With all the many food products crowding supermarket shelves, you would think we've eaten and drunk it all. But manufacturers are still cranking out new variations of familiar foods.
Here are some that have come across my desk in the past two weeks:
Flavored ketchups: We've done green and purple. Now we're adding Zesty Garlic, Hot & Spicy and Smoky Mesquite to Heinz's line-up of ketchups. If you want stronger, bolder flavors, these might tempt your taste buds.
The Smoky Mesquite flavor could double as barbecue sauce; the Hot & Spicy seems to be the ketchup industry's answer to salsa and hot sauces; the Zesty Garlic packs a lot of flavor.
I'll take any of these over purple or green on my burgers.
Propel Fitness water: How does this drink from Gatorade help your "fitness," and does it do it any better than regular H2O out of your faucet at home? The product's sales pitch is that some folks don't like the taste of plain water, so they don't replace enough fluids when they exercise.
"The splash of flavor in Propel helps exercisers drink more than they would of water alone, so they do a better job of drinking the fluids needed for proper hydration," says the product description. That's it? All it does is make you drink more of it?
But if you don't like the taste of water, I can't see that you'll like the weak flavoring in this water any better, especially if it costs $1 for a 16.9-ounce bottle. Propel has 10 calories per 8 ounces and 10 to 25 percent of the daily recommendations for B, C and E vitamins (but you can easily get those by popping a multivitamin tablet or eating right).
My family members accuse me of sounding like a broken CD because I nag at them to drink more water instead of soda pop and other sweetened drinks. Their main reply is that water doesn't have a taste. So — gulp and get over it. (At least it doesn't have a BAD taste.)
For me, the bottle is the best reason for buying Propel and other sports drinks. After the "fitness water" is gone, rinse it out, fill it halfway with regular water and freeze. When you're playing sports or working out, fill the bottle the rest of the way with water. The ice will melt gradually and keep the water cold.
Pizza Hut's P'Zone is a pizza you eat like a sandwich. (Hey, isn't that what calzones are?) Pizza Hut says it was developed from direct input of "echo boomers" (the generation born between 1977-94). I suspect the company's research-and-development folks were trying to come up with a product would hold together better for eating in the car (while balancing a drink between your knees and talking on a cell phone). It's a medium-size pizza crust filled with toppings and cheese, folded into a half-moon shape, sealed and baked. They're available through April.
Seneca Apple Chips: Snackers can get the crunch of a chip with about 30 percent less fat and none of the cholesterol found in many potato and tortilla chips. Keep in mind, though, that these apple slices are still processed with oil, so they aren't fat-free. Caramel- and cinnamon-flavored apple chips have been around awhile. But now the chips come in more flavors, including Sour Apple and Pink Lady.
Diet Coke with Lemon; Pepsi Twist: Like many people, I like a slice of lemon or lime in soft drinks. So I was looking forward to trying these new drinks. But in both, the lemon taste was too sweet for me and overpowers the rest of the flavors. I realize the manufacturers couldn't make it too sour; that would turn away a lot of customers. But if I shut my eyes, it's as if I'm sipping Diet Sprite.
Fridghead: Touted as "the latest and greatest in the line of frozen, carbonated beverages," Fridghead is the Tesoro 2Go convenience stores' answer to Slurpees and Icees. You can find these slushy drinks in 28 of Tesoro's Salt Lake City area stores.
E-MAIL: vphillips@desnews.com