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.

Cheetos Ketchup Flavoured

Here’s yet another example of a maize based crispy snack. These ones are shaped like quite chunky chips. But whatever the shape, this style of snack will always gum itself to the roof of your mouth and the sides of your teeth. It’s not an elegant snack, not recommended for a first date.

Now the flavour here is supposed to be ketchup which can be a brilliant flavour, but honestly it’s a little too fugitive in this case.

So it’s a pleasant crispy snack that doesn’t taste of very much. In a good way.

Serious Pig Snackingham Chorizo

You may recall that I have tried Serious Pig products before. Their Snackingham Classic is delicious. So I thought I might try the Snackingham Chorizo.

Still in a small 17g packet, still made with outdoor reared British pork. But this time with smoked paprika and cayenne pepper. And what do you get? A smoky flavour which is very nice, but I think I still prefer the Classic.

Also still not a crispy snack but slices of air dried pork.

Co-op Limited Edition Dill-icious Dill Pickle Flavour Crisps

This is a wonderful crinkle cut crisp with a great bite and lots of good crinkles for the flavour dust to stick to.

Unfortunately the flavour is all wrong. I really enjoy dill pickle as a flavour, I love dill. But these crisps are far too vinegary for my taste. Far too vinegary. And I don’t like the way they smell. What a shame. And disappointing because Co-op crisps are usually very good.

Pretty packaging though.

The Fine Cheese Company Lemon, Sea Salt and Extra Virgin Olive Oil Crackers

 

Yes, OK, I admit it. This product from The Fine Cheese Company in Bath is not really a crispy snack. As it says on the packaging, it’s a cracker. To go with your cream cheese or goats cheese or whatever else you fancy. But this is my blog and I like the packaging design.

I’m not sure you can tell that these crackers have been made with extra virgin olive oil, but you can definitely tell they’re made with lemons. Very lemony. A bit more lemony than I was expecting to be honest. Perhaps the extra virgin makes a difference. It’s hard to tell. Maybe it’s one of those ingredients that you notice if it’s not there. And of course everything needs salt.

These crackers are very thin but with a serious crunch, so they hold up better to buttering, or cheesing, than some much better known crackers. 

The only problem is that I don’t like them very much. And I don’t have any reluctant taste testers staying just now to offer a different opinion.

Tokapi Snacks Gaufrettes Fromage

You all must know that I am devoted to Cheese Footballs, so you can imagine I was very interested to try a new to me version.

I have never seen the brand Tokapi before so I had to look them up online. Apparently they sell nuts, tins of cocktail sausages, those bacon strip crispy snacks the French mysteriously call snack’s, mini crêpes, all sorts of snacks suitable for the all important l’heure d’apéro.

So, on to the new cheese footballs. At first sight they look pretty much identical to the UK cheese footballs. Not very surprising perhaps, because if they didn’t look the same they would be a poor excuse for a cheese football. Which suddenly makes me wonder, why don’t we have cheese rugby balls? 

Anyway, the soft squishy totally fake not actually cheese at all filling is less sweet than the UK version, and all the better for it. The crispy wafer shell is very similar, but seems to be a little bit acrid. Interesting. 

I have tried other brands of cheese footballs from France before and they seem to be available all the year round. Which is very welcome if you are suffering withdrawal symptoms while you’re on your summer holiday. And, they come in different flavours too.

DJ&A Shitake Mushroom Crisps Gravy Flavour

Well, this is one of the weirder crispy snacks I have attempted. 

I am quite surprised.

Honestly, I am not exactly sure what I was expecting. But it wasn’t this.

I picked up this packet of shitake mushroom crisps on a whim. I walked past them in the shop, thought why not, and picked them up. For better or worse. And then I noticed the dread words “gravy flavour”.

Before I opened the packet I think I was expecting finely chopped mushrooms, as if they were crisps. And then I thought maybe there would be a gravy sauce. I don’t know why. And quite obviously I hadn’t bothered to look at the photograph on the front of the packet carefully enough.

I didn’t squidge the packet but if I had I would have realised the gravy sauce wasn’t going to happen and it basically turned out to be a lot of flavour dust. A lot of flavour dust. But seriously, what flavour even is gravy? 

And the mushrooms? Whole mushrooms apparently freeze dried into incredibly crispy crunchy crackly mushrooms. Have you ever tried Edinburgh rock? A bit like that. Or maybe a little like the consistency of chalk. Sort of. Too weird. A whole freeze dried mushroom is, as I said, not what I was expecting. Honestly, I’m not even sure I noticed any flavour.

I tried this weird snack with Cliffs of Moher Taste Tester and she didn’t really fancy it either.

Jacob’s Bites Mature Cheddar & Caramelised Onion Flavour

Well here we go. I thought these sounded good. On opening the silver baggie the initial aroma was rather good. The first taste was also rather good. But the more I tried it the more the taste wasn’t quite right for me. Too… oniony? Too much taste? Too much something. And the texture wasn’t quite right. Not to mention lots of ingredients (Sodium Metabisulphite anyone?) that I could do without.

I asked Cliffs of Moher Taste Tester what she thought. She wasn’t a fan. The taste wasn’t right and what’s more, the texture wasn’t right for her either. Her verdict was “No”.

However, Family Vegetarian rather liked them. Graffiti Artist Taste Tester wasn’t averse. But honestly I think Family Vegetarian would have finished the whole packet if dinner wasn’t going to be ready in 10 minutes. So, as ever, you have to try these things for yourself.

The Family Vegetarian was quite enthusiastic. She ate quite a few, and I’m sure she would have eaten more of these crispy snacks if she hadn’t known I was cooking a large dinner which was in the oven as we taste tested. I think even the Graffiti Artist liked this not very crispy snack more than I did.

This snack comes in a silver baggie inside a cardboard box. So at least part of the packaging is readily recyclable.