me some basil. I grow it on my balcony and I have been known to eat it straight off the plant. It is a MUST for me in my pasta sauce and in general I love it in every thing. So eating a cracker flavored with basil should be a slam dunk right?

Opening the pouch the scent that greets you is a salty dried basil smell- off to a good start!

Each stick varies in length a little bit but generally they are about the size of a pretzel stick.

Each stick is speckled with little flacks of basil. The taste is salty and there's almost a poultry seasoning type flavor but the basil stands out as the dominate flavor by far. It's so vibrant that if you didn't know better you should easily pretend that it is fresh basil. The cracker that actually makes up the stick is neutral without much of a flavor of it's own- which works out perfectly because nothing stands in the way of the basil. Yes, they are salty but it just enhances the basil and makes you want to eat more.

These are just great snacks. Besides eating them straight from the pouch I could think of tons of ways to use them- I am dying to get another bag to crush into "breadcrumbs" to make meat balls with!

an 11!

PURCHASED FROM:
Provided by Jlist.com