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Heinz Chocolate Biscotti 9mth+
by deedee610
WHAT ARE THEY? Apparently, these biscuits come from a unique Italian recipe. They're described as having a 'gentle crunch' but gently soften in a baby's mouth. They've been designed so that they're easy for babies to grasp and can help improve hand/eye coordination. They're preservative free, have no artifical colours and contain 10 key ... vitamins and minerals.
INGREDIENTS: Flours (Wheat, Oat, Barley, Maize, Rice, Rye), Sugar, Vegetable Oil, Yogurt, Reduced Fat Cocoa Powder (3%), Chocolate (2%, Sugar, Reduced Fat Cocoa Powder, Cocoa Butter, Emulsifier-Soya Lecithin), Skimmed Milk Powder, Dietary Fibre (Inulin), Raising Agents (Ammonium Bicarbonate, Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Barley Malt Extract, Calcium Carbonate, Flavourings, Iron Fumarate, Zinc Sulphate, Niacin, Vitamin E, Riboflavin, Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin A, Copper Sulphate, Folic Acid, Vitamin K, Vitamin B12.
PRICE: I buy mine at Boots where they're £1.09
PACKAGING: They come in a 60g silver foil packet which features an image of the biscuit on the front against a green background. Very attractive. Inside the pack, you get 12 biscuits. More on the actual packaging later...
MY VIEW: Okay, let's honestly set aside the fact that these biscuits contain '10 key vitamins and minerals'. We all know, truthfully, that our kids aren't going to gain any great benefit from eating these. It's something of a bugbear for me that most foods nowadays seem to make these claims, fooling consumers into thinking that what they're eating is good for them, just because there's a trace of some mineral or other in there. From my perspective, I bought my little one these biscuits when she was around 10 months old as an occasional treat - they also come in other flavours, such as Banana, Organic plain and Organic Gingerbread and these were the ones I originally introduced. I moved on to the chocolate flavour as a way of giving her a chocolate treat when she was a little older, without having to give her actual chocolate. Despite every intention of mine not to give my child chocolate, by the time she was 2, other people had got there and done it. I think, unless you are utterly firm (almost tyrant-like in expressing your wishes to others), this will happen - grandparents just can't seem to listen and I also discovered my little girl had been given a KitKat at nursery. Whilst I'm not anti-chocolate and I'd never want her to be the only one not to have a treat at a party, the introduction to choccy just came sooner than I might have liked (or ever expected).
So, to this end, the chocolate Heinz Biscotti are great - they give your little one a taste of chocolate without loading them up with actual chocolate biscuits. A word of warning though - if they regularly eat real chocolate too, the appeal of these biscuits will soon go out o f the window once they get a taste for the genuine article! Luckily, my daughter (who is two and a half) also loves grapes, bananas, satsumas and she has a varied diet so she doesn't kick off if she's offered something that's healthy as a treat.
For those of you with younger babies who are just discovering finger foods, these biscuits are ideal - they honestly melt so quickly in the mouth, there's no worries that a baby might choke on them. As for the hand/eye coordination thing ... come on, Heinz - this isn't unique to this product. Everything a young baby does is about developing hand/eye coordination - whether it's sticking a teether up to their mouth or any other baby snack product!!
My main gripe with the Heinz Biscotti range - and it's a huge gripe - is the packaging. Without fail, when you get the packet open, at least one biscuit will be broken (and that's on a good day). If you buy these, make sure you have a feel through the packets on the shelf first - some, you can tell by feel alone, have mainly broken biscuits in them. And not just broken in half - broken into smithereens! Don't even think about placing this item anywhere other than at the very top of your shopping basket - and then at the top of your shopping bag, otherwise you'll arrive home to ruined biscuits. And I can tell you this, a bagful of crumbs does nothing whatsoever for hand eye coordination! Even though I'm careful, I still often get home to broken biscuits. This has become such an annoyance to me that I'm thinking of complaining to Heinz! Their packaging simply isn't protective enough for such a delicate product. However, if you do find that you've got a lot of crumbled biscuits on your hands, they're great scattered over yogurt or porridge (yours or your baby's!).
Flavour-wise, these biscuits are delicious though - which is why I keep buying them. I now eat them myself if I want a chocolate treat. Yes, I eat chocolate too - however, it does make me feel quite virtuous if I forgo choccy and have a few of these instead! They are incredibly low cal and have what I would describe as a praline flavour. They are certainly in the same territory as things that are chocolate and hazelnut combos, such as Ferrero Rocher or Nutella. The taste is actually quite sophisticated, given that this is a babyfood product and I reckon Heinz would be onto a winner if they did a large version - after all, most mums have probably secretly scoffed these mini versions!
CONCLUSION: A good alternative choccy snack for you or your baby. Terrible packaging though means a lot of the biscuits end up broken. It's for this reason, and this reason alone, that I have only given the product 2 stars. Otherwise, I would rate them as a 4.
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