Private Selection Rosemary & Feta Flavored Kettle Chips

Thick ripple-cut kettle chips cooked in small batches and finished with a tangy feta and rosemary seasoning says the packet. And the serving suggestion (shown on the packet) is apparently... put these crisps in a bowl.

OK then. I did. (Look! the sun is shining for a change.)

Was probably going to anyway. But I should admit I didn't serve them with a little bowl of feta garnished with rosemary.

This is quite a small crinkle cut crisp with a lovely bright crunch and a good sprinkling of some sort of herb (it looks like parsley). Quite oily, but not in a nasty way. And weirdly the list of ingredients does not include either rosemary or feta.

Really? Yup. I've read it through quite carefully.

That is a bit odd isn't it? The list of ingredients does include skim milk powder, cheddar cheese, whey, whey protein concentrate and buttermilk so I guess that accounts for the "feta" part of the flavour. But what about the rosemary? Maybe that comes under the umbrella of natural flavouring? Could be. Still seems odd though, wouldn't you say?

However, this is a very tasty crisp. Most of the reluctant taste testers thought that Rosemary & Feta was a pretty good description of the flavour, and most of them liked it quite a lot although Noble Friend wasn't mad keen. I confess it really appeals to me. Very tasty. I liked these a lot.

Luckily for him the Chef came home from Switzerland in time to try these crisps and was pleased to approve (he's like that).

It's a very nice change to have a different flavour, and you don't find rosemary flavoured crisps every day of the week.

Unless, perhaps, you live in Ohio. Because these crisps are produced by the Kroger Company based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Although I read they have branches of all sorts of shops with all sorts of names all over the place. Private Selection seems to be their "fancy" food department and they do Lime & Black Pepper kettle chips! That does sound yummy.

The Private Selection journey rewards your sense of good taste. Inspired by food artisans and crafted with authentic ingredients and tantalizing recipes, each Private Selection offering is sure to feed your passion for gourmet foods. 

Guess I'd better get myself to a Kroger store somewhere. Maybe when I retire I can travel - sorry - journey the world searching for fancy new flavours of crisp? But that won't be for a while yet.

And thank you again bloggy friend Betsy (does she like this crisp we ask ourselves? what about the family?) for exporting this super tasty crisp to the UK.

This was another packet I couldn't quite fit into my A4 scanner so the foot is chopped off. 8oz (226g) of crisps all at once! Amazing.

Lay's Dill Pickle Flavored

I had a bit of a struggle forcing this great big 219.7g (7 ¾oz) bag into my A4 size scanner. So here's the best I could manage. It got a bit scrumpled.

Frito Lay Good fun! says the packet, and Happiness in Every Bite. Well, I suppose they have to say something, but I am not convinced that however much I enjoyed these Dill Pickle flavoured crisps there was happiness in every bite. And I did enjoy them.

And indeed, most of the reluctant taste testers enjoyed them too. The Senior taste tester doesn't like vinegar, and Tech taste taster can't bring himself to fancy dill pickles but aside from that I think we were all pretty enthusiastic.

Baltic Sailor taste tester (you've not encountered her before as she is a volunteer) told me the other day that her favourite crisp flavour is sour cream and dill which she learned to love in Sweden or Denmark. Or both. I couldn't manage that for her but she did take home a little baggie of these tasty crisps. Ooh, can I really? she said as she stashed the baggie in her shopping bag.

These are rather pale crisps with a lovely dill aroma, nice crunch and a light dill pickle taste. There was a bit too much vinegar in evidence for some, but I thought them very nice. The Dutch taste tester could say nothing other than Yum!

And the Dutch taste tester took some home to share with Loving Husband. Apparently he was mightily impressed and she did not get much of a look in.

This packet was specially exported from the United States by kind bloggy friend Betsy. Great choice Betsy! Thank you.

The Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company Presents Captain Cat's Ship's Biscuits

Hum. Well. I've been to Wales once or twice, and to the Welsh seaside in at least four different places and I never saw a mermaid. But apparently these savoury fish-shaped crackers (with Welsh Cheddar cheese and our Captain Cat's Môr seasoning) are handcrafted by lovely Welsh mermaids.

Are they indeed? Call me credulous (or incredulous) but I find it tough to believe this!

However, as I really need varifocals (but they make me fall down stairs so I need to adjust my ordinary glasses, or even take them off, before I can read lots of things) I failed to read that before I bought this fish-shaped crispy snack. Which really is extremely fish-shaped. Nice cut-out on the packaging.

Actually the fish-shape was a little bit off-putting to some of the reluctant taste testers. They kind of look like an extremely superior cat treat. And several of the taste testers expected them to taste of fish.

But no! No, they taste of... well kind of cheesy.... and a lot of spices. This list of spices in the ingredients goes on forever: sea salt, smoked paprika, sweet paprika, lemon pepper, mace, ground pepper flakes, ground black pepper, allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, dried lemon peel, dried orange peel, laver (that's seaweed to you and me - I think), mustard powder, ginger, bay leaves, cloves, & celery powder. Wow. That's a lot of seasoning.

The packet says this is a warm nautical flavour and advises us to use it to shake up our seafood, treat our taste buds and bring the taste of the sea to our kitchen table.

I have to say we all thought the taste was a little bit weird. So we'll think about that. Maybe the taste grows on you. But of course taste testers don't get much opportunity to let things grown on them.

Kind of quite nice. Kind of a bit weird. Wonderful fishy shape.

Cofresh Hot Chilli Flavour Potato Hoops

This packet of hot Chilli flavour Potato Hoops was kindly contributed by the Tall taste tester.

Lovely aroma from the bag, nice taste and quite hot (the bag does feature two chillis to warn you) and a slightly softer crunch than you might expect. But all in all not bad. Indeed, I think all the reluctant taste tasters thought this was a very acceptable snack and quite a lot were eaten.

You can see from my photograph that some of these little rings of potatoey goodness are more colourful than others. The colourful ones have more chilli in the taste. No surprise there. But they were all tasty and the whole 90g packet got eaten up.

The picture on the packet is somewhat misleading though. It allows you to think these crispy snacks are big and round like onion rings. But no. What you get is basically a sort of Hula Hoop. Only not.

I was kind of disappointed. But if I had really thought about the picture carefully it might just as well be showing a great big pair of cuff-style bracelets. And I certainly wasn't anticipating anything as large as that. That would be weird.

What is a bit of a surprise is that the ingredients are native potato starch, potato solids and modified potato starch. Am I beginning to feel I shouldn't have read that? I wonder what a potato solid is? Why does potato starch need to be modified? Maybe I don't really want to know.

Anyway, we really rather enjoyed this crispy snack. Cofresh make very tasty crispy snacks.

Kims Ostepops Original

History Graduate taste tester went to Denmark & Sweden for the weekend, as you do, and brought home this totally amazing packet of cheesy corn puffs.

Når du er sulten for sjov... says the packet: hungry for the fun of it (translates the website).

Little curly bright orange maize snacks with a superb cheesy taste. Extravagantly cheesy. The reluctant taste testers and I were not prepared for just how fabulous this crispy snack was going to be.

Made by Danish firm Kims along the lines of the good old British staple the cheesy Wotsit these corn puffs look pretty much like what we choose to think of as "the original" corn puff. But they don't cover your fingers in bright orange flavour dust that takes days to fade.

Of course, in other parts of the world one might say they are much like Cheetos. But as I haven't had too much exposure to Cheetos I will continue with the Wotsits theme.

And they taste better than Wotsits! Better even, I venture to suggest, than M&S Full on Flavour Cheese Tasters which are pretty good.

Amazing. And wow! And we all liked these a lot. Delicious.
This is intended to be a rave review. I hope you can tell.

I think we are all going to have to visit Denmark to pick up more crispy snacks from Kims.

I'm not wild about the packaging design though.

The London Crisp Co. Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar Handcooked Crisps

Skateboarder flavour crisps!

No. Sadly (sadly? perhaps it's just as well) not. Salt & Vinegar.

Inspired by London's South Bank it says on the packet. Not at all sure why London's South Bank should make anyone think of Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar as a flavour for a crisp. Who can say?

Not sure either why a skateboarder seemed like a good image for a packet of Salt & Vinegar crisps but I do know why it's a good image for the South Bank; because the South Bank Centre situated on the South bank of the river Thames (can you credit it?) is a very haven for skateboarders. I haven't been down there for a while but it used to be infested with skaters.

As for using an image of St Paul's Cathedral... it's not even on the South Bank. But you can see it. I must stop being so picky.

Nice little crisps, hand cooked with the skin left on, good crunch, and interestingly some of the crisps are very salt & vinegary while some are not. Pretty tasty though.

Not the most sensational crisps in the world but nothing at all wrong with them. Tasty and crunchy. Just how a crisp should be.

Jacobs Mini Cheddars Branston Pickle Flavour

This little 50g packet of Mini Cheddars was strategically positioned next to the sandwiches in Waitrose so I discovered it when I was pondering what to have for lunch.

It is a tiny packet and there weren't very many Mini Cheddars in it so I can only suppose they are heavier than they look. If it had contained crisps I think it would more likely weigh 20g.

Anyway, as usual the Mini Cheddars are tasty little cheesy biscuits with a lovely crunch. One of the taste testers questioned the legitimacy of my adding Cheddars to the list. It's not a crisp complained the Senior taste tester. No. Obviously not. But we've had Cheddars before... and popcorn too. That's definitely not a crisp. I'm not going to pay any attention to this complaint.

And on top of the tasty cheesiness a lovely tasty smidge or a certain something of Branston pickle flavour. Delicious.

Branston Pickle, for those not in the know, is a dark brown pickle made of tomatoes and vinegar and spices and stuff. You eat it with cheese or whatever you fancy. Mini Cheddars perhaps?

Ikea Potatischips Gräddfil & Lök

Well, Ikea don't mess around with fancy packaging do they? What have we here? It's a great big closeup of crisps. And in fact the crisps on the packet look pretty appetising to me.

This 150g packet of Sour Cream & Onion flavour crisps was found by Noble Friend - where else? - in Ikea. She went to look at the furniture and came home with a packet of crisps instead.

I didn't even know Ikea sold crisps but then I haven't been since 1993. How do I know? It was the year of the false start at the Grand National, the race that never was, and I was in Ikea that afternoon. Funny how some things in your life can be so memorable. Or not. Do I remember the day President Kennedy was assassinated? No, sorry, I was too little to notice. Do I remember England beating Germany in the World Cup final? No I don't, we were living in Germany! But do I remember the last time I visited Ikea? Of course.

And what did the reluctant taste testers think of these crisps? Yum said Tech taste tester even before I opened the packet. It seems if he can't have meaty crisps then Sour Cream & Onion runs a close second.

And everyone else approved like anything. In fact we ate the entire packet. Which was crammed full of tasty little crisps. Extra special achievement here because there was a basket of mini muffins and cookies in the office that day but we still ate all the crisps.

This is not a healthy diet.

Anyway, lovely little crisps, some skin left on, they look hand cooked but I don't think we are told, great crunch and a wonderful oniony flavour. Oh yes, we liked these a lot.

Interestingly this onion flavour is somehow totally different from the Sweet Maui Onion flavour we tried earlier in the week. We liked them both.

Next time anyone goes to Ikea don't buy a sofa; we'd like to try the plain salted crisps please.

Joe & Seph's Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Mozzarella, Tomato & Pepper Popcorn

The finest air popped corn coated with extra virgin oil oil, mozzarella, tomato & pepper.  Aromatic & creamy with a splendidly peppery finish says the packaging.

For once in a while this Joe & Seph's popcorn does not feature caramel. And probably a good thing too. But in my opinion it isn't nice.

The aroma is nothing but olive oil and the popcorn is all squishy.

The reluctant taste testers didn't try this. I did. And I really didn't like it.

Sorry Joe & Seph.

And another mystery. As I pondered yesterday, why didn't we like this popcorn? Because we loved the Caramel & Sea Salt. We really did.

Joe & Seph's Caramel & Orange Marmalade Popcorn

Well, in the busy run up to Christmas the reluctant taste testers and I had another go at a Joe & Seph popcorn flavour. Ever hopeful.

I guess we may be doomed to disappointment in this department.

We are assured by the packaging and the website that this product is hand made by carefully trained pastry chefs with the best quality ingredients. So why do we find some of the flavours so weird?

I really don't get why all Joe & Seph's popcorn has to be caramel first and then some other flavour on top. I don't think the reluctant taste testers get it either. There's a wonderfully sharp marmalade flavour here - which I actually like quite a lot - but somehow it really doesn't go with the caramel.

It's a bit of a mystery. Why don't we like this popcorn? Because we loved the Caramel & Sea Salt.

Burton's Daily Fish'n'Chips Pickled Onion

This biscuity snack in the shape of little fish and little chips was very popular with the reluctant taste testers.

Even the Architectural Consultant taste tester was moved to say how much she liked them. Well, I couldn't help noticing how many times she was suddenly wandering through the kitchen. And you should be impressed because she doesn't usually comment at all.

Not everyone picked the Pickled Onion flavour but I thought it was very accurate. Although, I think this is the taste of the larger, browner pickled onions, and not the little silver skins.

The aroma is very strongly vinegar, but the taste is gentler and the pickle onion flavour is followed by the gentle sweet taste of the biscuits themselves. Don't let that put you off. These little biscuits are rather good.

Rather fun for a change.

M&S Keralan Curry Dhal Chips

This is a very pretty crisp. Made with rice flour and chickpea flour they have red lentils and nigella seeds (kalonji) baked in. In fact, they are so pretty to look at you don't stop to wonder if you are actually going to enjoy Keralan curry as a crispy snack flavour.

I've probably said before that I'm not crazy for curry but I really liked this Dhal Chip. Quite tasty. And the reluctant taste testers seemed to enjoy them quite a lot too.

The rice and chickpea flour gives you quite a dull crunch, you don't get the bright snap you would from a potato crisp, but that's not really a problem. What is a bit of a problem is that the hexagonal shape looks great when it all there. But there were a lot of broken chips. Broken into quite small bits and that isn't very clever.

Pretty good. But somehow better when not broken.

Sunchips Original 100% Whole Grain

A suspiciously healthy-looking crispy snack this, exported especially for us by kind bloggy friend Betsy.

And I guess they must be healthy because they're labelled Heart Healthy and made with 100% whole grain; that's whole corn, whole wheat, brown rice flour and whole oat flour. There are no artificial flavours or preservatives and also there's 30% less fat than in a regular potato chip.

At Sunchips we believe that being different is good. That's why we created Sunchips with a mission to provide tasty one of a kind snacks that take afternoon snacking from ho-hum to oh yeah!

Everyone's favourite whole grain chip. It's slightly savory, slightly sweet and totally 100% original. 

Well, that's what the packaging tells me. And despite the aggressively healthy look to them, this wavy crispy snack is pretty tasty. And we did enjoy them.

You get a great big hit of salt first of all, and then the sugar. And the crunch is just right. So not bad. Not bad at all.

M&S Eat Well Pea Snaps Piri Piri

Once again, ever hopeful, the reluctant taste testers and I tried a Pea Snap flavour from the Marks & Spencer Eat Well crispy snack range. A third flavour: Piri Piri.

Ever since I first heard of Piri Piri sauce I thought it might not really be for me. And I still think I was right. But I must confess that Piri Piri works better with the Pea Snaps than either of the other two flavours we have tried.

None of the taste testers made a comment except History Graduate who admitted to quite liking these Pea Snaps. But I don't think he can have eaten the whole (very small - only 21g) packet himself. So someone else, possibly several someones, was eating them, and it wasn't me.

Oh, Extremely Sceptical taste tester did comment. She asked if this was another grasshopper crispy snack. Well, yes, it is the same range as those she took for grasshoppers. But no. This crispy snack is made from marrow fat peas and not insect protein.

And she also pointed out that the very soft bite is similar to the crunch and texture of crispy snacks made for very small children. There are extremely sceptical nieces and nephews so our taste tester knows what she is talking about.

The Piri Piri flavour dust gives these Pea Snaps a handsome orangey brown colour, so really they do look a lot less grasshoppery than the Green Chilli Lime & Coriander flavour Snaps.

This product is supposed to be healthier for you than the average crispy snack. So I'm pleased to be able to report that this flavour is a lot more palatable than the first two we tried.

Always remember that I am extremely picky when it comes to food. So even if I don't like something; you might.

Grippo's Sweet Maui Onion Wavy Potato Chips

This is another crisp specially exported from the United States by kind bloggy friend Betsy. I had often read about Sweet Maui Onion flavour crisps but I didn't know what made them special. And I confess I was dubious about flavouring a crisp with nothing but onion.

So I took this shiny purple packet of Grippo's crinkle cut (or wavy) crisps for the reluctant taste testers to try.

And we liked them a lot.

We really did. This is a lovely crisp. Very nice aroma, great crunch, and a truly delicious sweet onion flavour. Very nice indeed. A great success.

Never having tried Sweet Maui Onion flavour before I can't tell whether the Grippo's version is extra special. But I can say that if I ever see another packet I will try them again. Eagerly. I think I liked them better than most cheese & onion crisps.

Interestingly I see that Grippo's (what a great name!) also do a Sweet Bermuda Onion flavour crisp. I wonder what makes that different? Does anyone out there know? I can't seem to find a review online. It's all about their BBQ flavour. Which of course I've not tried.

Nearly forgot: I love the shiny purple and silver packaging!

M&S Katsu Curry Sticky Rice Chips

Ah ha! Another complete dinner flavour crisp. And again from Marks & Spencer.

Well you can't tell who is going to like what can you? Tech taste tester saw these crisps and said that he had recently cooked katsu curry. It sounded as though he was rather a fan. But he didn't much care for these crisps. He said he got pizza flavour.

Everyone else liked them. Including me!

Weirdly Wikipedia tells me that curry sauces made their way into Japanese cuisine via the Royal Navy (which adopted curry from the British Raj) and the Imperial Japanese Navy. I gather that even today the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force has curry for lunch on Fridays. Actually it might be for dinner. But lucky them. On Fridays British schools always serve fish which I loathe. I'd sooner have curry I think.

Anyway, these handsome gluten free chips are a smart diamond shape, although as so often with shaped crispy snacks there are a lot of breakages. Nice crunch though.

The aroma is (I thought) a very strong curry flavour, but the taste is quite gentle. And this despite the ingredients which include coriander, cayenne pepper, fenugreek, turmeric, cumin, fennel, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves and black pepper. And the actual body of the chip is made from rice flour, maize flour, tapioca starch and potato starch. Complicated.

Ingredient alert: contains honey. I don't think I have seen this before. Is it important not to feed honey to children under 12 months? I confess I had no idea. But seriously, would you give a baby curry flavoured crisps? Well, who knows, but I wouldn't have thought so.

It's another sticky rice chip. I'm not sure that's a flavour. I'm really not. And these chips aren't sticky so.... but they have baked in rice grains, red chilli and coriander.

Pretty good even if you're not a curry fan. But perhaps not if you are a katsu curry fan?

HiperDino Food Conos de Maiz Sabor Queso/Bacon

Noble friend went to the Canary Islands for a little winter sunshine and brought back this packet of crisps. Which was very nice of her.

These crisps seem to have been produced and packed in Spain for Dinosol Supermercados which is a supermarket in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. So local crisps. Excellent.

For some strange reason you don't get bugle-shaped crispy snacks in the UK. I really don't know why not. I've seen them in Italy, here we have a Spanish version, and I know they are popular in The Netherlands. If I am wrong about bugles in the UK please let me know.

The Dutch taste tester liked this crispy snack, and the extremely sceptical taste tester loved them. Between us we ate the whole 80g packet in no time at all.

I must say I was a bit dubious. Cheese and bacon can be a sinister combination. But in fact this is a lovely light flavour, very pleasant. There's a good lot of flavour dust (not too much) and a nice crunch. I'm not sure that I was aware of the interesting texture/pattern as shown on the packet. But after all, that has nothing to do with the taste.

All in all a pretty good crispy snack.

Patatas Fritas de Soria Garijo Baigorri Aceite de Oliva

I'm not sure I have the name of these crisps correct.

I don't speak much Spanish and I'm not at all sure which bit of the text on the packet is the name of the manufacturer, and which is the name of the crisp. So I put it all in and I'm hoping for the best.

The packet tells us we have Patatas Fritas Artesanas... possibly crisps fried by artisans? Could this be Spanish for hand cooked crisps? And then El Placer del Crujiente which Google translate tells me means "crusty pleasure". Which doesn't sound quite right!

The ingredients are potatoes, olive oil, and sea salt.

The tall taste tester donated this empty packet, again from his visit to Madrid. He said he really didn't like them. They were all oily, he said. Too much olive oil, he said. So not for him.

The aroma from the packet is salty, but also very high quality frying. Actually, it smells rather good. But of course I've not had the opportunity to try the actual crisps.

The potatoes were grown in the highlands of Castilla y Leon which for some reason sounds lovely.

There is a website, but as I said I don't speak much Spanish (most of it garnered from watching westerns or NCIS), so I'm not much the wiser! I am following a Spanish blog All4Barbie which is expanding my vocabulary but Barbie leads a very healthy lifestyle and doesn't seem to eat too many crisps.

Anyway, if you fancy olive oil flavoured crisps next time you visit Spain you could give these a go.

Snyder's of Hanover Pretzel Crisps Honey Mustard & Onion

The tall taste tester has been to Madrid and he brought back this empty crisp packet for me.

Yes, an empty packet. Not full of thin, crunchy pretzel crackers. He said he couldn't fit a full packet in his luggage. Fair enough. And after all, he is under no obligation to bring me anything back from his excursion to Spain.

However, it was nice of him to bring the packet so that I can look out for these Pretzel Crisps in future. And I have to say that even though I've not been able to try these, the aroma from the packet is very good.

Something to look out for, I think. And if there is anyone out there who has tried them please would you let me know what you think?

The tall taste tester bought this packet in Madrid and thought this was a German product from Hanover - in Germany. Well, you might. But in fact it seems to be an American product made by Princeton Vanguard LLC from Princeton, New Jersey and imported into Europe by a company based in Hamburg - in Germany.

Rethink your pretzel! The tall taste tester says these Pretzel Crisps are really very good.

Emporium of Tyrrell's Tortillas Chilli with Chopped Jalapeno

Just before Christmas I was walking through Hampstead and stopped at a swanky food shop to pick up a panettone. I asked if they sold crisps, and yes they did: this very smart packet of tortillas from the Emporium of Tyrrell's. Splendidly New says the packet.

Wonderfully punchy six-sided chilli corn tortillas crafted with delightfully piquant, properly chopped jalapeño. An altogether edgier nibble. Says the packet.

What a delicious tortilla this is. Fabulously hexagonal, good crunch, a great colour enlivened by the little bits of chilli, and what a taste. The reluctant taste testers and I ate the whole of this 150g packet. And were pleasantly surprised at how many of the hexagons kept their shape.

Really nice chilli taste but not too bonkersly hot. Which is a great combination. I always think it's a bit of a waste if a crispy snack is so hot you can't actually taste it. Yum. I've just licked my finger and poked around the bottom of the packet to get out the remains of the flavour dust. Yum!

And another great packet from the Tyrrell's design department.

Sensible Portions Garden Veggie Chips Sea Salt

We already tried Sensible Portions Garden Veggie Straws and liked them quite a lot. So I thought we should try the chips as well.

How small they are! And to my surprise not crinkle cut crisps (chips) at all but an extruded potato flour crispy snack. I suppose you can't very easily add beetroot or spinach colour to a potato crisp, but you can add it to the potato flour and starch paste. I guess it's a similar recipe to what they use for the straws but made into a crinkle cut chip shape.

Quite nice but not terribly exciting. That's what I said to History Graduate taste tester as we paused by the bowl of chips, and he agreed with me.

It's a shame that the beetroot, tomato, and spinach don't seem to add anything to the taste. You might expect chips with different colours to taste differently. But I don't think they do. And I think the flavour should be Lightly Salted rather than Sea Salt. Oh wait, the packet says these chips are delicately seasoned.

The combination of garden grown potatoes, ripe vegetables and 30% less fat then the leading potato chip provides a better-for-you snack says the packet. And These airy, light and crunchy chips allow for 38 chips per serving! 

No GMO, 0g trans fat, no artificial colours, flavourings or preservatives, 0g cholesterol, vegan, certified kosher and you can recycle the bag!

Not half bad for a healthier style of crispy snack but I do wish the different colours had a different taste. A missed opportunity I think.

KP The Real McCoy's Ridge Cut Thai Sweet Chicken

Mmnn.... meat! said the boys, er sorry, I mean the Tech and History Graduate taste testers. They like their meaty crisps.

But what a disappointment, although (let's be honest here) not much of a surprise, this packet of MAN CRISPS does not contain any chicken. And these crunchy ridge cut crisps are suitable for vegetarians. So presumably this is a crisp aimed at vegetarian men. Interesting marketing strategy.

Anyhow, this little packet seems the usual size for what I think of as a small packet of crisps (my preferred size). But it weighs 50g instead of maybe 28g or something? This must be a quite a heavy crisp. Must be the ridges I suppose.

The reluctant taste testers and I tucked in and I think we quite liked this flavour. And the crunch. Even the extremely sceptical taste tester was pleased to approve. Nice and sweet but somehow not too sweet. Whatever it is in the mystery ingredient flavourings something is rather good.

I can't let McCoy's off though: this crisp comes dangerously close to being a complete meal flavour. I wonder if you ordered a Thai takeaway would you get anything approaching the flavour of these crisps? It's more of a sweet and sour flavour than sweet chilli.

The Senior taste tester carried off the very last crisp in triumph!

Golden Fluff Potato Flutes Ketchup Flavour

When I pulled this packet of crispy snacks from the crisp storage basket I could not for the life of me remember where I bought them. But then, a clue on the back of the packet in the form of Hebrew text (which I cannot read) reminded me. Of course. It was from one of the local kosher delis.

Well, for a start one of the reluctant taste testers pointed out that Golden Fluff is a rather odd name for  a crispy snack company. It sounds more like an instant pudding. Perhaps lemon, or maybe butterscotch flavour? What do you think?

I looked at the Golden Fluff website and it seems they specialise in kosher products, including kosher for Passover; crispy snacks, drinks, sweets (candy) and kitchen products (even chopping boards). And perhaps they started with popcorn. In which case Golden Fluff isn't such a mad name.

Anyway, we've tried a couple of other snacks which were long and square like a chip (French fry) although hollow, so there must be some sort of machine or nozzle that just churns out these shapes. And they are rather good. Somehow it's a shape that makes for very moreish snacking.

We liked these a lot. You can't see from the packet photo but these flutes aren't as bright a yellow as many crispy snacks are. A bit of light brown in the colouring (trust me, this is a good thing) and a generous sprinkling of tomato ketchup yumminess makes for a very appetising look.

A light crunch, and a really good ketchup flavour, these proved pretty popular with the reluctant taste testers.

The packet tells us that these potato flutes contain No MSG, No Artificial Colors, and No Artificial Flavors. And 0g Trans Fat Per Serving. So... presumably no trans fats at all then? Hmmn... that's very oddly put isn't it? And here's another slightly weird thing, the ingredients list says Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of the following: Canola, Corn, Cottonseed, Safflower, Soybean or Sunflower). That seems strangely indecisive.

The packet also says Now please be nice and share this bag with others. Which I did.

I first tried this flute or fries style of crisp with Kubeti Mega Stix (which I was amazed to see were from Bulgaria), and then Zweifel Snacketti Fries Ketchup (from Switzerland) which were fabulous. This is not a bad addition to the flutes/fries/stix family.

Walkers Tomato Ketchup

Here's another little 25g packet of Walkers crisps. Tomato ketchup flavour.

And what do they taste of? Pretty much tomato ketchup. Not a lot else to say.

Nice crisps, good crunch. Lovely and simple.

I have to say this is not my most favourite crisp ever, and other tomato ketchup crispy snacks have been more to my taste. These are a bit too vinegary for me. But still pretty good. Not to be sniffed at.