Solero (Exotic)

Name: Solero

Manufacturer: Wall's
Official description: "Solero Exotic is delicious soft vanilla flavour ice cream, rippled with an exotic fruit swirl, dressed in a zesty passion fruit, pineapple, mango and peach coating. With an amazing fruity aroma, Solero Exotic is even more refreshing as its coating contains real fruit pieces and 23% fruit juice per product."


The Solero always struck me as something I would like, and it was. Coming out of the wrapper, the mango-shaped pop is a combination of fruit ice and ice cream. The initial scent isn't exactly pleasant. It's a very 'mango made in the lab' kind of smell, but I held my breath and bit in.

The shell is a soft ice, with a bit of pulp to it. It has a nice flavour, but the texture is a bit strange. The entire time I ate it, I felt like I was going to have a bunch of orange shit stuck in my teeth (I didn't, in case you were worried).

The centre is a basic vanilla ice cream with a fruit swirl. It works well with the coating, and the cream to fruit ratio is pretty good.

My main criticisms of an all-around solid lolly are the weird stringy texture, the vibrant fake colour, and the rather indeterminate fruit flavour. The fruit flavour was nice, but it was a typical 'tropical' thing... not quite mango, with pictures of passion fruit on the wrapper just to confuse matters a bit.

The Solero also gets bonus points for the stick. It's the high-class sort with a nice thumb grip, and placed far enough down that it gives that momentary impression that the ice lolly will last forever.

All around, very good and an early contender for favourite UK ice lolly.

Overall rating (1-10, 10 being best): 9

Post-lolly stomach (1=actually made me sick; 10=fine): 10
Flavour: 10
Texture: 8

Twister

Name: Twister

Manufacturer: Wall's
Official description: 'Chill out with the smooth pineapple flavour ice cream and refreshing lemon-lime flavour fruit ice. Then twist it to the max with the unexpected strawberry fruit ice core.'


The Twister was one of those ice lollies that kept popping up. I'd see it on offer, I'd see kids eating it, and a few people suggested it. I almost didn't get one today, but there -- tucked in amongst the Soleros -- was a lone, rogue Twister. It felt like fate.

Twisters are a rare combination of fruity creaminess on a stick that are actually successful. A core of strawberry ice is wrapped in a two thin lines: one of lemon-lime ice and one of pineapple ice cream.

The flavour combination is weird at first, and comes off as very artificial and chemically. Once it coated my mouth, though, it was very nice. The strawberry was mild, but provided a nice counterpoint to the adicity that surrounded it. The pineapple cream was very mild, but when separated from the rest had the slightest hint that reminded me of the heaven-sent Dole Pineapple Whips from Disneyland (which, though not on a stick, are one of the best ever frozen confections). The lemon-lime track was nice, if a bit generic.

Texturally speaking, this was one of the best. The ices were nice and smooth, with minimal ice crystals to hack away at my mouth. The cream was creamy, not icy.

The structural integrity of the lolly wasnt bad, but the melt rates were different on the cream and ice parts, so that by the end I was cream-less. Still not a bad pop, but it did take away from the effect. My other complaint was the stick to pop ratio. I don't like hitting the stick on the second bite, especially when the diameter of the pop isn't more than double the stick width.

All in all, though, it was a nice little treat and I'd buy a pack.

Overall rating (1-10, 10 being best): 8

Post-lolly stomach (1=actually made me sick; 10=fine): 7
Flavour: 7
Texture: 10

Feast (chocolate)

Name: Feast
Manufacturer: Walls
Official description: "The original Chocolate eat from Walls - Chocolate Feast combines a solid chocolate flavour core with chocolate ice cream, covered in a chocolate flavour shell, sprinkled with crunchy biscuit pieces."



The Feast was a choice based on a Facebook claim that it was the best ice lolly. (Actually, the chocolate and nut Feast was being discussed, but the local Tesco only had one kind.)

The Feast is a chocolate trifecta. The middle is a chunk of solid chocolate, which is surrounded by a chocolate ice, which is dipped in a chocolate coating, which then has some cookie bits chucked around it for a bit of crunch.

All in all, it wasn't a bad treat. Very sweet, and by the end it was almost a chore to finish the last crumbly bits of chocolate core, which I felt was a bit too big for the overall size of the lolly.

The chocoate ice bit was fairly nice, similar to a Fudgesicle, but a bit icier and not as smooth as I would've liked. The coating was surprisingly nice, but could have done with more cookie bits in there, as they were the only non-chocolate bits in the whole contraption.

I'd recommend it, but I don't think it would be my top choice at the freezer.

Overall rating (1-10, 10 being best): 5

Post-lolly stomach (1=actually made me sick; 10=fine): 4
Flavour: 5
Texture: 3

Fab (strawberry)

Name: Fab

Manufacturer: Nestle UK
Official description: 'Real Strawberry and vanilla flavour ice lolly with chocolate flavour coating (5%) and sugar strands (5%)'








The Fab came recommended on a day when I was eating a rocket lolly. A few weeks later, I bought a box of them ready for the enjoyment.

What can I say, but I wasn't a fan of the Fab. Looking at the box, I expected some strawberry-vanilla-chocolate miracle, a rocket lolly with some balls, even. The description on the box wasn't exactly clear, but I had assumed it would be like an inside out Creamsicle or something.

Turns out the Fab is basically a thin plank of strawberry ice, and from about halfway up it's covered in this weird sickly sweet 'vanilla' stuff. It's not exactly a vanilla version of the strawberry part, and I'm getting a sweet headache just thinking about it. It's a sticky, gooey mess. Despite being frozen, it's very soft. It's sort of like a bad textured frosting.

To cap the Fab off, the tip of it is dipped in some 'chocolate'. As can be expected, this isn't the finest single-estate 75% stuff. It's some brown, vaguely chocolate flavoured stuff. It's a very thin shell of it, but combined with that weird 'vanilla' stuff, you can feel your teeth rotting out of your head.

Then, just when you think it's over, they've dipped that chocolate stuff into some sprinkles. The effect of this is more flavourless sugar, only with an unsettling crunch. The first bites have a sprinkle crunch on top of a chocolate weirdness, on top of a vanilla mush, on top of a strawberry ice. Weirdness.

I can see the concept of this being really good, and that it would be the most awesome thing ever when you're 5. Unfortunately, it doesn't work all that well when you're trying your first one at 30.


Overall rating (1-10, 10 being best): 2

Post-lolly stomach (1=actually made me sick; 10=fine): 4
Flavour: 3
Texture: 1