Archer Farms Roasted Jumbo Cashews

Failing to find the milk chocolate cashews I was looking for, I settled for these more traditional, slightly less exciting Roasted Jumbo Cashews as a snack from my local Target.

It's almost pointless to review something as banal as salted cashews, but there are a few things that set Target's offering above other brands. First, the packaging is uber-convenient. There's a little plastic bag inside the small box, sealed for freshness, but once you open it, you can dump the contents into the box for an ultra-simple, pour-exactly-the-number-of-nuts-you-want-into-your-hand-each-time kind of experience.

Also, Archer Farms uses sea salt instead of normal table salt. And while there's a raging debate about whether sea salt is really that much better for you, I'll generally take it over table salt, if only because it's slightly more natural and contains no aluminum.

The size and quality of each nut is on par with any major brand, and really, I have no major complaints...except, maybe, that these are not covered with chocolate. So there you have it: a tiny review for jumbo cashews.

I give this product 8 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Glazed Apple Fritters

I found these tasty breakfast treats to be on par with any other mainstream apple fritters, particularly ones you'd find in the see-through plastic display cases at donut shops and convenience stores, alongside the bear claws and other pastries.

Each time I type the word "donut," I'm torn between spelling it the short and, admittedly, incorrect way—which is now widely accepted, by the way, even in dictionary entries—and the traditional, longer way, which kind of makes sense because it actually has the word "dough" in it. Of course, they haven't much to do with nuts, so the need for the word to make logical sense is not a particularly solid argument for the more traditional spelling, if you ask me. In the end, I usually opt for the shorter version these days, because I am a pragmatist...and perhaps a little lazy.

No such problems arise with the word "fritter." It's fun to say, and it sounds more like a dessert than a "donut" does in my opinion. Plus, there's fruit. Fruit's tasty and good-for-you, right? Right. So, anyway, at least it's a good excuse to go ahead and enjoy these pastries despite their 360 calories and quarter of your daily saturated fat.

They're yummy, moderately appley, and soft enough to pass for...well, I won't say "fresh-baked," but will opt for a slightly more vague "packaged in the not-too-distant past." Seriously, they're pretty good. 8 stars is not a bad score from me at all.

These fritters are worth 8 out of 10 stars.