Marilan peanut wafers - pretty decent quality wafers - I've
had the vanilla, chocolate, and hazelnut, all with mild
flavors, but I was expecting something more from these. No,
the flavor was mild and muted and I could barely tell that
there were peanuts involved.

Carlisle red bamboo honey - probably the differentest honey
I've had in a long time. Woody, spicy, and fruity with
unidentifiable notes. Autocrystallizes at a relatively
warm temperature. I rather liked it. Pity that it comes
from a highly invasive species, called Japanese knotweed if
you don't like it, which the Feds are trying to eradicate.

Virginia Diner salted peanuts 2019 - this crop lacked the
wonderful blistered quality of last year's, though the
peanut flavor still was more intense than other brands,
and the crispness was still more notable as well. I may
have noted the exceeding crunch of the germ, which I
like; it was still in evidence.

Market Basket root beer - high carbonation, which can be
fixed. A very brown licoricey-tasting root beer, which
cannot be fixed. Not too sweet.

Langer's cranberry apple juice cocktail - despite the
ingredients listing cranberry and apple juice concentrates
in that order, the dominant flavor is generic apple. Not
unpleasant, with a good sweet-tart balance that regular
commercial apple juice generally lacks. This is marketed
here as a premium brand, but it was on sale at 1.88/hg,
a decent price, and as Jerry is supposed to drink it for
his kidneys, we got some.

Califia Farms almond milk - whose label touts dairy free,
soy free, gluten free, carrageenan free, and 35 Calories
per 8-oz serving. This offers very little taste despite
having 160 mg (7% of your allowance for the day) sodium
per glass; there's maybe a little almondiness if you think
hard about it but really no milkiness, though it looks and
pours like milk. It has a great texture, thanks to locust
bean gum and gellan gum. It worked okay in a dairy-free
bechamel sauce, but drinking it on itw own seemed to be a
bit of a useless experience.

Three cocoa powders, all 100% cacao, tasted alone and as a
beverage using nondairy creamer and sugar. All offer the
same nutritional and ingredient information, except the
Market Basket brand claims 20 Calories/Tb, whereas both the
Hershey's claim 10. In order of preference -

Hershey's Special Dark - very dark, smooth, moderate
cocoa flavor, mild bitterness, harder to suspend than
either of the others, but nice for drinking, given my
newfound disdain for heavily bittered things.

Hershey's regular - medium dark, a bit of cooked taste,
the most chocolaty of the three, quite bitter taken alone,
though this didn't come out used in stuff. I think this
would be the best of the three in baking.

Market Basket - I was all set to like this but didn't. A
bit of a coconutty taste, a little sweeter than the others
and less bitter. Lightest in color and in chocolate
flavor. Wouldn't buy again.
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