Review: Black Tower B Fruitiful Passionfruit / Strawberry

I’ve been on something of a quest all summer to find the perfect low-syn tipple and today I’m going to tell you about another innovative low-calorie, low syn offering by Black Tower: the B Fruitiful range. It’s very exciting to see well-established brands responding to demand for lower calorie drinks with just as much variety and flavour as full sugar alternatives. Read on for a review of the range, and some fun ideas for how these can be enjoyed.

Black Tower are on a mission with their extensive lower calorie range. I reviewed the B Secco White and Rosé back in June, which we enjoyed as a toast to my bridesmaid proposal - it went down a storm!

This offering is a light wine infused with fruit flavours - there are two options on the market: B Fruitiful Passionfruit & Pineapple (in a White wine style) and B Fruitiful Strawberry & Raspberry which is in the style of a Rosé.

Each 125ml glass of B Fruitful wine is 5.5% alcohol and 55 calories, which is just 3 syns on slimming world. This is just half of the syn value of regular wine, meaning — more for you!

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With Cheese, Please:

I’m a sucker for anything with passionfruit in, so was very excited to try the passionfruit version first. The passionfruit and pineapple flavours were prominent but not overbearing - it was zingy and refreshing. I had a couple of glasses with a cheese board (Light Halloumi, Brie and Cheddar for my Healthy Extra A) - highly recommend! The combination was absolutely delicious.

Drunken Strawberries:

Later that week, I tried the B Fruitful Strawberry with dessert. I mean that quite literally — I made “Drunken Strawberries” which is a very simple dessert. Simply soak strawberries in about 75ml of B Fruitiful Strawberry, leave in the fridge for about an hour and serve with a large spray of Tesco Lighter Real Dairy Spray Cream (2 syns per portion). This dessert came to 4 syns and since I couldn’t resist an extra glass - my total for the day came to 7 syns. The strawberry version is sweeter than the passionfruit offering, and is nicely balanced with the wine flavours.

In summary, If you enjoy wine and have quite the sweet tooth - there is nothing really comparable on the market today. If you are usually into the very dry wines, you may prefer one of the B by Black Tower low calorie wines, but these can still be enjoyed as a dessert drink.

B Fruitiful wines are exclusively available at Tesco Ireland at the moment at a mere 5 Euro. There is still some nice weather left to be enjoyed - I recommend this as the perfect companion to the longer evenings!



Beer-braised Chicken, Chorizo and Sweet Potato Casserole ft. SkinnyBrands Premium Lager

It’s not the first time I’ve mentioned my sheer delight that we can still have the odd beer on Slimming world. And when we opt for low-calorie beers, the syns can go even further.

That said, none of us really want to have to compromise on flavour. SkinnyBrands Premium Lager is 100% the most flavourful low-calorie beer I’ve tasted yet and I’m confident this is down it being 4% ABV, 89 calories (4.5 syns) per bottle. It's also lgluten free and vegan friendly if you’re so inclined. I’ve re-purchased this a few times since finding it late last year.

Skinny Lager is widely available in the UK and Ireland. In Ireland, currently it can be bought in Donnybrook Fair and over 150 pubs nationwide.

In the UK, a few options also:

While delicious on its own, I recently used this beer to liven up my chicken dinner and it really was the most mouthwatering soul food I’ve had in some time. Made a change from the usual stocky sauces I’d put together and felt like a real indulgence despite remaining very low syn. Check out the recipe for this low syn chicken dish below.

Skinny Lager 4.5 syns
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Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 35 mins

Serves: 2

Syns per serving: 4 with skin off or 6 with skin left on (pictured)

Ingredients

  • 4 chicken thighs (Free)

  • 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard (1 syn)

  • 1 large onion, sliced

  • 2 large handfuls of baby leaf spinach

  • 40g reduced fat chorizo, sliced (4 syns)

  • 1 large sweet potato, cut into chunks

  • 1 tsp garlic powder

  • 1 tsp smoked paprika

  • 1 tsp thyme

  • Salt and pepper

  • 1/2 bottle of SkinnyBrands Premium Lager (2.5 syns)

  • 1/2 cube of chicken stock

Method:

  1. In a saucepan, boil the sweet potatoes

  2. Spray a pan with frylight (or equivalent) and put on a medium heat.

  3. Add the chicken to the pan, searing for a few minutes each side until browned.

  4. Add onions, garlic, mustard and herbs and stir well

  5. Add the lager and crumbled stock cube to the pan

  6. Increase the heat until it reaches a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer

  7. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes.

  8. Add sweet potato and transfer to a casserole dish.

  9. Sprinkle chorizo on top.

  10. Bake for 25-30 minutes on 180 degrees.

And there you have it, the ultimate combination of chicken and beer. Let us know your thoughts in the comments!