M&S Eat Well Green Chilli Lime & Coriander Pea Snaps

The Extremely Skeptical taste tester looked into the little green packet (only 21g) and asked "Are these made of grasshoppers?".

Well, no. However avant garde you may consider the recent adventures of the M&S crisp development department, I don't think they would go so far as to try to tempt the residents of North London with insecty snacks. Or not without some massive advertising campaign to tell us all we will be missing out on the latest trend if we don't get our act together.

So, not made of grasshoppers. But made of marrowfat peas. Which is a different sort of pea from your petit pois or garden pea. Marrowfat peas are not picked young like garden peas but left (I gather) to mature and dry on the plant. And then traditionally they are cooked for ages to make mushy peas to eat with fish & chips or with pies. I come from the wrong part of the UK to appreciate mushy peas so I've not tried them. And probably won't.

In any case, these marrowfat peas have suffered some sinister change in the manufacturing process and here they are  mysteriously extruded into pea pod shapes. Green pea pods. And actually the crunch is pretty good. Light, but good.

But the taste! Oh dear.

Seriously, what were they thinking? I mean, I would have been prepared to give these a go if they tasted of salt & vinegar or something, but I guess that wouldn't be healthy enough. Instead we have green chilli, lime and coriander. And I'm not sure that's the taste combination for me.

When you open the packet the aroma of lime and coriander is overpowering. I've always found coriander a little tough to appreciate, and these crispy Pea Snaps aren't helping the cause. Really, it's a very odd taste.

I'm left wondering what it is about these snaps that qualifies them for the Eat Well range? Is it the peas? Because if so, can we have them with a better flavour please. Is it the flavour? Because if so, why can't we just have a potato snap? Is it that they taste so weird we don't eat so many? Because if that's the case I'm afraid we'll just go out and eat something unhealthy instead.

Honestly, I'd be delighted to give a good review to a healthy crispy snack. But somehow almost all of them are a bit too weird.

These little Pea Snaps are a bit greener than the photograph shows. It's been so very dark here recently that unless I rush into photographer mode as soon as the sun comes out (not always possible) I have to make do with artificial light. I don't think the sun came out at all today, in fact it was nearly dark by tea time. And we aren't even into December!