While stocking up with supplies before hurricane Frances rolls through, we spotted Target selling Reese’s 1 carb peanut butter cups and decided to grab a few. This product does not seem to be a part of Hershey’s “Carb Alternatives” line. The website set up for Hershey’s 1g limits itself to the 1 carbohydrate Hershey bars that were introduced last year. It doesn’t really matter if they are new or not though–it’s low-carb candy.

A total of 8 candy loving reviewers sampled the Reese’s Cups. All claimed to be fans of the original high carb version, which frankly is not hard to believe (they are so good). While the response wasn’t amazing, no cup went uneaten. In fact, we had to go back to get a pack for the photo shoot. Read on for our take.

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Earlier this month, we noted the release of low-carb Jelly Belly candies. Coming in several flavors, the new products use Splenda (instead of sugar) to cut carbs. However, they load up the products with sugar alcohols to futher reduce the effect of carbohydrates, which may make these candies impractical for some dieters.

We tasted each product that was announced, a total of 8 different varieties: Sugar-Free Jelly Belly Beans, Sugar-Free Jelly Belly Sours, Sugar-Free Fruit Slices, Fruit Drops, Spice Drops, Cola Bottles, Gummi Inchworms, and Gummi Bears. Each tasted much like their carb-laden counterparts.

Pros

* Excellent taste
* Very similar texture across the board, the gummy bears were still gummy

Cons

* Harder to find (we’ve had readers ask where to find them)
* Loaded up on sugar alcohol, so may not be practical for diabetics or people with sensitive stomachs

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Mid-carb soda seems to be “the thing” for this Summer. We already took Coke C2 for a test drive, and overall gave it high marks. The theory behind mid-carb soda isn’t to switch diet drinkers (diet cola has no carbs), but to lure people who want to cut some carbs but won’t drink diet for the taste.

For the review, we set our tasting team up with a comparison between Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Edge. The team was all in agreement.

Pros

* Less carbs, sugar and calories than regular Pepsi

Cons

* Tastes a lot more like Diet Pepsi than we’d like
* Strong aftertaste
* More sugar than Coke C2

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Amidst huge interest, CarbWire secured two bottles of Coke C2 for review. With the news that McDonald’s is trying it out in some locations, Coke C2 has the possibility of being huge. We did a comparison test between Coca-Cola Classic, Diet Coke and Coca-Cola C2.

Pros

* Color and consistency is identical to Coca-Cola Classic
* Nearly zero aftertaste
* If it wasn’t directly compared to the original (within seconds of each other), it would have been very hard to tell C2 from Classic Coke.
* Much better than Diet Coke

Cons

* Limited availability (at this time)
* Doesn’t taste exactly like Coca-Cola Classic
* Slightly less “kick” than regular Coke

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While it was just announced Tuesday, CarbWire got ahold of a Bacardi Silver low-carb Black Cherry sample. Although the review was unscientific, and we aren’t normally too fond of cherry flavor in general, here are the pros:

* Fresh flavor, perfect for summer
* If you don’t like beer, it’s a great alternative
* Very smooth

And here are some things that we didn’t like as much:

* Aftertaste lasts a tad longer than we’d like, but not as long as a diet cola
* The only low-carb Bacardi flavor is Black Cherry, you’re out of luck if you don’t like cherry flavor.

For what it’s worth, it smells like vanilla but still tastes like cherry. There are 2.6 grams of carbohydrates per 12oz bottle. Alcohol by volume is 4%. Pricing varies by location and only comes in 6-packs. Our final judgement is: if you like cherry flavor, definitely check out Bacardi Silver low-carb Black Cherry.

Quiznos Sub (incidently one of the fastest growing franchises) last week announced a low-carb option to nearly its entire menu. Instead of using the bread we’re all used to, the chain can substitute in flatbread for all the sandwiches on the menu. This gives Quiznos the biggest low-carb menu in the fiercly competitive sub market.

How did Quiznos do?
Really well. While we only had the Mesquite Chicken with Bacon, the results were terrific. There are 20 sandwiches to choose from, so there will be a lot more “research” in the coming weeks. The only negative is the flatbread only comes in one size. Regular sandwiches come in three sizes (the flatbread seems to run in the middle of the pack).

What did it cost?
Since the sizing is different, it’s hard to say how much more the low-carb costed. If you opt for chips and a drink, it’s 50

Heinz’s One Carb Ketchup, which, as the name implies, contains only one gram of carbs per serving, is quite possibly the best product out there in terms of tasting like the original. We can’t say much about the ketchup in this review, because it is nearly indistinguishable from the traditional version of America’s favorite condiment–even in consistency. If we had to pick out one difference, it would have to be that One Carb had a slightly stronger tomato taste.

So if you’re like us and have consumed authentic Heinz ketchup since the womb, you will love Heinz One Carb. With 75 percent fewer carbs (and sugar) than the original Heinz ketchup, One Carb should be in the fridge of every low-carb dieter. Now your only problem is trying to find something to use it on.

While price varies by market, expect to pay slightly more than the original–we paid $2.49 for the 14 ounce bottle.