Soft drink reviews return !! (Innocent Strawberries & Bananas) review – “Natural, fruity, too tart for me” – (7.0/10).
The Good
“Natural, sweet smell”.
“Environmental impact considered”.
“Clear brand message”.
“Full mouthfeel”.
“Smooth taste”.
“Well-balanced taste”.
“Natural tang evident”.
The Bad
“Unbalanced aftertaste”.
“Harsh tart aftertaste”.
“Most expensive smoothie, especially in small size”!
“Lacking sweetness in aftertaste”.
“Not session-able”.
“Overpowering taste”.
Introduction
If you’ve been following me for a long time, you’ll know many moons ago soft drink reviews graced my blogs, including Cowbelle milkshakes, Schloer fizzy drinks, and a range of smoothies including Tesco own brand, Innocent, and The juice company ranges from Aldi. Links available below (Sources).
2 years later, after January 2019, I’m attempting my next “Dry” month this August. Since then, a lot has happened in my life including exhausting supermarket supplies of new ciders to review, relationship breakups, job losses, and a global pandemic. Due to this, I didn’t do a Dry January in 2021, but I like the idea of doing it for health benefits.
The main benefit I am doing this for is reducing risk for alcoholic hepatitis developing, which can be caused by regular drinking over long periods of time. This is reversible though by stopping drinking. Read below (Dry January benefits).
Ranges
The main smoothie ranges from my undercover trip to Tesco, revealed Tropicana, Innocent, and Naked.
Today’s review will be my second Innocent review, following Wonder green.
WELCOME
2. Strawberries & Bananas
For the 750ml, calories are 51 per 100ml, so *383* calories for the bottle, or 153 calories for 250ml.
Price was £3.30, or £0.44/100ml from Tesco, which was 30p pricier than my first Innocent “Wonder green” in 2019 should have been, although I bought this when half price for £1.50. This suggests a considerable 10% price hike in 2 years, or a more expensive edition in the range.
Bracket number below = number for one of 5 a day e.g. *(7) strawberries.
Please note though that the NHS suggests smoothies shouldn’t contribute more than one of your 5 a day, so you can only count one of the fruits below. It’s also noteworthy that the juice extraction process can reduce nutrients compared to whole fruit consumption.
Innocent Strawberries & Bananas 750ml smoothie includes: “*(7) 21 Crushed Strawberries (31%), * (1) 1 1/2 Pressed Apples, * (1) 2 Mashed Bananas (22%), 31 Pressed White Grapes, 1/4 of a Squeezed Orange, and 17 Crushed Blackcurrants”.
Looking at the drinks’ 3 most abundant fruits, banana contains far more potassium than apple and pear, which is needed for muscle contraction and controlling the amount of water inside your body building blocks or “cells”. Banana is also high in vitamin C, which helps your body produce connective tissues, with almost double the amount found in Apple. Strawberry here steals the show in vitamin C, and is also high in antioxidants which can improve blood sugar control and heart health.
Apples by contrast are low in vitamins and minerals, but compensate with their antioxidants and fibre, which slows sugar absorption, increasing feelings of fullness, and improving digestion.
For the 250ml bottle …
72p per 100ml, £1.79 for this bottle !!
The bottle suggested the smoothie contained a blend of both “crushed fruit”, and “juice”. It was nice that some elements of the whole fruit were retained by including crushed fruit for nutrition purposes.
The bottle also supported the above nutritional information, highlighting fibre and vitamin C as the main nutrients within, using red marker. 9.7% reference intake of vitamin C was apparently provided per 100ml, alongside 1.2g of fibre.
In the small bottle depicted in the photo of this article, 250ml was contained, equating to 24.25% reference intake vitamin C, and 3g fibre. 3/4 banana, 1/2 apple and *7 strawberries were contained in this small bottle size.
The drink was also rainforest alliance certified, and suggested the sugar all occurred naturally within the fruit used, with none added. This suggested the drinks producer had considered the environmental impact of the product.
Smell
A sweet and punchy scent of fresh strawberry instantly emerged. The scent was natural and highly pleasant. It persisted for some time, remaining for a while on each breath.
Taste
The mouthfeel was full, as expected perhaps, with the combination of juice and solid crushed fruit. The drinks’ flavour was fairly smooth, until towards the end of each sip, where a high degree of tartness was apparent. This made things a little harsh at times. Acidity at the start of tasting, balanced well with sweetness, but became overpowering in the aftertaste, which was far less well balanced.
Sweetness therefore was lacking in my opinion, although I do possess a sweet tooth for dessert, so it may appeal to those who aren’t a big fan of sweet desserts, or those who prefer tart tastes.
Due to the drinks strong taste, it wasn’t session-able, I felt one certainly wouldn’t be able to enjoy more than a small sized carton …
Summary
“Natural, fruity, too tart for me”.
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Reaseaorg Smoothie reviews
Innocent “Wonder green” smoothie review https://reasea.org/2019/02/06/innocent-wonder-green-smoothie-review-6-10-too-sickly-sweet-so-i-didnt-drink-much-youd-be-better-off-drinking-apple-juice/
Tesco – Berry bliss smoothie review https://reasea.org/2019/01/14/berry-bliss-smoothie-review-9-0-10-naturally-fruity-and-textured-bliss-bit-too-sharp-and-insufficiently-sweet-for-perfect-balance-though/
Aldi – The juice company wow green smoothie review – https://reasea.org/2019/01/08/the-juice-company-wow-green-smoothie-review-6-5-10-a-naturally-tangy-practical-yet-fruity-smoothie-unfortunately-expensive-and-sickly-with-an-unpleasant-smell-mix-well-before-drinking/
Milkshakes
Cowbelle Lush chocolate fudge milk review https://reasea.org/2019/01/30/cowbelle-lush-chocolate-fudge-flavour-milk-review-thoroughly-indulgent-and-sweet-fudge-flavoured-milkshake-7-5-10/
Waitrose – Shaken udder salted caramel review – https://reasea.org/2018/12/08/shaken-udder-salted-caramel-milkshake-review-lovely-and-natural-salted-caramel-flavoured-milkshake-8-5-10/
Fizzy drinks
Sources
Dry January benefits
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hepatitis/
Banana (potassium) health benefits
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-does-potassium-do#TOC_TITLE_HDR_3
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods/apples#vitamins-and-minerals
5 a day portion estimates
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/5-a-day-portion-sizes/
Tesco strawberry and banana smoothie
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/270927464
Tags: Strawberry, banana, smoothie, innocent, apple, vitamin c, hepatitis, fibre, nutrition, reaseaorg, cowbelle, dry, January, blogging, popularposts
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