Review: Newman's Own Organics

Review: Newman's Own Organics

I LOVE the story of Newman's Own Organics!  Paul Newman is so awesome and he must be so proud of his family.  Check out this story that they share:

"When Nell Newman and business partner Peter Meehan started Newman’s Own® Organics: The Second Generation® in 1993, they were sure there was a market for organic snack  foods, but they couldn’t have anticipated just how fast the demand for their products would grow. 

What started with pretzels and grew to include other snack foods has now expanded to many other organic items: coffee, tea, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, organic dried fruit, and pet food. The partners anticipate adding a number of new items each year in all these areas, but they couldn’t have anticipated just how fast the demand for their products would grow. 

What started with pretzels and grew to include other snack foods has now expanded to many other organic items: coffee, tea, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, organic dried fruit, and pet food. The partners anticipate adding a number of new items each year in all these areas.   

Nell approached her father in 1992 about the possibility of an organic division. He offered to cover one year’s expenses for Nell and Peter to determine the feasibility of an organic product line under the Newman name. The one stipulation was that, once established, they would return the seed money, so that it could be added to his charity money. They not only managed to do this within a short period of time, but also became an independent company in early 2001. This had been the goal from the beginning. They are committed to following the philanthropic role of Paul Newman and bringing out products that he would be proud to have his name associated with."

Isn't that inspiring?! I love when people use their wealth and hard work to make the world a better place. We need more Newmans in the world!  Not only are they inspiring people, but I think that their products are amazing as well. I had the opportunity to review a giant box of their products and loved all of them, but I'll let you know my top four favorites because they are going to provide a winner with our top four favorites!

The first set of products that we tried are the licorice twists. I love how fresh they taste when you open the package!  They have what I think of as the old-fashioned-regular licorice. They are relatively thick and flavorful. They also have sour licorice in fun flavors: Sour Strawberry, Sour Cherry, Sour Mango, and Sour Apple.  My husband and I share the same favorite - the black licorice. This made it into our "Top 4 favorites". My toddler loves the sour ones, especially Sour Apple!  I felt bad that he loved them so much that we had to cut him off after a while. He'll do anything for this licorice!

The next products that we tried were the pretzels.  While the honey wheat is amazingly good, the salted rounds made it into our "Top 4 favorites".   We did have one problem with them. My toddler liked them so much that he snuck into the kitchen and grabbed the bag off the counter and hid behind our island to eat more. I saw the entire thing, but just wanted to see exactly what he would do when he thought that I wasn't watching.  Oh... the temptation of really good pretzels!

We also tried the dried fruits.  We had the Apricots and the Berry Blend.  We mixed them into our oatmeal at breakfast time.  I have to say that my husband and I were extra happy to wake up early on Saturday and Sunday mornings because we looked forward to our oatmeal with these awesome dried fruits mixed in!

 Newman's Own Organics is known for their good quality chocolates. They buy the best ingredients from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms so that they can make the best products.  My husband was in heaven because dark chocolate and mocha are his favorites.  He loved that he got to sample their great flavors: 

• Dark Chocolate
• Super Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa 
• Mocha Milk Chocolate
• Milk Chocolate
• Espresso Dark Chocolate
• Orange Dark Chocolate

They are so rich. I don't think that we can go back to eating Hershey bars after eating these chocolate bars! They are so good!

While my husband likes his chocolate "straight up", I love a mix like chocolate and peanut butter, chocolate and caramel, or chocolate and mint. They remind me of being a little kid because peanut butter cups and chocolate-mint patties were some of my favorite candies.  The Newman's Own Organics cups are so rich. I also love that they come in three packs because there was exactly one for me, my husband, and son. 

We also tried their tins of mints which are super cute and perfect to keep in a desk drawer at work! The ginger is my favorite!  Wintergreen is my husbands favorite.  The other two were also really good - the hot and the peppermint.  (This may sound weird, but I love pairing the peppermint with a diet coke!)

The last batch of products that we tried are the cookies. You've probably seen these at Whole Foods or health food stores. If you haven't tried them, I bet that you wondered whether these organic cookies are good.  I think that they are amazing.  I mean, it would be tough to find a cookie that I don't love, but these are really top notch for pre-packaged cookies.  It must stem  back to their goal to use the best ingredients for their products.  

The Fig Newman's are similar to Fig Newtons. Don't you love the name? (They received permission to call it this.) What surprised me was how soft they are.  This was another one of those products that I had to cut my toddler off because he loved them a little too much!

The Newman-O's are awesome!  We tried the Original, Chocolate, and Wheat-free Dairy-free. We sampled all three flavors and my husband and I enjoyed dipping them in milk.   My toddler liked having us take them apart for him so that he could eat the inside, followed by the outside.  I know quite a few people that have wheat-free dairy-free diets and I think that it is awesome that there is a variety of Newman-O's for them!  Sometimes I feel like there are not enough fun products for their diet restrictions, so this is really nice.

The Hermits cookies were new to us. We've been missing out because they are really good - spicy and chewy!  I LOVE ginger! How could I be as old as I am without trying these sooner?! If you've never had them and you like spice cookies, you have to try these.

I saved the Family Recipe cookies for last!  Now these are GOOD Family Recipes! We tried three different varieties: Double Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, and Ginger Snap.  The Ginger Snap cookies are made with real candied ginger.  We loved them. The Oatmeal Chocolate Chip was my son's favorite. The Double Chocolate Chip was my favorite and made it into my "Top 4 favorites". While the cookies were really good, I also like the packaging because there is a sticky strip for you to roll up the bag and reseal it. 

So what made it into my "Top 4 favorites"?:

#1 The Family Recipe Cookies in Double Chocolate Chip - this was my pick because I love the double chocolate!
#2 The Black Licorice - I picked this with the help of my husband who raves about them!
#3 The Salted Pretzel Rounds - My toddler grabbed the bag and hid behind our island eating them: that's a 5 out of 5 star recommendation from him!
#4 The Berry Blend - I picked this because my husband and I looked forward to waking up on Saturday and Sunday mornings because we craved oatmeal with this berry blend dried fruit mixed in.

Contest

One winner will receive my "Top 4 favorites" listed above! To enter, post a comment by August 17, 2012.  Optionally, follow Newman's Own Organics and/or Trendy Mom Reviews on Facebook and leave a comment that you did this in exchange for one extra entry each.

This contest is open to residents in the U.S. The winner will have 24 hours to respond to our email with their name and address. If they do not respond within 24 hours, a new winner will be selected. Good luck!

Learn More
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I am appreciative of the free products that we received for this review. I was not monetarily compensated for this review and all opinions are honest and my own.