Back to School Special: All the new products worth knowing

Chocolate ball spread and Petit-Beurre spread without allergens, Al-Lechem. The Petit-Beurre spread series by Al-Lechem is expanding with a new flavor, and there is also news for parents: two of its products will now be produced on a line completely free of peanuts, nuts, sesame, and lactose, so they can be used without fear in sandwiches (for the attention of celiacs: the products are not gluten-free). The exception is, of course, the company's Choco-Botan spread, which contains a good amount of peanuts, which is its strength. We liked the new flavor, chocolate balls, less than the two previous flavors, Petit-Beurre and chocolate peanut. Somehow the combination of bread and chocolate balls failed to excite us, and if you say there is double standard here, because we do like Petit-Beurre on bread - we will say you are right. The chocolate ball spread gives the feeling of a chocolate spread that doesn't go all the way, and that was hard for us to accept (and alongside all this, it is important for us to say: in these difficult times we are definitely willing to accept it in a pita). Bottom line: happy about the allergen news, less connected to the chocolate ball flavor. Price: 20-25 NIS per jar.

Napoleon cheese with natural flavor with 9% fat, Tnuva. Tnuva is expanding its Napoleon series and launching a cheese with natural flavor with only 9% fat, and at least for our sandwiches we find it serves great. It is a 9% fat cheese that is still richer and thicker than regular white cheese with the same fat percentage, and the look we took with concern at the ingredient list made us happy - milk, salt, and one preservative (E202), and nothing else. A great base for a sandwich, which may not feel particularly indulgent, but completely does the job. Bottom line: we liked it. Price: 7.90-18.90 NIS.

Wanna Greens arrive at Tiv Taam. Wanna Greens is an organic superfood based on the Wolffia plant - water meal - which is also the smallest vegetable in the world. It has no smell and very little taste, but it can add to sandwiches (and not just sandwiches) a fun popping texture, a bit caviar-like in its character, and above all a ton of great nutritional values. In recent years, this wonder vegetable was marketed through Ruthie Broudo's Delicatessen, and now it is reaching the wide distribution of Tiv Taam branches. You eat it straight from the package, without washing and without chopping, it fits really well with everything and its shelf life can reach a good few weeks. Bottom line: managed to put some of this in the child's sandwich? Net profit. Didn't manage? Use it in your sandwiches. Consumer price: 13.90 NIS for 50 grams.

Plant-based cheese-style spreads, Gad Dairies. Lactose sensitivity is not a rare thing, and Feel Gad, Gad's new product category on a plant basis, is an excellent solution for sensitive children or those who have sensitive people in their environment. We tasted a cream cheese-style spread with 24% fat, which was very close in its texture to classic cream cheese and in our opinion it will be a successful base in any sandwich. We also tasted an almond cheese spread with 9% fat and a labneh-style spread based on almonds with a layer of olive oil and za'atar and 10% fat. They were also pleasant and very tasty, and free of side effects that were previously identified with similar plant-based products. Bottom line: an excellent option for sandwiches. Price: 13-20 NIS.

Protein-rich granola, Today. We have nothing against granola. It is a tasty, crispy snack, with a combination of textures and pleasant sweetness. But if you are twisting our arm, then yes, we have something small against granola - the fact that it managed to sell itself as something healthy. Maybe it's all those seeds and grains a-la bird food, that make us forget the fact that it has a bright red sticker of high sugar level? Now the brand Today, which markets various protein snacks, also offers protein granola, which is said - if already, then already. In the new series there is protein granola with nuts, protein granola with chocolate chips and protein granola with dried fruits. In a 40-gram serving there are about 170 calories and 10 grams of protein, definitely a nice amount (in regular granola with nuts there is half of that), which we would happily give to our children for their breakfast, and the protein source here is soy flakes and soybeans. In the bottom line, it is a tasty, crunchy and quite crispy product, without a drop of stinginess on the toppings, which does the job beautifully on yogurt and was also very tasty in milk. Granola lovers who want to add a little more protein to their breakfast or their children's breakfast will definitely find what they are looking for here. But we will just remind that for those who prefer to avoid added sugar, granola is less the product for them. Price: 17.90-22.90 NIS. Available in retail chains.

Cheesecake protein snack with lemon cream filling, Allin. The brand Allin launched a new protein snack from the Creamy Core series, inspired by cheesecake with lemon cream filling. The snack contains 13 grams of protein and 152 calories and has no added sugar, which is already nice. The creamy filling is very successful, sweet but not in an annoying way, and also in terms of size - it is a nice upgrade to the lunch box of children returning to school. We are not sure we would identify the specific taste of cheesecake or lemon in the snack, but the combination of flavors and textures works, so that's enough for us. Bottom line: spoil them a little, what happened. Price: 13.90-15.90 NIS.

Dubonim (bears) with piquant cheese flavor, Osem. The connection of the Dubonim snack to returning to school is quite weak, but the connection to children is intense, and since it jumped to our eyes in the last visit to Osher Ad - we decided to give it a place here. In one sentence it can be said that these are Dubonim with Cheetos flavor, and in another sentence we will say that compared to the regular (and beloved!) Dubonim, this new Dubonim has a lot of character (what it doesn't have, by the way, is cheese. The snack is completely parve). Unlike Cheetos, it is even slightly spicy, so small children will probably not connect to it so much. The older children in our possession, on the other hand, connected very much, and no wonder - it is a completely addictive snack. Bottom line: the teenage version of Dubonim. Price: about 4 NIS for a 40-gram bag.