Thursday 23 February 2012

Sweetcorn Bites - Review

Veggies aren't exactly popular in our house.  Try as I might, Squeaky's just not interested.  How DO toddlers know they're not supposed to like vegetables, or crusts?  Is it something they teach them in nursery?  Do they tell each other at playgroup?  The message gets around somehow.  Or is it too much Mr Bloom - maybe they think they're actually being offered Colin & Margaret to eat, and that would be wrong.

When the friendly folks at Barfoots offered us the chance to try out their Sweetcorn Bites, I thought it was worth a try.  Believe me, anything that interests Squeaky in vegetables is worth a try.  We received a box of packs of the bites, each bag contains an average of 8 chunks of corn on the cob, each one a couple of inches long.  (The first bag I tried actually had 10 in, but they're packed by weight so I hadn't won the sweetcorn lottery)

The first thing that really impressed me was that they're freezable.  I love sweetcorn, but we never seem to get through as much as I buy, and never seem to have it around when I really want it.  The whole pack can go in the freezer, ready to be pulled out & enjoyed when the mood strikes.  This was extra convenient for us as the parcel arrived just before we left to go away for the weekend, so if I hadn't been able to freeze them, we would have had to munch a lot of sweetcorn in the car!

The bites can be boiled, grilled, or microwaved.  Honest! I didn't realise you could microwave sweetcorn, but 4 mins in the machine, with a tablespoon of water & your cobs are ready to go.  Then how you eat them is up to you - a dab of butter, dunked in tomato sauce, or just as nature intended.  The cobs were gorgeous, all juicy & fresh, just the way I like them, and with their small size, they're great for parents, never mind children, as you can eat them with one hand while wrestling wax crayons, bubble wands, broken phones, or your toddlers other favourite weapon of mass destruction, so that you get your five a day, even if they don't!

Oh, yes, that.  I tried.  The cobs are so little and wee and cute, I really thought we were in with a chance.  And for a minute we almost were.  But the photo to the right was as close to consumption as we got.  A quick examination confirmed that mummy was trying to poison her with vegetables, and that was not to be tolerated.  Further attempts to offer her a sweetcorn bite were met with a blank stare and a quite firm "No mummy".  I know when I've met my match, and this is a stubborn child.

No such problems with me, or daddy.  We polished off the pack in no time.  It's great to have a simple, easy snack that's something different, but good for you.  It's amazing how virtuous you feel when you've satisfied that 3 pm nibble-craving, with something full of vitamins!

Sweetcorn Bites are available from Ocado, and selected stores of Co-op, Waitrose & Tesco.  They retail at £2.49 a bag, and Ocado have them on special offer at the moment at £3 for 2 bags.

Disclosure: I was provided with packs of Sweetcorn Bites free of charge for the purpose of this review.  I was not told what to write, and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for your convenience only, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme & will not receive reward for their use.

1 comment:

  1. You're gonna laugh, but when my Mom was head cook at an old folks' home, she had the same issue! She would steam veggies like carrots, peas, and corn, and puree them, then mix the puree in with meatloaf, gravies, and other foods. There've been several family-oriented cookbooks lately that feature that tactic, too, including one by "celebrity" Jessica Seinfeld (for which she was sued by another cookbook author who alleged Seinfeld had swiped her idea).

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