Bluebird Cheezels

“When your buds are crying out for a cheezy fix, only Cheezels the seriously cheezy cheeze snack will do!” Is this buds as in taste buds, or buds as in your (probably male) friends? Who can say.

Well, this cheese flavoured corn snack isn’t actually all that seriously cheezy. Sorry, cheesy.  I’m not criticising them for tasting very similar to every other extruded corn crispy snack from all around the world, because all these very similar snacks taste pretty good to me. They just don’t really taste of cheese, whatever the advertising tells us. Hardly any of them do. 

And yes, in case you were wondering, just like all the other extruded corn crispy snacks, they gum themselves to your teeth and are remarkably difficult to dislodge.

Unfortunately I ate this entire packet before I remembered I hadn’t taken a photograph of these rather large crispy rings. The picture on the packet gives a fairly accurate idea of what they look like. Except they definitely aren’t big enough for that mystery penguin to jump through the hoop.

I can report that it is possible to absent mindedly eat the entire packet at one sitting. So, you know, quite moreish.

Arnott’s Shapes Originals Pizza Flavour

 

I think I have made a mistake. I shouldn’t have bought this packet of Pizza flavoured Shapes. Pizza is almost never a successful flavour for a crispy snack or a potato crisp. 

I suspect that many people think pizza flavour comes from the mix of tomato sauce and Italian seasoning. And they’re obviously important, but what about the wonderful flavour of just baked crust such as you find in the best Italian pizzerias? I have no truck with thick crust pie style pizza. It’s just not right. 

I think my very favourite pizza ever was in Milan. I have been to Naples, but only for about 20 minutes, and I was rather distracted having to fend off crowds of men whose only words in English appeared to be “do you want to go with me?”. They weren’t interested in me, but my companion was blonde and blue eyed and better endowed with curves than I was. So I didn’t actually get anything to eat in Naples, but the pizzeria we ate at in Milan is one of a chain that started in Naples.

Anyway, this little biscuitty snack tastes nothing much like pizza. There is a lot of seasoning mix on nearly all the biscuits, on top of a layer of grated cheese by the looks of things. The biscuit has a good bite, and eating them feels more like having a snack than scoffing down a packet of crisps. 

Not bad. Just not much like pizza. Ah well, you can’t have everything.

Kurkure Masala Munch

This is a spicy crispy snack “bursting with a delicious fusion of authentic seasonings and fragrant herbs”. Kurkure (which means crunchy in Hindi and Urdu) was originally launched in India and then Pakistan, and is now a subsidiary of PepsiCo.

The snack itself is made with dal, corn and rice and seasoned with all sorts if actual spices like cumin and fenugreek. This makes a change from the usual vague “spices” or “flavouring”.

Nice and crunchy, this is a spicy snack, very slightly eggy due to the black rock salt.

A very nice change from the average snack available here in North London.

Jacob’s Tuc Sandwich Cream Cheese & Chive flavour

I was very pleased to find this packet of Cream Cheese & Chive flavour Tuc when I last made an online order from my favourite supermarket. 

I have tried Sour Cream & Onion flavour Tuc and enjoyed them immensely. In this case I found them in Switzerland, check my enthusiast review, but they are (were) also available in France. I never really thought this flavour would be available in England (or any other part of the UK come to that), but here we have a very similar looking flavour. But not similar enough.

And are these UK Tuc sandwiches as tasty as the French version? Am I as excited about this flavour? 

Oh dear. Sadly not. Oh, they are fine in their own way, and the Tuc biscuits themselves are as tasty as they always are, but I cannot detect a trace of chives in the creamy squidgy filling. I ate the entire packet. But I am disappointed. 

If you have not tried the continental version of this flavour, well after all, chives are a member of the onion family, you might enjoy this crispy snack.

Have you noticed the serving suggestion? Just pile one biscuit on top of another. Presumably on something green.

In other news, I am sorry to see that longstanding British company (but started in Ireland) Jacob’s, supplier of Cheddars and Twiglets to generations of crispy snack fans, and owned by United Biscuits, has been bought by some company called Pladis. In Britain at least. I think. Company ownership these days is so complicated I’m surprised anyone can keep track of who owns what. 

Griffin’s Munchos Spicy Tomato

 

This is a little bit different. It’s an extruded wheat based (wheat pellets apparently, which doesn’t sound particularly tasty but there we are) crispy snack that allegedly tastes of spicy tomato. 

Well, it doesn’t taste of tomato and it isn’t spicy. Do New Zealanders have a lower tolerance for spicy foods than some people? I can’t know, never having been there, but I can tell you that this crispy snack is definitely not spicy.

I’m not saying I didn’t like them. I do. When I opened the bag there was a strong smell of freshly fried chips (French fries people) together with what smelled like a hint of vinegar. A very alluring smell for a snack. 

On the packet it says Can’t Stop the Munchies. I was dubious but that’s absolutely right. I naughtily ate nearly the entire packet in one sitting. Delicious! But not behaviour I recommend. I’m not suggesting that this snack has suddenly become a huge favourite, but should I ever visit New Zealand I would certainly grab a bag off a supermarket shelf.

I returned to the packet a couple of days later. Just as good. A faint taste of salt and vinegar. Lovely light crunch. And an interesting texture. Almost like several layers of very tiny bubble wrap, and translucent. And each individual munchie you pick up leaves tasty little shard-like crumbs, almost like snowflakes, on your fingers. There’s lots of finger liking with this crispy snack. 

I really do rather like them and what a relief! I was beginning to wonder if I still enjoyed crispy snacks of any kind.

Walkers English Bangers & Mash

 

This is the only World Cup tie in crisp that I have found this year. There nearly always seems to be a World Cup tie in. Not for the Olympics which seems to feature hundreds of sports, with more added every time, but for football which I think is one of the most boring sports in the world (just my personal opinion). Are crisps only eaten by football fans?

Anyway, yes I am aware the tournament is over, and that Spain won. Well done Spain! But I didn’t find these crisps until it was all over. And then I had to buy a multi pack.

So, what do we have here? English Bangers &Mash; oh, excuse me, the flavour is inspired by bangers and mash. Hmm…I’m not sure. The aroma is of something that might be sausage (bangers), but there doesn’t seem to be any sign of the mash. 

Graffiti Artist taste tester tried a packet. He said he quite liked them. But his reaction was really tepid rather than enthusiastic.

I gather from the internet that I might also have bought Spanish Queso Wavy crisps, Portuguese Chorizo &Onion, or Wotsits Golden Balls Smokin’ Cheese. Only I haven’t seen any of these and I don’t propose to buy them off eBay. But you could if you wanted to. Probably for a limited time only.

You all know what Walkers crisps are like. Usually very reliable. I’m not sure this is one of their best offerings. I didn’t like them.

PS Unbelievable but true, my silly crispy snack blog which I only began because the weather on our summer holiday was very wet, has hit over one million views. 

Bluebird Rashuns Cheesy Bacon Attack

So I have a great big 190g bag of Cheesy Bacon Attack (interesting name for a flavour) Rashuns. Rashuns is also a strange name for a kind of crispy snack. Unless you’re used to it of course. I really didn’t want a party bag but beggars can’t be choosers.

This is another product from beloved New Zealand brand Bluebird. Who oddly decorate their packaging with penguins not bluebirds.

This extruded corn snack is a very odd shape. I thought at first it might be penguin footprints, but now I’m not so sure. So let’s class this as an unidentified shape. And I bet you already guessed it’s one of those snacks that aggressively gums itself to your teeth, and there’s apparently nothing you can do about it.

And what does it taste of? It’s a smokey bacon flavour but I don’t really detect any cheesiness. 

Not bad. I ate most of the packet by myself. But that’s because I live on my own.

Arnott’s Shapes Originals Chicken Crimpy

Chicken Crimpy seems a weird choice of name for a flavour, but maybe in Australia or New Zealand it makes more sense than it does here in North London.

This crispy snack is more of a cracker or a sort of cheese biscuit than anything else. Definitely not a crisp or chip. It’s an interesting oval, unusual, with a pretty scalloped edge. And it sort of tastes of chicken stock cubes.

Stock cubes? Yes, sort of. And just like my stock cubes, these crunchy crackers are made with chicken powder. So definitely not suitable for vegetarians.

These biscuitty crackers are quite tasty. The crunch is a bit hard, but not too hard, and I rather enjoyed them. I wonder if they would work well with a smear of unsalted butter? Or maybe some hummus.

As you can see these crackers come in a cardboard box, and then there’s a silver baggie inside. I am not convinced you can see the flavour.

Butterkist Sweet & Salty Microwave Popcorn

 I made a mistake.

I went to the local shop that sells the most interesting selection of snacks, and I fancied microwave popcorn. Did they sell it? Yes they did. And there it was on the shelf. I used to love microwave popcorn; nothing wrong with the cold stuff that comes in a bag, but the microwave kind is a different beast.

So after looking at the selection I grabbed a box. 

I grabbed the wrong box. In recent years my tastes have changed and while once upon a time I probably would have very much enjoyed the Sweet & Salty flavour, it’s not for me these days. Just too sweet. But absolutely nothing wrong with the popcorn itself.

Except that time when I allowed the microwaveable bag to open too far while the corn was popping, and then it gets stuck against the sides of the microwave instead of going around and around. And then it starts to burn. I should have tried to stop that.

Anyway, not for me. Maybe for you.

Serious Pig Giant Corn Scratchings

 

I was seduced by the effusive comments on the Serious Pig website. This giant corn snack is a vegetarian substitute for pork scratchings. Everyone seems to love it so I bought a small 35g packet.

Nope. Sorry. Not for me. Too hard. I don’t like the taste and I don’t like the smell. 

Do you think I should give up reviewing crispy snacks? I don’t seem to like very much of anything these days. 

Vegetarian though.