A smoothie or not a smoothie?? (Marks & Spencer Orange Mango & Apricot Smoothie)

Member Name: magenta23

Product:	Marks & Spencer Orange Mango & Apricot Smoothie
Date:	14/05/09 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: tasty, tangy, refreshing

Disadvantages: Too thin

I often go into Marks and Spencer and treat myself to one of their lovely juices or smoothies from the 'Food to Go' section. One of those nice sunny days we had a few weeks ago which seem to have now disappeared I fancied a summery drink and settled on their 'Orange, mango and apricot burst smoothie'.

Marks and Sparks are known to be a little pricer that the top three on their food, but smoothies are a pretty similar price everywhere. In fact I think at just under £3 for a 500ml bottle it's not too bad. I would pay about £1.80 for a tiny bottle of innocent that's half the size.

The drink on the bottle is described as follows - "A delcious blend of of freshly squeezed orange juice and Alphoso mango with apricot." I think this is definately an accurate description of the product, honest and not fluffed up. The problem I have with the product is that it calls itself a smoothie. What does a product have to contain to be a juice and what to be a smoothie? Yes, it does state on the bottle that is has fruit puree in the ingredients but it is just so thin. It's absolutely delicious and tangy, with lovely little juicy bits of orange and I throughly enjoyed it but I would class it as a juice and not a smoothie. For that reason, I take back what I previously said about about the price. Yes for a smoothie of this size it's not bad, for a juice it's expensive.

As usual with these snack or lunchtime products, the nutritional information is dispalyed 'per portion' which is usually half the pack, when the manufacturers know, that it's probably going to be consumed all in one go as it's a lunch product. So per 1/2 of this bottle, this juice/smoothie contains 125 calories and 25.3g of sugar. This is quite high on sugar content, but it is naturally occuring I suppose.

Overall, I enjoyed this product. It's tasty and refereshing and contains one of your 5 a day. I just don't think it's thick enough to be classed as a smoothie.

Summary: A delicious drink but brand it properly M&S