Product Review - Eena Kadeena Mock-Zah Ball Mix

Produced by Eena Kadeena, LLC.
2095 NW Aloclek Dr.
Suite 1114
Hillsboro, OR 97124

Tel. (503) 705-3007
info@eenakadeena.com
Twitter @eenakadeena // on Facebook

Ingredients
Organic quinoa flakes, organic potato flakes, dehydrated onion, salt, organic dehydrated garlic, guar gum, vegetable mono diglycerides, black pepper.

Overall Rating - 5/5 Stars
With Passover coming up, keep these in mind! They are sure to be crowd pleasers and make for a gluten-friendly holiday for everyone. Not traditional, but allergy friendly - I'm down.

Taste
Becky: Delicious. Period. Okay, not really, because I'm not known to be a woman of few words, and leaving my review at "delicious" just wouldn't cut it where Mock-Zah Balls are concerned! I do believe that this will be the first time my review will be an unqualified, no-questions-left-to-ask "Five Stars." I'm not Jewish, and matzah balls have never been in my culinary repertoire, so this was a whole new world for me. My only experience with matzah balls was when I was very young, and I just don't remember anything spectacular about them. That all changed when I made them from this mix. These are truly wonderful - tasty on their own (yes, I ate two right out of the pot), and even more so after dropping into my homemade chicken soup. I will add these to my grocery list from now on because they are... I'm repeating myself... DELICIOUS!

Kelsey: I was actually rendered speechless by these little pockets of perfection. Really and truly! I was incredibly skeptical after the "dump everything in a bowl and combine" instructions, and when the balls floated to the surface of the boiling water only a minute after I first submerged them, I feared for the worst: "25 more minutes? Are they nuts?" But as with every product review, I always follow the instructions to the letter - and were my (non)efforts rewarded! This mix came together so easily, the most difficult part was waiting while the mix chilled in the refrigerator and boiled merrily on the stovetop! They were perfect - better than the "real deal", if you ask me. Perfectly seasoned (not too salty, just enough garlic and spices to taste like they have been simmering in Bubbe's chicken soup all day!), they soak up just enough broth to taste like whatever soup you're serving them in without becoming flavorless themselves - so perfect!

Texture
Becky: It's hard to be critical when something is as tasty as these are! The texture is NORMAL. Yep - totally, utterly, dumpling-y NORMAL! Perfectly chewy and full of the broth flavor of my soup on the outside, tender and flavorful on their own inside. There's nothing more to say here except "perfection".

Kelsey: I swear, better than their gluten-filled counterparts! Not in the least bit dry or mealy, the quinoa and potato flakes combined into the dynamic duo of deliciousness! They weren't gummy or soggy or chewy or crumbly or anything less than unbelievable! Now, I didn't finish all of mine in a single batch, so I took one of the dozen or so that wound up in a tupperware container in the refrigerator and ate it. Cold. Standing right in front of the fridge, door open. It was amazing. They were still moist, 36 hours later in a container that, admittedly, does not seal very well (I'm a broke post-grad, ok?!) and they were still perfect. How do you top that?!

Storage
Becky: This is the most gorgeous, space-saving packaging I've ever seen. There's little waste here - the box is small - about the size of a box of tea - , and I actually held a nagging doubt that there was enough mix in the box to be worth it. There is, and the box is so pretty I might just want to store it on the counter! Inside is a clear plastic liner that I really like - easy to see exactly what I'm getting in that pretty box, and such thin plastic that there's little waste inside the box, too.

Kelsey: Cutest. Packaging. Ever. "Mock-Zah Balls" and "'Chai' our pancakes" - stylish design, conveniently sized box, trendy colors and punny titles - love it!

Cost
Becky: On the Eena Kadeen website this mix sells for $7.95 - not out of the realm of realistic for such a high-quality gluten free product, and I will certainly be purchasing these to have on hand. Also, from what I can glean about the making of gluten-rich matzah balls, the simplicity of making these in comparison makes the cost well worthwhile. I hope the price doesn't go any higher, though - that might put them into the category of "special events food," instead of the category they belong in for me: "staple".

Kelsey: AMEN.

Availability
The Mock-Zah Ball mix, along with a range of other gluten free mixes, is available on the Eena Kadeena website for now. Those living in California, Washington state, and Oregon will find the mixes in a small handful of stores as well. I still give this a five star rating because the web ordering through the company is so safe and easy, and also given the number of people who own computers on which to do their ordering!

Product Review: Sof'ella All-Purpose Baking Mix

The Review
Ingredients
White Rice Flour, Navy Bean Flour, Cornstarch, Tapioca Starch, Vanilla Powder (Dextrose, Vanilla Bean Extractives), Baking Powder, Sea Salt, Baking Soda, Xanthan Gum.

Overall Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

Taste
I made pancakes, a much anticipated treat, and the first I'd tasted since going gluten free. Plain with no "trimmings" the pancakes had a definite aftertaste which I believe can be accounted for by the inclusion of navy bean flour. The vanilla powder flavoring counteracted the aftertaste a bit, but not enough to completely mask it. A pat of butter and some maple syrup helped the palatability, but the after-taste was still present, no matter what I tried (and I tried three different flavors of jam after the syrup). I'm not sure this would be my first choice of mix when making pancakes or waffles, but it's an alternative when something else isn't handy. Of course the navy bean flour contains terrific nutritional value, so each cook will need to decide what's most important. BC

For this review, I prepared both pancakes and a Sour Cream Coffee Cake recipe included with the mix. For the pancakes, I did notice a distinct aftertaste- but promptly did away with it by including (a lot of) chocolate chips. Whoops. The taste is not overpowering and for me, it wasn't even that distracting (so maybe my chocolate chip to pancake ratio was a little high) but still... they were pretty good! And, as Becky reminds us, Navy Bean flour is a really healthy ingredient and, much like flax, I can handle a little healthy getting in the way of my pancake inhaling erm, eating...

As for the coffee cake, the taste was hardly noticeable! There was a bit of a taste, but I'm 99% sure it was from my nutmeg and not the mix -- similar incident a few recipes ago. Either way, the coffee cake had no such aftertaste but could use a little bit more brown sugar in the crumb topping. Maybe not the best coffee cake I've ever tasted EVER, but perfect for a short-notice breakfast or brunch! KG

Texture
WOW - the pancakes I made cooked up exactly like those made with wheat flour! They were moist, light but dense (who knew that was possible?) and cooked like a dream. As they were cooking, the pancakes even filled with little bubbles that popped as they were cooking, just like the pancakes from my old-style cooking days. My mother's rule of thumb was always five bubbles popped and they were ready to turn, and I'll be darned if that wasn't the case here as well! Lightly browned, moist and tender - a great texture overall! BC

Pancakes - epic! Fluffy and light and bubbly and deep enough to wrap my chocolate chips in a nice big hug - I would call this a win. The coffee cake was unbelievably moist without being dense (see photo above) - with air pockets and crumbs and awesome baked in a cake pan. KG

Storage
Inside the box is an inner paper bag to preserve freshness, and this is handy for easy re-sealing. The box holds 1 lb., or approximately 3 1/3 cups of mix, so there's enough for several weekends' worth of pancakes or waffles. BC

Amen! But the package is kind of disappointingly small... with only 3 1/3 cups in the whole box, you can only really make one recipe + pancakes/waffles with a single box...KG

Availability
Available through the Sof'ella website for both commercial and wholesale orders. Also available in some specialty food markets nationwide with a growing distribution weekly!