Can These Organic Cookies Trump Classic Oreos?

Published on Wednesday, October 6, 2010, by James Norton / Edit Post

Wild Harvest Organic Sandwich Cookies

Wild Harvest Organic Sandwich Cookies

I Paid: $3.39 for 1 pound of cookies (prices may vary by region)

Taste: 4 stars

Marketing: 4 stars

Wild Harvest Organic is a lovable-sounding brand owned by a not entirely lovable-sounding parent company known as SuperValu, a behemoth in the world of grocery stores that controls Cub Foods, Shaw's and Star Market, Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Lucky, and others. When SuperValu says that Wild Harvest Organic is a brand we should care about, much of America will hear and obey.

So—what does a Wild Harvest Organic sandwich cookie promise to the consumer? No artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives, no corn sweeteners, and no genetically modified ingredients. Whereas traditional Oreo cookies (yes, there is an organic version, although it doesn't seem to be widely available) include ingredients like processed enriched wheat flour, Wild Harvest cookies are organic this and organic that: organic dehydrated cane juice, organic soybean oil, organic wheat flour, etc. This seems to jibe with the language in the original press release, which states: "The Wild Harvest brand adheres to the strictest definitions of organic and natural. All claims made around Wild Harvest products are substantiated by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) audits and/or by USDA-certified organic certification agencies such as QAI, Oregon Tilth, CCOF and others."

Fair enough—if these are things you're concerned about, these may be cookies worth investigating. But, critically: How do they taste? Answer: Pretty good. The Vanilla Crème Sandwich Cookies have a good buttery flavor, the cream is sweet but not overly sweet, and the cookies taste balanced and pleasant overall. The Chocolate Sandwich Cookies could stand to be a little crunchier, but the cream filling is pleasing and tastes Oreo-ish. The chocolate flavor is mild and milky—not Oreo-level addictive and craveable, but for those going organic in their local supermarket, the trade-off might be worth it.

James Norton edits the Upper Midwestern food journal Heavy Table. He's also the coauthor of a book on Wisconsin's master cheesemakers. For his Supertaster Daily videos, he samples offerings from supermarket aisles and fast-food menus. (Click here to see all of James's previous Supertaster work.) You can follow him on Twitter and fan him on Facebook.

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POST A COMMENT |4 Comments

COMMENT

  • To be fair, the food snobs, (of which there are an abundant number of them here) tell us we're not supposed to like Oreos, so, trying a much better version thereof, is not only inherently scandalous, it is served with a heaping helping of unintended skepticism. I applaud this article for letting us know that delicious things can, indeed, come from anywhere unexpectedly.

  • it's almost as if you're rooting against these cookies, James. Take your politics out of you palate... :)

  • The Late July chocolate sandwich cookies are to die for. They don't quite taste like Oreos because they have a very pronounced cocoa flavor. I have to be very careful about buying them, because I find them irresistible! I can eat Oreos, but haven't been tempted to polish off an entire box since I was about eleven. These Late July cookies, however, hoooo-boy.

  • the newman's own oreo type cookies are yummy!