How Good Are Van De Kamp's Sweet Goods?

Do you like Entenmann products? I do, but the food budget seldom stretches to purchase them. When I saw a new product on sale for $1.39, I took a closer look. The Van de Kamp's Sweet Goods boxes are smaller than similar Entenmann baked goods. Because Entenmann's danish were also on sale, the price per ounce told me I might just as well splurge on an Entenmann's danish, rather than an unknown product. When I purchase Entenmann's danish, I divide the product freezing half to enjoy at a later date. Curiosity won my head contest and I purchased the Van de Kamp's Sweet Goods. Cheese Strip Danish and Raspberry Strip Danish.

An eight ounce box of Cheese Strip Danish or Raspberry Strip Danish, divided in fourths equals four servings. A serving of the raspberry danish equals two hundred calories; the cheese danish, two hundred and twenty calories per serving. Neither product contains Trans fat; the raspberry strip has twenty grams of saturated fat, the cheese strip, twenty-three grams. The top two ingredients on both products are enriched flour and sugar.

Perhaps if I had read the ingredient panel rather than doing price per ounce math in my head, I would have skipped purchasing desert that day. Actually, I like to heat danish in the microwave with a dab of butter or margarine on top for breakfast rather than an after meal treat. Although tasty, the raspberry danish was sickeningly sweet. I did not locate a freshness date on the boxes. The raspberry danish seemed a bit dry, almost stale, despite being sealed in plastic. The cheese danish was fresher, less sweet with a cheesy flavor one expects from a cheese danish.

I have always been satisfied with Van de Kamp's bun and frozen fish products; Van de Kamp is a brand name I trust to provide quality products at an affordable price. Thus I was a little disappointed that I did not find Van de Kamp's Sweet Goods danish to be as good as Entenmann's. What I did not know is that there is no Van de Kamp company that markets products carrying the name.

Marian, Henrietta and Theodore J. Van de Kamp, along with Lawrence L. Frank, started doing business with a potato chip stand in Los Angeles California, The business grew to include baked goods, a chain of bakery stores, outlets, several coffee shops and a drive-in restaurant.. The company was sold in 1956 to General Baking Company, whose name was changed to General Host Corporation. General Host Corp. sold the Van de Kamp's Holland Dutch Bakers division to a group of investors in 1979. The frozen food division was sold to Pillsbury Company in 1984. The now familiar Van de Kamp's frozen fish products are currently marketed by Pinnacle Foods Group, which purchased the brand in 2004.

So who manufactured the danish? The box lists www.interamericanproducts.com. Inter-American Products manufacturers a variety of grocery items for Kroger. Kroger owns Ralphs, the grocery store where I purchased the baked goods. Inter American Products is based in Cincinnati, Ohio with bakeries and distributors located throughout the country. The buns I buy on a regular basis are likely produced at the same bakery as the Sweet Goods. I learned that, basically, the products are a store brand, not a separate entity.

I have purchased the Van de Kamp's Sweet Goods Cheese Danish Strip a second time. Who could resist when on sale for a dollar? I would purchase this product again, but not the raspberry danish again due to the sweetness. Neither can compare to Entenmann's or fresh from a local bakery.

Additional Source: Los Angeles Times Article