JFG Nation, Halloween is officially over, which means besides seeing more and more pumpkin spice items slip right through our grasp, holiday flavors will start / have already started to flood the stores. Mint. Gingerbread. Spice. Nutmeg. Hot Cocoa. Cranberry. All of it delicious, all of it waiting for us to consume for the next 2-2.5 months.

The question remains however – is the market saturated? Besides the traditional holiday flavors I just mentioned, is there any new flavor that a company can try to cram down our throats claiming that it’s THE SEASON for it? I look at how companies tried to make Red Velvet a Valentine’s Day thing, or S’mores a summer thing (I’M STANDING FIRM ON THIS ONE). We’ve seen some “Toasted Marshmallow” treats here and there, so companies are trying. But is there anything they are missing?

So, in the comments below, if you can think of ANY OTHER holiday flavor I’m missing, that companies are missing, SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENTS. Maybe your family, for some reason, has a tradition of, I dunno, PEARS for the holidays. Let me know what flavor should be a holiday flavor and why. I’m betting all of us are missing SOMETHING.

Today’s review: Smartfood Raspberry Dark Chocolate Indulgences!!

Smartfood Raspberry Dark Chocolate Indulgences came out last year apparently, but I never saw it. For me, this represents the first time I’ve seen Smartfood go in the SWEET direction. Looking a lot like Popcorn, Indiana Drizzlecorn, all I can say is IT’S ABOUT TIME, Smartfood. What took you so long?

Is raspberry and dark chocolate indulgent? Maybe if it was wrapped in bacon. Still, I do love raspberries, so let’s dive in further.

When I opened this bag of Smartfood Raspberry Dark Chocolate Indulgences, I caught a whiff of popcorn, chocolate, and some fruity sweetness that I couldn’t tell if it was raspberry. It reminded me of the smell when you stick your nose in a box of Froot Loops – that non-distinct fruit smell.

Popping a handful of these Smartfood Raspberry Dark Chocolate Indulgences popcorn pieces into my mouth, it was clear that this was tasty tasty tasty. Like the drizzlecorn I’d had in the past, the chocolate striping gave the popcorn the exact flavor I expected – multiple moments of deep chocolate taste on top of a fresh popcorn. The raspberry striping was good, but didn’t deliver as much tangy raspberry flavor as I’d hoped. The raspberry flavor was definitely more artificial, more confection-y. Which is not to say it wasn’t GOOD, because the final flavor definitely worked – but I wanted it to have more pop.

Still, the raspberry chocolate combo delivered as expected, and the fruit chocolate flavor won me over. The JFGal made a good point – if these popcorn pieces had a liiiiittttle sprinkle of salt, then that might’ve made these pop more overall. Sweet, salty, accentuate the dark chocolate – I think the JFGal is onto something here. By itself as it stands, however, I enjoyed these Smartfood Raspberry Dark Chocolate Indulgences popcorn pieces a lot. BUY it if you like drizzlecorn.

PURCHASED AT: Giant Food, Van Ness, DC

COST: $3.50 on sale

Sincerely,

The JFG