New food products: A tasty exploration of local offerings

Chocolate Bars and Candies, Elite

An intense and joyful onslaught from the local chocolate family has led to a new, broad, and very interesting collection on store shelves.

Let’s start with a series of combinations that pairs Elite's Para chocolate with three neighboring brands from Elite and Strauss: Tortit, Quarter to Seven, and Elite Coffee.

Para chocolate in the Tortit flavor is based on milk chocolate and adds in crunchy wafers and almonds, inspired by the completely mythical green snack. The result is a bit of a homage and a bit of an update, and it’s very successful (for those who enjoy it; of course, the rest don't understand enough).

Para chocolate in the Quarter to Seven flavor goes even further, with a continuous yet pointed crunch, balanced flavors, and an ideal dance between the two sweets.

Para chocolate filled with Elite Coffee espresso cream is a bit more mature, as expected, combining white chocolate with present yet non-dominating coffee flavors.

At the same time, the company highlights Para Crunch bars in black-and-white and brownie flavors— the former as a coated comeback (you saw what we did there, right?) and the latter as a completely new launch in the series.

The black-and-white Para Crunch bar combines cocoa biscuits, milk chocolate, and cream for a sweet but not overly sweet experience, certainly one that demands a return to our lives. The brownie Para Crunch, on the other hand, compacts milk chocolate and biscuit with brownie-flavored cream, keeping the promise of crunchiness and indulgence intact.

Cracker Snacks, Osem

A blend of uses and brand combinations has led to a dual and intriguing launch from the Israeli food giant.

This involves a pair of bags that join Osem's baked cracker snacks series, which includes a salty variation and seasoning of sesame or za'atar. The new triangular snacks represent the flavors of Bissli onion and cream-onion, managing to maintain the familiar crunch, a benchmark in any opening of such snacks. The Bissli version is very present in its somewhat mythical flavors, while its creamy counterpart is even better, serving as a dipping tool for a bowl of dip or just as a snack.

Prosecco Botega, Barkan Wineries

Alongside the snacks, and of course without them, stands the Italian Prosecco brand brought to the country by Barkan Wineries.

The Botega bottles (NIS 120), in unmistakable gold and silver hues, represent hundreds of years of vineyard work and a family-professional tradition in Treviso and its surroundings, sent to the country as a double representation, for now.

Botega Gold is a dry sparkling white wine based on Glera grapes from the 2022 vintage. It features a yellowish color and relatively fine bubbles, with fruity-floral aromas and an overall feeling of a European event.

Botega Rosa Gold, for its part, is made from Pinot Noir grapes grown in the Lombardy region, producing a deep sparkling wine in pinkish hues with excellent balance.

Mango-Passion Fruit Breezer, Bacardi

The popular alcohol brand celebrated summer with a new flavor and is adding to its lineup as temperatures drop (relatively, of course).

This is a Breezer in mango-passion fruit flavor, joining well-known and established flavors like watermelon, lemon, pineapple, peach, apple, and lime. The bottle (275 ml, NIS 10-15) contains a very mild 4% alcohol, maintaining balanced effervescence, noticeable sweetness, and a great ability to mix, especially in cocktails featuring rum and its close relatives.

Instant Coffee with Empowering Messages, Elite

A charming and necessary collaboration between the Israeli coffee brand and the Rakafet organization, which specializes in strengthening social-emotional resilience, has led to a series of cans highlighting empowering messages, aiming to do much more than that.

The special edition of Elite's instant coffee from Strauss is exactly that product, adorned with four interchangeable, supportive statements intended to “enhance self-esteem among those dealing with social anxiety.” Here, among other messages, you’ll find “I am amazing just as I am,” “There is no one like me in the world,” “I am the best version of myself,” and “Everything is possible for me, too.”

At the same time, a QR code has been integrated into the cans leading to a special page with information on self-empowerment, tools for dealing with loneliness, and the option to reach out to the organization’s representatives.