KP Hula Hoops Big Hoops BBQ Beef

Hmmn... not sure I would have bought BBQ beef flavour if there had been other to choose. It's a really hard flavour, built on yeast extract and dried tomatoes and salt:which appears on the list of ingredients 3 times (3 times? that's a lot of salt).

Now, as a lifelong lover of yeast extract (that's Marmite to many of you) I was horrified to learn the other day that it's partly made of celery (which you may recall I can't eat). I never noticed that. And I have to say that although there is no suspicion of celery in the list of ingredients here, this crispy snack smells quite strongly as though it should be there. Which is a bit odd.

So what makes these Hula Hoops into Big Hoops? They're just bigger. I was looking for a bigger ring so you could fit the hoop on your thumb not just on your little finger but it's not really like that. The ring looks bigger, but not too much. I think the bigness is in the width of the band.

This crispy snack has a great crunch. I'd like to try the plain salted version.

And I'm pleased to see that this grab bag isn't too huge. Some grab bags of crisps and crispy snack are just gigantic but this is only 50g so not too bad for your crunch at lunch. Which I bet this will be for many.

Kettle Sea Salt & Crushed Black Pepper

For some strange reason the reluctant taste testers and I have never got around to trying this crisp. Possibly because it appears to be a perfectly normal flavour: because you know we love to try the weird ones. However, that doesn't seem to have stopped Tall Elegant taste tester from attempting this packet as a crunch with her lunch. She didn't eat the entire packet though, and gifted me with the leftovers to see what I thought.

Not a bad crunch, as is usual with Kettle Chips, and a nice simple flavour. I am not at all sure if there is (or could be) a difference between sea salt & black pepper or sea salt & crushed black pepper as a flavour. I think it's just the words. Why not? The more words the better. Or not. It depends on your point of view.

On the back of the packet we are told this is "Lightly Salted's darker mysteries alter ego".  Mmmn... I'm not sure that encourages me. I am more interested to learn that 100% of the potatoes used to make Kettle Chips are British, most from within 30 miles of "our Norfolk home".

But absolutely nothing artificial is an annoying claim. I suppose it is meant to tell us we are getting a super healthy crisp here. Made with proper ingredients grown on farms filled with wildlife and birdsong.

But hang on, I always wonder what a crisp without this label would be made of? Potatoes grown in industrial revolution style gloomy factories? Fake potatoes carved out of wood? Of course not. All crispy snacks are made of real ingredients... it's just that some of them (not usually in the UK) has E numbers and stuff. Which might perhaps be considered artificial.

Anyway, despite the unnecessary claims this is not a bad crisp.

U Mini-Choux Saveur Chèvre et Poivre

And here's a review I wrote of a similar product last July but mysteriously forgot to post. What a difference a year makes eh?

Hmnnn, I'm not sure this was the most successful purchase I made in the U supermarket in France. It looked like a good idea but you never can tell until you try. And that's what taste testing is all about.

Part of my problem is that Noble Friend won't even attempt chèvre, and Tall Elegant taste tester isn't mad keen either.  And then when you read choux you rather expect something soft (softish) like an eclair or a choux bun. But what you actually get here is a hard little biscuitty bite.

And while there is nothing wrong with a little cheesy biscuit, there's a lot to be said for a snack tasting how you think it will, and having the texture you were expecting.

Zweifel Filu Paprika

Quite simply one of the tastiest crispy snacks the Chef and I have tasted in a long long time. And Cliffs of Moher taste tester agrees with us.

Yum yum yum.

This is just as tasty and just as crispy, and just as good as Filu Original... only better. Better? Yes, indeed. This is a truly fabulous crispy snack.

Of course if you don't enjoy this sort of puffed potato starch snack it won't really be for you, but we think it's pretty good. Not much else to say really.

Highly recommended but sadly probably only available in Switzerland. So book your holiday now!

Carrefour Mini Choux Goût Chèvre et Poivre

I wasn't sure if I had tried this crispy snack before... but apparently not. Or at least if I have, I called it something else. The Chef picked up a couple of boxes of crispy snacks for me the last time he drove through France. The ones the French call aperitifs. I really like this style of snack a lot. I learned to my cost that the reluctant taste testers are very suspicious. And quite often won't even attempt these snacks (they don't care for goats cheese).

But I retired from work recently. I miss most of the taste testers a lot. But hey! I don't have to consider whether they are going to like things or not. I shall probably post a lot less now. Because it isn't good for you to eat too many crisps and crispy snacks. If you divide 60g between 10 people it can't hurt... but if you eat the whole packet each time it won't do you any good at all.

Anyway, this is a lovely snack. The mini "choux" pastry exterior is crunchy quite unlike real choux pastry, but it tastes right. And the lovely soft gloopy goat cheese and pepper filling tastes great. I loved it but I can think of several people who wouldn't like it at all. I say yum yum. But you need to make your own mind up.

Carrefour have branches all over France, and I'm sure I've been to one in Mallorca too. I guess they also operate in Belgium and the Netherlands. Minisoezen anyone?