Osem’s Hazelnut Lachmit Crackers, Tnuva’s Low Lactose 5% Soft White Cheese & Beit Hashita’s Green Pitted Olives in Lemon Seasoning

I have three products that I wanted to tell you about but for one reason or another I don’t have that much to write about each of them. I thought I'd just give you a short Bottom Line on each one, in case you saw them in the store and wondered if you should try them.

The three products are: Osem’s Hazelnut Lachmit Crackers, Tnuva’s Low Lactose 5% Soft White Cheese & Beit Hashita’s Green Pitted Olives in Lemon Seasoning.

Osem’s Hazelnut Whole Wheat Lachmit Crackers

אסם קרקר לחמית אגוזים

Osem has a fairly new Lachmit cracker on the market. It’s the well known and popular Lachmit whole wheat cracker topped with chopped hazelnuts. Like Osem’s recent Cinnamon Flavored Shtuchim Flat Pretzels this hazelnut cracker is another one of Osem’s attempts at a sweet/salty combination. 

These Lachmit Hazelnut Crackers actually came out during the time that I didn’t have my laptop. I was going to skip them and not blog about them but since they kind of fit in with today’s post I thought why not give my “two shekels worth” about them too.

Bottom Line: Osem’s Hazelnut Lachmit Crackers didn’t taste good to me. I thought they were too sweet. There was not enough of a sweet/salty contrast to the cracker as a whole. I didn’t either enjoy how hard the small bits of chopped hazelnuts scattered on top were, yes a cracker is hard and crunchy to start with, but somehow the contrasting textures of the cracker and nuts just didn’t work for me. I didn’t want to eat it as a snack or with a spread. My opinion is skip this Lachmit Hazelnut Cracker.

160 Gram packet- 9.50 NIS

Kosher Parve Badatz  

Tnuva’s Low Lactose 5% Soft White Cheese

תנובה גבינה לבנה 5% דל לקטוז

Now that we talked about the cracker let’s move on to a cheese that could be spread on the crackers. Tnuva has a new Low Lactose 5% Soft White Cheese on the market. It’s basically their popular soft white cheese made for people who are somewhat sensitive to milk products that have a regular amount of lactose in them. I’m not sure if people who are completely intolerant of lactose will be able to eat this cheese but I know a few people who have a mild sensitivity to lactose, this product is for them.

Firstly I never really loved “Israeli” soft white cheeses. Yes, I like cream cheese and there are dishes that I enjoy eating with sour cream but no, I don’t think Tnuva's, or any other Israeli companies soft white cheese for that matter, replaces either cream cheese or sour cream for me. I don’t really enjoy soft white cheeses like these or buy them too often. I should add it’s not that I think Israeli Dairy’s white cheese spreads are bad per se I just don’t love them or find opportunities to add them to my dishes.

Bottom Line: Taste wise this Tnuva low lactose white cheese spread seemed really close to the regular one. Maybe a drop less sour than what I remember and it could be a touch thicker in texture but if you are looking for a low lactose version of a soft white cheese this could be a great option.

One issue I had with it is the price. I know all cheeses are overpriced here. (We all know how much attention the price of cottage cheese got and is still getting, rightfully so in my option) but I hate that "specialty" products are always a few shekels more expensive than their "regular" counterpart. In this case the 250 gram container of 5% Low Lactose White Cheese Spread was 6.89 NIS at Rami Levi when if I am not mistaken the regular one, in the same store, is about 5.40 NIS.

250 gram container 6.89 NIS

Kosher Dairy Mehadrin Badatz

Beit Hashita Green Pitted Olives in Lemon Seasoning

Now onto "the olive on the top” Beit Hashita has a new olive on the market. It’s a Green Pitted Olive in a Lemon seasoning.

בית השיטה חרוזית בתיבול לימון

Israel is blessed with an abundance of olive trees and therefore many olive options to choose from in the shops. I personally prefer olives that have not been pitted but I was still happy to taste Beit Hashita’s Green Pitted Olives in Lemon. I was curious how the citrus would affect the taste of the olive. Yes I tasted the lemon but not as much as I would have liked to. I think the lemon got lost and overpowered by the olive itself. I'd say they should have used more lemon or maybe they should have actually left a lemon slice in the tin to continue seasoning the olives until we open the tin and eat the olives. Then again that may have made it too strong of a lemon flavor, I don’t know? 

All I can say is

Bottom Line: Beit Hashita Green Pitted Olives in Lemon Seasoning were perfectly fine and tasty, not my favorite, but then again there are so many wonderful olives to choose from here in Israel. I don’t think I will choose to buy these again but if they are on the table I will happily eat and enjoy them.

Tin net weight 560/drained weight 275 grams 8.00 NIS

Kosher Parve Badatz and OU

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me.  No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own