Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--An English Beer Cheese

      I've obviously done many posts about various beers, and various cheeses.  But I think this is the first one that's a combination of the two.  Thinking about it, I'm kind of surprised it's taken so long.  I mean, I've done weird alcoholic combos like "hard" iced teas, "hard" popsicles, and even "hard" candies, but not cheese.  Anyway, today's cheese is the Challenger IPA from the English Somerdale company.

     Given England's extensive history, I halfway expected the maker of this cheese to have been around for over a century, or possibly several centuries.  But no--Somerdale International has only been active since 1990.  It was founded by two men--Stephon Jones and Ernie Waldron.  Its current headquarters are in the town of Wellington, in Somerset.  They sell cheese that are from various farms, although all are either in the U.K. or Ireland.  They make or distribute quite a few kinds of cheddar, a blue cheese, white Stilton, and several sorts of Wensleydale cheeses.  They even make a 1776 aged cheddar, to celebrate the United States' 250th anniversary.  Which seems a tad odd, since America achieved their independence by fighting the English.  But, it has been a long while, and they're clearly over it.  And, one of Somerdale's best customer bases is the U.S., so maybe that's part of it.  The Challenger IPA cheese isn't even the only one that includes some booze in it, as there are two Claddagh Irish Cheddars with some--one with an Irish porter, and the other with Irish whiskey.  I was further surprised to see a section on the official company website titled "Modern Slavery Transparency Statement."  This statement is nicely progressive--Somerdale is against forced labor (or as they spell it, labour), and child labor/labour, and human trafficking in general.  All good stuff, obviously, but it made me cynically wonder, how many foods and drinks have I bought that do support (or at least turn a bling eye to) human slavery and trafficking?  It's more than a little unsettling.

Challenger IPA:  It had an off white/pale yellow color.  I had some plain at first.  It had a crumbly texture, and tasted a bit sour, maybe a tad bitter like an IPA.  But this last bit wasn't that strong, or completely evident.  If you'd given this to me and not mentioned it was an IPA-infused cheese, I don't know if I would have determined or detected that.  Still, it was tasty.  I also had some on crackers, and the taste was pretty much the same.  Or once again, very good.  So, overall I didn't really recognize the IPA beer in this, but it was nevertheless a more than respectable cheese.  Not shockingly, to any of my previous readers, I would highly recommend this, even if the beer taste isn't necessarily there.

     I don't believe I've discussed this before, but if I did, forgive the repetition.  Eating this cheese made me ponder--can foods with alcohol in them affect the consumer?  Or, more bluntly, can eating a cooked dish with booze in it affect someone, or even make them intoxicated?  I've heard that alcohol in food is cooked off, and evaporates, meaning it shouldn't really affect the consumer.  However, that's not entirely true.  Alcohol that is cooked does dissipate, and evaporate, but it's a bit slow, and certain cooking methods or the time spent cooking, can produce very different results.  For example, if booze is added to a boiling liquid  briefly it may maintain 85% of its potency.  Alcohol added to food and flambeed may be 75% retained.  If baked for about fifteen minutes, about 40% of the alcohol will remain.  Increased this baking time to 60 minutes and the amount of alcohol left drops to about 25%, and after 120 minutes or so it decreases to about 5-10%.  Now, this remaining amount probably won't mean much--even if you have some briefly baked dish, for example, 85% of an amount of alcohol equivalent to about a shot of liquor, or a glass of wine, or about 12 ounces of beer probably won't affect a normal person.  Especially if this dish was eaten by more than one person.  So, for most folks eating something made with alcohol probably won't be a big deal, but it you're a teetotaler, or are pregnant, or are a recovering alcoholic if might be significant, and a problem.  If you're a member of these groups you should be very strict--it might not just be harmless flavoring.

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Two Thai/American Banana Waters

      I want some credit.  Despite disliking bananas in general, I've given them quite a few tries over the years.  Witness my post on dried banana snacks on June 17th, 2023, my post on banana "milk" on April 25th, 2020, and one about unusual fresh bananas on June 2nd, 2018.  (Although I do like their close cousins, plantains, probably because they're usually cooked.)  This is yet another chance for them.  Specifically, two banana waters from the Woodstock brand--their blueberry kind, and their chocolate one.

     The Thai part of this title was because the bananas were grown there.  Other than that, though, Thailand doesn't really figure into the Woodstock brand.  Woodstock is a brand of the United Natural Foods, Inc. company, usually abbreviated as UNFI.  The roots of this firm date back to the 1970's.  In 1973 Norman Cloutier started a company called Cornucopia Natural Foods, in Providence, Rhode Island, which quickly became a wholesale distributer.  Across the country, in Auburn, California, another guy named Michael Funk opened up Mountain People's Warehouse three years later.  This business, which handled organic produce, rapidly became a hugely successful distributer in the West.  Twenty years later, in 1996, the two companies merged, becoming United Natural Foods.  And, since they were leaders in the organic/natural foods industries on the West coast, and the East coast, combining them resulted in a company with a national reach.  During the next few years, UNFI bought up some other businesses, mostly organic distributers like Albert's Organics, Source Organic, and Blooming Prairie.  And in 2018 they acquired the SUPERVALU company.  As of now, UNFI owns at least eight brands, including Equaline, Essential Everyday, Culinary Circle, Wild Harvest, Field Day, Stone Ridge Creamery, Shoppers Value, and, of course, Woodstock.  All told the company makes over 170 non-GMO products, and over 160 organic products.  (Left unsaid is if any of their wares use GMOs.  Presumably not?)  Their total product line includes breakfast foods, condiments, frozen fruit, frozen vegetables, pickled vegetables, frozen pastas, nut and seed butters, sugars and sweeteners, rice bites, tofu, and, for some reason, charcoal.  They also reportedly utilize farms located in over 25 countries around the world, including, obviously, Thailand.

Woodstock organic banana water, blueberry flavor:  It had a dark brown, cloudy color, and its odor was both banana-y and blueberry-ish.  The texture was a bit thick--kind of between a water and a milkshake.  The taste was....surprisingly good.  Apparently the blueberry juice is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this drink, because this mix worked.  And I could still detect the banana flavor, but the blueberry somehow enhanced and smoothed it out.  I would recommend this.

Woodstock organic banana water, chocolate flavor:  The color of this one was brown, and the smell was just banana-y, not really chocolate-y.  The texture was like the first one, thickish.  I could, though, taste both of these flavors.  This one was just okay.  The mix did improve the banana flavor, certainly, but I would have liked a stronger chocolate taste.  And masking the bananas more would also have helped.  So it wasn't as good as the previous one, but it was still decent.  I would recommend this one, too, but only slightly.

     So, these drinks were significantly better than I predicted going in.  I fully expected to dislike or even hate these, and I figured a drain pour might even be in the cards.  But sometimes when you gamble you win.  Every so often, I like banana-flavored products.

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--An Irish Cream Liqueur

      It's been a while since I covered a booze, so I did some shopping recently.  And I found a good candidate.  As I've explained before, my ideal sample of an alcoholic beverage is a small, 1.7 ounce/50 mL bottle, so it's cheap (about $2 to $3 or so), and if I hate it, I'm not stuck with a large bottle.  This wasn't the situation on this occasion, but it was a nice compromise.  It was exotic (from Ireland), and a safe flavor (cookies and cream liqueur), and it was relatively inexpensive, being about $17 or $18 for the 700 mL/23,67 ounce bottle.  More precisely, I got the cookies and cream flavor liqueur from the O'Daniell's brand.

     O'Daniell's is a brand of the Robert A. Merry & Co., Ltd. company.  Which has moderately old roots.  Back in 1868 the Merrys Tavern opened, in Dungarvan, County Waterford, Ireland.  At some unspecified time the family expanded into making wines and spirits, and not just serving them.  Jumping ahead to 1994, the Robert A. Merry & Co., Ltd. business was formed, headquartered in Clonmel, County Tipperary.  Further details are a bit lacking.  Linkedin provided the information that the company employs 51-200 people.  But I was unable to find out who the current owner(s) or CEO is, beyond, presumably, being a Merry descendant.  Supposedly Merry makes gin and whiskey, but the official company website only mentions the Irish cream liqueurs.  Of which there are several flavors--original, salted caramel, white chocolate, strawberry, toffee buttermint, and pumpkin spice.  The current Master Blender is a guy named Don Crowley.  Another business website listed the markets supplied as being (very generally) "Africa, Asia, Europe, Great Britain, Ireland, the Middle East, North America, Oceania, and South America."  Oddly, the O'Daniell's kind I tried was not listed on the official Merry website, even though it's another cream liqueur.  (Maybe it's new?)

O'Daniell's cookies and cream liqueur:  This drink had a brownish-white color, and a creamy odor.  I had this straight, after I chilled it.  The taste was fairly similar to advocaat, which I discussed in my post on July 30th, 2022.  Which is a compliment--it was creamy, with some chocolate overtones, and quite tasty..  The texture was also thicker than most alcohols.  It's been a while since I had the most popular Irish cream-based drink, Bailey's, but this seemed better.  So if you like Bailey's, or other cream liqueurs, or advocaat, I'd recommend this one, too.

     I was a little curious about the history of the cookies and cream flavor in general, and was gratified to see that it's contentious.  At least four people/organizations claim to have invented it.  In order, Malcolm Stogo, an "ice cream consultant" (apparently that's a thing) says he came up with the flavor in 1976, or possibly 1977 or 1978.  South Dakota State University lists their dairy plant as being the developers, in 1978.  Specifically plant manager Shirley Seas, aided by students Joe Leedom and Joe Van Treeck.  Then there's Blue Bell Creameries, out of Texas.  Initially they didn't claim to have invented the flavor, but stated that they were the first to mass produce it, in 1980.  Later though, they retconned this by saying that they were the inventors of it.  They even registered the trademark for cookie 'n cream in 1981.  Finally, John Harrison, the official taster for Dreyer's/Edy's Ice Cream, reported that he developed the flavor first, in 1982.  Apparently none of these folks have substantial evidence, or else the question wouldn't be under debate.  Whoever actually invented the flavor, it's clear that it was thought up in the late 1970's or early 1980's.  Though there are variants, the classic cookies and cream flavor is made by crumbling up chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, into a vanilla ice cream.  Furthermore, the flavor is rendered in many different ways--cookies and cream, cookies 'n cream, cookies & cream, and the same combinations with "cream" spelled as "creme." 

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Two Chinese Gummies

      This was another happy accident.  I was hurriedly looking for candy in my local Wawa (for those that don't live in the Mid Atlantic states in the U.S., Wawa is a favorite convenience store), and came upon something new.   Peelerz gummy candy, to be exact.  I happened to look at the label, and saw it was made in China.  So I picked up their peach kind, and their mango flavor one.

     It was a little difficult finding out the history behind this manufacturer, but eventually I learned a little.  Peelerz (and yes, I didn't misspell it--that's the way the brand is rendered, using the cool "z" at the end instead of a boring "s") are made by the Amos Food Group, based out of Shenzhen, China.  The company was started in 2004, by a man named Enduo Ma, and three unidentified co-founders.  Enduo Ma often goes by the name "Mr. Amos," and I've also seem him referred to as Amos Ma.  I don't know if he legally changed his name, or if it is just a "business stage name," if that's a thing.  Anyway, the Amos Food Group has two major brands--Amos and Biobor.  The former is their "creative candy brand," while the latter is "nutritional functional candy."  This "creative" description for Amos candies isn't an exaggeration.  They've sold gummies in block shapes, akin to Legos, which can evidently be stacked together.  Another innovation is a type of fruit gummy which is filled with juice--I think it's like a candy ravioli, with a pouch for the juice.  But the weirdest, and most exciting candy is a type of lollipop that plays music.  Which seems crazy to me, but apparently it's true.  A touch of a button plays up of 60 minutes of pre-recorded music, via a tiny motor and playback mechanism.  Then, using bone conductive technology, which is a phrase that I've never written before, the music is transmitted by sound vibrations through the consumers' teeth and jawbone directly into the inner ear.  Ear plugs, which are sometimes included in the package, aid the music's clarity.  So, after I've given some background about all of these odd and innovative candies, I'm going to talk about....just a couple of regular gummy candies.  No songs, so juices, no ability to be made into building blocks, just candy.  Sigh.  When/if I do encounter these more exciting and bizarre candies I'll clearly add to this blog post.  Which I hope I do--the music one in particular has caught my attention.  Although, thinking about it, given my lack of interest in popular music since the end of the 20th century, or even a bit before, there's a high probability that the songs in the lollipops will bore or annoy me after only a short time, after the novelty has worn off.  I guess we'll see.

Peelerz, peach flavor:  These gummies had a peachy odor, and were shaped like a tiny peach, about 2 cm. by 2 cm. (about .75 inch by .75 inch), with an orangish-red color.  The texture was softer than a typical gummy, and as such they kind of melted in my mouth.  The taste was certainly peachy.  Overall they were pretty good.  Not awesome, but better than an average gummy.  The package made it seem like you could peel them, but I couldn't do this.

Peelerz, mango flavor:  These smelled like mangoes, and were a yellow color.  The pieces were slightly bigger than the peach kind, being about 3.5 cm. by 2.5 inches (about 1.25 inches by .75 inches), and the shape was roughly oval.  The texture was once again softer than most gummies.  The flavor was appropriately mango-ish, and once again, pretty good but not great.  I would recommend both of these--both were tasty, but not spectacular.  Also once again, these didn't peel, so I don't know what the deal was with that.

     In addition to wanting to try the more elaborate Amos candies, I would be interested in sampling their alleged "nutritional functional" Biobor candies.  I suspect that this assertion is highly exaggerated at least, but then again, I would have laughed before if you'd told me there were lollipops that could play tunes, so maybe I'm not giving the Amos Candy Group their due.