M&S Hand Cooked Hot Honey Pigs in Blankets Crisps

So, Pigs in Blankets? To be honest I had never heard of pigs in blankets until I was quite grown up. At Christmas my family had miniature (cocktail) sausages with the chicken (not turkey), and rolled up bacon. But not bacon rolled around sausages. I didn’t even know it was a thing. 

Anyway, this M&S crisp tastes nothing like sausages, nothing like bacon, and I would hazard, nothing like pigs in blankets.

But could this be the fault of the hot honey? This crisp doesn’t taste of honey either. Perhaps that’s because the oak smoked sugar is interfering. But it does feature a big hit of something hot. I expect that’s the chilli.

I definitely wouldn’t bother to buy these crisps again.

However, Cliffs of Moher Taste Tester came round to help built my Christmas tree, and after complaining that she really didn’t care for M&S crisps, graciously agreed to try this one. Apparently they don’t have pigs in blankets in Ireland, or at least not where she was brought up, but not to worry because she surprised herself by rather enjoying these crisps. A bit like smoky bacon she thought. Which explains a lot as I have never liked smoky bacon crisps and avoid them if I can. 

Anyway, quite a lot of the packet got eaten fairly enthusiastically. So I guess that counts as a sign of approval.

But what a waste of a potentially good flavour. Basically, to me, these fine cut crisps taste mostly of the something hot and, prompted by Cliffs of Moher, smoky bacon. And I’m not really very impressed by Marks & Spencer’s Christmas packaging either.

Waitrose Christmas Mandarin & Sour Cherry, Caramelised Nut Mix

I know this is not a packet of crisps, and it doesn’t really qualify as a crispy snack, so I guess it’s more of a chewy snack?

Yes, the slightly weird dried mandarin part of this snack mix from local supermarket Waitrose is a lot tastier than I expected. But definitely chewy. The sour cherries I mistook for large raisins or something, but they are tasty too.

On the crunch front there are caramelised almonds, a lot nicer than regular almonds because they don’t actually taste of almonds, and then there are cashews too.

So, an interesting mix of flavours and textures for this Christmas mix. Somehow a lot tastier than I expected, and the different textures work very nicely.

If you can’t get to a Waitrose you could probably make your own mix with freeze dried mandarins, sour cherries, some cashews and, with any luck, caramelised almonds. Maybe honey roasted or salted almonds would work instead. I really am quite surprised that I enjoyed this combination of texture and flavour so much.

Give this combination a try. (The Chef not so impressed.)

Proper x Netflix Netflix & Chilli Caramel

Well, this Proper x Netflix collab is a first for me. As is the flavour, which appears to be Netflix & Chilli Caramel. Sorry? Since when was Netflix a flavour? We don’t subscribe, but I am pretty sure Netflix is a well known streaming service.

However, never mind that, this is a very tasty popcorn, and I ate nearly the entire 90g packet all by myself. Over nearly a week though. Remember how light popcorn is? So that’s a lot more than 90g of crisps. But the packet has a high in fibre label (good fibres only) so here’s hoping this snack is fairly healthy as snacks go. 

And it is incredibly tasty. The Chef thought the chilli was a bit too hot, but I think it works very well with the caramel. Delicious!

The Netflix thing is some sort of a competition to win a home cinema bundle, and other stuff, but it seems that I ought to have kept my receipt. It’s not entirely clear. The terms and conditions are very complicated.

And yet another article about crisps…

Both images grabbed from the Internet 

And yes, here’s another article about potato crisps, this time from The Guardian. 

It does seem that crisps are very much at the forefront just now. My local supermarket has suddenly broken out fresh supplies of retro crispy snacks that they don’t normally stock, and others that have appeared for Christmas. Although, very sadly, this same shop stopped selling Cheese Footballs years ago and I know they are a firm favourite with you lot, and they don’t even sell Cheeselets!

This of course means a traumatic visit to a different shop which has really difficult parking with useless signage, and of course a completely different layout making it hard to find what we are looking for.

If you like handbags and have loads of money to spend, keep an eye out for crisp themed bags. Obviously they are not always available new, but second hand sites sometimes have something fabulous to discover.

Don’t forget the book mentioned in the article: Crunch by Natalie Whittle.

Cheez-It Snap’d Double Cheese

I don’t find myself particularly impressed at the very small size of the Grab & Go! bag of Cheez-It Snap’ds. Can I turn a Cheez-It Snap’d into a plural? I’m going to anyway. 

And I still think this Grab & Go! bag is very small. It’s only 40g. Which not so very long ago was an ordinary size for a packet of crispy snacks. Grab & Go! used to mean considerably larger than this.

Still cheesy, thin & crispy, still quite orange, still parallelogram shaped… I am only going to quibble at the cheesy. Because they don’t taste of cheese. They taste of a cheesy snack. And that isn’t the same thing.

Plus, the Chef was not impressed at the amount of crummage at the bottom of the packet.

Don’t want to sound whiny but I don’t think I will bother with another packet.

Cheez-It Snap’d Cheese Sour Cream & Onion

So, these days we get Cheez-It Snap’d and Cheez-It Puff’d and all sorts of Cheez-Its. With stray punctuation thrown in just for fun. And this is a packet of the strangely parallelogram shaped biscuity snack that is a Cheez-It Snap’d.

This is a very fine snack, as in very fragile and thin. Cheesy, thin & crispy says the packet. And easily broken, and the bottom of the packet is sadly full of too many broken bits. And I do mean broken bits. More like crumbs. Which is a shame.

I like the flavour though I think it’s a bit odd mixing cheese flavour with sour cream and onion. I found it tasty. I really like sour cream and onion, possibly because it’s not a common flavour here in the UK so I don’t get the opportunity to try it very often. The Chef complained the taste is not cheesy enough. So we will have to agree to differ.

Check out the shopping page on the Cheez-It website! Special Cheez-It nail polish or socks anyone?

Walkers Wotsits Crunchy R-R-Really Cheesy

I’m not really sure what to say about this r-r-really cheesy flavour from Wotsits Crunchy. Strangely, if you ask me or the Chef, we think this crispy snack tastes less cheesy than a regular Cheesy Wotsit. 

I suspect the basic Wostsit Crunchy recipe tastes different to the basic Wotsit recipe, and the cheesy tasting flavour dust doesn’t have the same effect on these crunchy snacks. It might be the exact same cheesy flavour, it might be extra r-r-really cheesy but there we are.

Here’s what we thought about another flavour of Wotsits Crunchy.

Honestly I really don’t know why Walkers thought it would be a good plan to mess with the fabulous traditional Wotsit recipe. Yes, of course, this newer crispy snack may appeal to some… but I think I will stick with the original. 

And if you really want to know, yes they are cheesy, but I am not convinced they are r-r-really cheesy.

I don’t know why anyone thought to put this crispy snack in a Hallowe’en themed packet. Who knows? No bat or ghost shaped snacks here. And as so often these days, quite half the packet was filled with nothing but air. 

Proper Chips Ghost Chilli & Yuzu Chickpea Chips

We all know that the Chef prefers potato crisps to corn chips or other crispy snacks, but have we before encountered the Chef’s younger brother who really really prefers potato crisps to any other style of snack? I asked him to attempt these New! chickpea chips, and I gather (I wasn’t there) he was not impressed.

Apparently they don’t taste of anything, they are too hot for his taste, too citrusy and he didn’t like the texture. I am not sure that he entered into the spirit of reluctant taste testing.

Cliffs of Moher taste tester came for dinner and found them weird.

And what do I think? Well, the texture is a surprise. It’s sort of prawn cracker or very fine Quavers style texture - only not. Presumably a slurry of chickpeas is extruded to form roughly crispy snack shaped shapes. That’s a charming way to put it, I know, but I imagine that’s how these chickpea chips are made.

And the taste? Surprisingly citrusy. Surprisingly, because that’s not what you expect of a crispy snack. All the bright lemony flavour comes from yuzu; an East Asian citrus fruit a bit like a clementine but with a sharper more grapefruity taste. And the ghost chilli is a very hot chilli, once the hottest in the world, but now overtaken by the Carolina reaper in 2013, and Chilli X in 2023. The internet tells me it originated in Bhutan and Assam. But it’s not too hot in this crispy chip.

This is an extremely exotic combination of flavours for a crispy snack sold by conservative supermarket Waitrose in North London. Proper Chips have certainly been working hard to find us new flavours. But perhaps a little too weird.

Tongue tingling! And yes, they really do tingle your tongue.

Retro Crispy Snacks are Making a Comeback

 

I read several articles this September about how retro style crispy snacks are making a huge comeback. Of course, one person’s retro snack is another person’s childhood favourite. Apparently it’s a TikTok trend. I have never looked at TikTok and don’t intend to start now, but it seems that TikTokers will watch absolutely anything for a laugh. And if that means discovering retro snacks that’s fine by me.

Here’s the Daily Mirror. And here’s The Guardian. And The Daily Mail.

Here’s what I had to say about Nik Naks. How interesting, I had quite forgotten them. They’re rather like Crunchy Wotsits. 

And here’s me trying Skips if you are interested.

Since I started eating crisps and crispy snacks in the early 1960s none of these “retro” snacks strikes me as particularly old school. Especially as the little local shop at the bottom of our road has never stopped selling this style of snack. Ditto our post office. Mind you, these days retro seems to apply to anything that wasn’t made or thought of this year. So you decide if these snacks seem retro to you.

Also TikTokers seem to have the attention span of a goldfish (I gather this is longer than we thought), so this trend will probably be over by Christmas, if it isn’t over already.

Dogritos Bones

Our granddaughter will have her first birthday very soon. No doubt she will be showered with presents, so as well as buying her a pull-along Scottie dog on wheels called Walter, we thought it would be nice to buy a little something for the family spaniel. Because it’s no fun feeling left out.

So, here we have a squashy packet of Dogritos. It squeaks. It also makes a noise like scrumpled up crisp packets. I hope Ziggy likes it. If he pulls it apart inside 5 minutes we will take that as a sign he was having fun.

I found this squeaky dog toy on Etsy.

Tyrrell’s Roasted Chicken & Sage

 

New! A gold coin thingy with a crown tells us that this is a New! crisp flavour. With, I read on the back of the packet, oodles of flavour to tickle your tastebuds.

Well. Normally I love a chicken or roast chicken crisp. They taste chickeny and I like that. However, I see that yeast extract (Marmite to me) is one of the ingredients for this crisp. And despite the cooked chicken powder - second crisp in a row to contain actual meat: so not suitable for vegetarians - I think this crisp mostly tastes of Marmite. What a disappointment.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Marmite. On toast it’s fabulous. And my mother brainwashed me to believe that a mug of hot Marmite would cure any ill from period pain to a broken leg, and trust me, it really works. Only do go to A&E if you think your leg might be broken. Maybe have a mug of Marmite while you wait for the ambulance.

However again, I was hoping this new New! crisp would taste of chicken and some sage. And it doesn’t. It smells of Marmite too. 

But the Chef has absentmindedly noshed down almost the entire packet so one can only assume that he has been enjoying the taste. And there is nothing the matter with the crunch.

Manōmasa Limited Edition Chimichurri Steak

Quite a lot of ‘meaty’ or ‘chickeny’ flavoured crisps are in fact suitable for vegetarian snackers. Even, perhaps some of the fake bacon shaped snacks. Is this to save money, or is it easier to create a flavour without adding dried meat or extract of meat or whatever sort of meatiness the food scientists are tinkering with these days? 

Whichever, the family vegetarian told me once that even though a crispy snack might be entirely vegetarian (though likely not vegan), if it has a meaty name that’s enough to put her off. In any case, that doesn’t apply here, because much to my surprise, this Chimichurri Steak flavour corn chip is actually made with meat.

I think it’s a long time since I tried a meat flavoured crisp that is actually made of meat. And that’s probably a good thing because I’m not sure I like these. They are…. aggressively meaty. And for me that’s not a good thing. 

And I am not at all sure I can taste the black beans. Maybe they are in the recipe to give a weird dark brown colour to the chips. 

Not really sure what I think. See what you think.

Terry Pratchett’s Cheese ‘n’ Smoky Dragon Flavour Crisps

Thanks to epiclootshop 

No, of course this isn’t a genuine potato crisp flavour. How could it be? For a start we have no idea what dragon tastes of, although perhaps the food boffins might choose chicken or turkey flavour as a starting point? 

I was thinking that a dragon flavour crisp might be a bit like a raccoon crisp. Because that sounds completely fake. Except people really do eat raccoon. Not perhaps in Britain, because here a raccoon would be either a very unusual pet, or part of a collection in a zoo, but certainly in the United States. Apparently. None of my friends live in a state where raccoon is a regular menu item (New York, California, Texas, Colorado, Rhode Island). At least I don’t think so. But in states like Georgia it might be, or so the internet tells me. And obviously the internet is the fount of all wisdom and we believe everything it tells us.

Meanwhile, back with the Cheese ‘n’ Smoky Dragon flavour: I really don’t know why I should be surprised that there are online discussions as to what dragon meat (and thus dragon crisps) might taste like. Yes, there really are people who waste their time posting about this all important issue. Other discussions are available. And yes, there are also people who waste their time writing about fictional flavours of crispy snack (me).

Anyway, if you are at all interested, I came across Cheese ‘n’ Smoky Dragon crisps in a book of Terry Pratchett’s early writing: A Stroke of the Pen. The crisps feature in a story called The Quest for the Keys. The book was published in good time for Christmas 2023, so what a pity that serious Pratchett fans didn’t lobby a crisp manufacturer to create a tie in snack. Don’t you think it would have been fun?

It’s quite OK if you don’t read this unserious post. Come back next time.

Walkers Wotsits Crunchy Sweet & Spicy Flamin’ Hot

Hmmn…. If you ask me, calling this crispy corn based snack a Wotsit is somewhat disingenuous. Honestly, these are not corn puffs and they aren’t at all like the fabulous corn based puff that is a Wotsit. I feel a bit cheated.

Yes, I know, I shouldn’t take taste testing crispy snacks so seriously, but Wotsits are wonderful and this snack isn’t.

It reminds me a little of the Italian Fonzies the Chef and I tried once, or if you are a fan of Australian snacks, think Twisties. But tasting rather different and quite orange.

But not to worry, at least not too much, because they are crunchy. And they are covered in lots of tasty orange flavour dust. And they are quite spicy, but unless my taste buds have had a major personality transplant, I really don’t think they can be described as flamin’ hot. Except, wait, wait, it appears that flamin’ hot is not a description but rather a flavour. Which includes all manner of ultra processed ingredients such as acidity regulators, disodium 5’-ribonuceotide, hydrolysed vegetable protein and sulphite amonia caramel. Yes, I imagine your guess is as good as mine.

I can’t put my finger on what this crispy corn (maize) based snack actually tastes of. A bit sweet and sour. A bit of a kick. Sort of paprika.

However, do you genuinely want flamin’ hot? Let me introduce you to the impossibly volcanic Takis Fuego snack I found in Switzerland earlier this year. That’s what we in the taste testing trade call much too hot.

Co-op Irresistible Limited Edition Hand Cooked Chicken Shawarma

I really don’t know quite what to say about this limited edition crisp from our local Co-op here in North London. You will probably think the Chef and I are terribly boring, but we are both fairly sure we’ve never had a chicken shawarma. We almost never have a takeaway. I think the last one was a pizza in lockdown in Switzerland. So neither of us knows what taste to look out for in these crisps. Oh dear. That’s not a great help, is it!

I looked up a chicken shawarma recipe to see if it tallied at all with the ingredients on the packet. What do you think? Not really. I think the taste that I can’t quite get to grips with is lurking behind the unhelpful ‘chili chicken shawarma flavour seasoning’. I wish I knew what that concoction is made with.

Don’t run away with the idea that this crisp is nasty. It’s not. I have eaten quite a few, and the Chef has been absent mindedly snacking away with no complaints. 

The crisps themselves are not very large but with a nice crunch, and they are richly golden in colour. It’s just that I can’t work out what they taste of. Could it be the cumin? I can’t make my mind up. Whatever they taste of, it’s like no other potato crisp I ever tried before.

Walkers Squares Ready Salted

And here, plucked from a multi pack, is the unadulterated version of Walkers Squares. Well, it’s what we in the UK call ready salted. Because in the olden days, the first years of crisp manufacturing, you got a packet of fried potato slices and a little blue bag of salt which you untwisted and added the salt yourself. Only then was the huge technological leap of the ready salted crisp invented. Or indeed the ready salt & vinegared or ready cheese & onioned crisp, but of course we don’t call them that.

Anyway, with just salt as the flavour, you can taste just how different reconstituted potato products are from potato crisps. Nice texture, easy to eat. I rather like the flavour but would I want to eat them every day? I think not.

Here’s another square snack I think I must have liked better, from Marks & Spencer.

In other matters, recently someone was referred to this blog by Wikipedia. I wish I knew how that happened. Oh look at that… it’s here. Scroll down. I wasn’t expecting ever to be a reference on Wikipedia. 

Ella’s Kitchen Tomato & Basil Melty Sticks

We bought this small packet of organic crispy snacks as part of a birthday present for the Chef’s great nephew, who is one this week. He’s not our child, so I won’t share the photo of him enthusiastically grasping the packet, but I can see he knows what he’s got, and he’s looking forward to his mum opening the packet for him.

I am sure that these tomato and basil melty sticks got eaten, or at least crumbled enthusiastically on to the floor (I saw what happened to his poor birthday cake), but his mum tells me he really likes the cheese and apple flavour best.

Isoyama Corp 18+ Curry Chips

OK, I admit it. I haven’t tried these very hot crisps and even if I had the opportunity, I don’t think I would. No, make that I definitely would not. But they have been all over the news recently. So if you haven’t heard about them already here is an article from the BBC website.

Call me old fashioned, but I don’t see the point in food that you know might make you ill. Nobody wants to be rushed to hospital in a wheelchair do they? It’s a cautionary tale for crisp fans more adventurous than I am.

Think about it. Would you try?

Carr’s Melts Cheese

This delightful crispy snack looks like a cheese biscuit, as in a biscuit to put cheese on, and in fact the website shows a serving suggestion of the cracker (not my preferred word) loaded with what looks like hummus, ham, capers, slices of pickle and chilli, and a cherry tomato. I don’t think these crispy biscuits are sturdy enough for so much stuff. 

These biscuits are called Melts, and they almost do melt when you bite into them, and they scatter lots of crumbs everywhere so you do need to eat them with caution. But to make up for all that, they are just delicious. I don’t think they need any extras piled on top. The name suggests a cheese flavour, but although there is grated cheese on the top, the main flavour is a very gentle onion, tempered with cheese. Yum yum. It’s very possible to eat more than you expected at one sitting.

OK, put that packet down now!

Do be careful if you are planning on visiting South Korea and think this might be a tasty snack for the journey: there are poppy seeds in the recipe. And poppy seeds are illegal in South Korea. Which I didn’t know until I read this article. Definitely don’t take a slice of lemon and poppyseed tray bake.

Walkers Squares Cheese and Onion

Way back in 2014 I tried a packet of Walkers Squares Salt & Vinegar flavour. And it looks as though whoever got a taste, as well as me that is, quite enjoyed them. 

But it seems I have never thought of trying any other flavour of Walkers Squares. So, at last, slightly more than 10 years later, here we have the Cheese & Onion version. It’s interesting that Squares seem to be going strong, because in the last 10 years many crispy snacks, including lots reviewed on this blog, have disappeared from sight.

And what did we think? Well, Squares aren’t the same as potato crisps. They aren’t slices of potato, but made of reconstituted potato granules, and they taste quite different. So as a base for a flavour, Squares give quite a different result. And I don’t think that Cheese & Onion works. It’s fine to start off with, but as you snack through even a tiny 22g packet, the flavour works less and less well.

I asked Ski Instructor Taste Tester who ate a whole packet, because he was hungry, but he admitted he wasn’t that impressed. The Chef tried some too but he’s gone to sleep so I can’t ask what he thought.

Not bad but not tip top.

KP Original Salted Peanuts

A big display of large packets of KP Original Salted Peanuts beckoned to me in the supermarket today. Buy us! they cried. But I was very firm and only picked up a small 90g packet (peanuts are heavy - that’s less than it sounds). And when I got home I asked myself if I had ever written up this very simple snack? No ingredients but peanuts and salt and sunflower oil. Delicious. But the answer, until now, was no. And my second question is why on earth not? So anyway, here we go…

Ah, you say. Lucky old you, you can eat peanuts without suffering any ill effects. Don’t boast about it. 

Well, yes, I can eat peanuts and I am fairly sure that I have been eating them since I was about three, so that’s more than 60 years! My parents didn’t really let us eat sweets, but there were always salty snacks instead. However, as a child I was horrendously allergic to grass pollen, and cats, and goodness knows how many other things. Even 30 years later I heard that the lovely mother of one of my school friends still had nightmares about the day she very kindly took her daughter and me for a picnic in a beautiful field full of flowering grasses. So I do understand about allergies. 

I still am allergic to grass pollen and cats but nothing like so badly as I used to be. Put it like this, if I reached the final of an egg and spoon race this summer, I wouldn’t have to pull out because I couldn’t see. But looking at today’s weather I would need an umbrella.

Anyway, these salted peanuts, made without maple syrup or honey, with no chocolate chunks or bits of honeycomb in the bag, not even any herbs or jerk seasoning, just salt, are simply delicious. And I can definitely eat a whole bag while sitting on the sofa watching the tennis.

Highly recommended if you can eat them. 

Mysteriously distributed by Tayto Snacks in County Meath. I can’t work out if this is an Irish snack or a UK snack. I’m going for UK.

Migros Jumpy’s Paprika

Here’s another kangaroo-shaped crispy snack which has probably been around for some time. For all intents and purposes this packet of Jumpy’s is identical to the packet of Chios Jumpys I reviewed back in 2013. Except of course that it purports to be something else. 2013! So long ago! So many crispy snacks. I would never have imagined so many would be kangaroo-shaped.

It looks very much as though this is an own brand product from Swiss supermarket Migros, manufactured by the original company, Chios. Or possibly Intersnack Switzerland.

The Chef assures me that these imposter kangaroos taste exactly the same as Chio kangaroos. I am still not particularly keen on Jumpy’s, but the Chef remains a huge fan.

While we are discussing crispy crunchy kangaroos, here’s a different flavour from Migros that I had quite forgotten about. Not sure that I was mad about the sour cream flavour any more than the paprika, sunny or otherwise. 

Long Chips Mashed Potato Snack Sea Salt & Vinegar + 2 Other Flavours

The Chef and I waited for our train from Geneva Airport at our usual café and just as we were about to leave I spotted these three flavours of Long Chips: Sea Salt & Vinegar, Original, and Thai Chilli. But there wasn’t any time to get the Swiss francs out; only time for a photograph.

I have since managed to get hold of a packet of the Sea Salt & Vinegar. And what did we think?

Answer: I have no idea what we thought because we never opened the packet. And for some reason this review has been languishing in my drafts folder for four years. I think I will post this anyway. Here’s a website for you to take a look. Lots of flavours I have never seen, and apparently you can buy them from eBay or even Etsy.

I think this is the same crispy snack that the Reluctant Taste Testers tried before. That was a Sour Cream & Chive flavour. It could be the same, but the packaging design has had a bit of a makeover. In fact, it’s totally different. I can only ever remember seeing a packet of Long Chips at Geneva airport, but we haven’t flown anywhere since before Covid and probably never will again, so it’s very possible I will never see another packet. Unless I take a train to Latvia.

Manōmasa Serrano Chilli & Yucatan Honey

Mmmn this is a tasty crispy snack.

Don’t get put off by the Mayan Yucatan honey from the mountains of Puebla (I am not sure how different it is from any other kind of honey, but like tortillas it comes from Mexico), because these tortilla chips aren’t actually that sweet. But without the honey I think this would be a different snack entirely.

Yes, you can taste the “traditional” Serrano chilli, and oh look at that… the veriest smidge of star anise. Quite hot, definitely not very hot, and a nice depth of taste. I really liked these tortilla chips because they taste just that little bit different from the norm. Ooh! Imagine eating them alongside some crispy duck and pancakes for texture, not forgetting the all important plum sauce.

The Family Vegetarian tried tentatively, I don’t think she trusts me, but agreed that this is a nice flavour. Not too sweet, not too hot. Actually pretty good. I think the Chef approves of the flavour, but we know he’s not mad about tortilla chips.

Suitable for vegetarians but perhaps not for people who don’t like coriander (cilantro) or anyone who is allergic to lentils (legumes), which I understand is an increasingly common allergy.

And please don’t complain that Manomasa should be written with a line at the bottom of the O. My iPad only features a line at the tōp and I felt it was better to offer you a line in the wrong place rather than no line at all. 

Probably won’t look to buy these again, but only because taste testing crispy snacks is hard work, yes it is!, and we really shouldn’t eat too many. Otherwise, I think you should try a packet.

What’s this flavour? Crisp flavours in the Guardian

Found on Pinterest: presumably this fake crisp taste is about kosher salt not kosher peaches 

Here’s a slightly skimpy review of current crisp flavours that you may find interesting or weird. When I say skimpy, I mean that it would be a miles better article if each crisp had even one or two more sentences attached. It’s really more of a list.

However, if you don’t read the Guardian (newspaper) or website, you might be interested to see what one of their regular food writers has to say. And perhaps be interested to read the comments which show that crisp fans are just as much devotees of their favourites, as wine buffs are. 

And if you need another list, here’s fairly recent one of different (read odd) flavours from Love Food. Many of these were limited edition flavours from years gone by. I have actually tried several of these crisps. The Cappuccino crisps for example were… challenging. And the Brussels Sprout flavour? Strangely sprouty.

These two articles just demonstrate how active a life you would have to lead to keep up with all the changing flavours all the different shops, because they all have a different selection, and all the different countries. It’s exhausting. Or it would be if you let it rule your life. I completely missed the Christmas Tree flavour which is rather sad, but I have tried well over 1000 crisps and crispy snacks over the last 11 years so I’m not going to let it ruin my life.

Manōmasa Limited Edition Pineapple and Habanero Chilli

I suspect you won’t be at all surprised to learn that this Limited Edition packet of Pineapple and Habanero Chilli tortilla chips from Manōmasa just leaped off the supermarket shelf and into my hand this week. 

I was just walking innocently towards the croissant and crumpet department with the Radio Times and a bottle of washing up liquid, but how could I resist the bright yellow packaging or the slightly weird lure of a pineapple flavour crispy snack? 

I confess I was a little bit disappointed by these excitingly packaged tortilla chips. If I had been doing a blind taste testing I would never have guessed there was pineapple involved. The blurb on the back of the packet does say they went through 30 different variations before settling on a final version, and they are tasty, but… the bright yellow packet does give one the impression that there will be a great big pineapplely taste. And there isn’t.

I think what we have here is something I have seen more than once on the Great British Bake Off. The contestant produces a cake flavoured with, let’s say, raspberries, cherries and elderflower. The judge says yum, delicious, but I can’t taste the elderflower. And the contestant says, yes I know, but I tried it without the elderflower and it wasn’t so good. 

Actually, I think you can taste the pineapple here. But only if you know it’s there. You can taste the chilli though, and very nice too. There is, in fact, a nice lot of tasty flavour dust. And then there’s the scattering of quinoa which I have no idea if I can taste it or not, because I never tried it before. At least, I don’t think so. The little quinoa grains do have a tendency to drop off though. I couldn’t work out what the little red things on the kitchen work top were. Could have been insects. Turned out to be quinoa. I hope.

Anyway, not what I expected, but I would happily eat this crispy snack again. Probably brilliant with a dip, but I didn’t have one so I just snacked in anyway. The Chef was not impressed but cheerfully admits he would far rather have a potato crisp. He doesn’t really like tortilla chips.

NB I have read that increasing numbers of people are allergic to quinoa, so take this into consideration.

Vico Street Food Saveur Cheese Naan

Here’s another new Street Food flavour from French crispy snack firm Vico. And I think this one is rather good. 

I wanted to know why these crinkle cut crisps tasted so strongly of melted butter so I checked a recipe for naan bread. And here it is. Of course, there are many recipes available but this one looks nice and simple. Plus it immediately explains the melted butter. (Which is what I thought, but I had to check.)

The initial taste of this nicely crispy crunchy potato crisps is the melted butter. And very nice too. But the more crisps you eat, the less of this taste there seems to be. I found I had to stop eating, and come back to the packet the next day, to properly experience the taste again. Not convinced there is any taste of cheese but I’m not bothered by that.

Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed these crisps. I wasn’t expecting anything much. But I ate the whole packet all by myself. The Chef didn’t get a look in. Although that is his fault. I filed the half eaten packet in the kitchen so he could do a taste test. But he ignored it.

And once again I failed to photograph the actual crisps but they look exactly as shown on the packaging so you aren’t missing anything.

Migros Party Jungle Pretzels Gesalzen

Here we have a selection of salty, slightly pretzely-tasting jungle animals from the Migros supermarket in Sierra, in Switzerland. They come in a tall narrow packet. And this crispy snack is everything we have been waiting for. 

You know you wanted salty pretzel-tasting lion shapes, didn’t you? Lions and elephants and tortoises and hippos and monkeys, and er, koalas. Maybe you hadn’t thought about it before now, but guess what? Now you know there is a hippo-shaped crispy snack out there, do you fancy trying it? Of course you do*.

I have no idea who decided on these animals. Someone in Switzerland I imagine. To be honest, if it were up to me I would have gone with the full African theme and chosen something else instead of the koala. Goodness knows, Africa is full of wonderful wildlife. Why not a crocodile, or a rhino? Maybe a giraffe or an okapi, perhaps an aardvark? Aardvarks are super cute. Or a kudu? A shoebill stork? Like I said, Africa has lots of wonderful wildlife. Or, you know, what about branching out and having one in the shape of the African continent?

Anyway, never mind the choice of shapes, this is a tasty selection of little biscuit bites, slightly tasting of pretzels but mostly of salt, and very moreish. It’s quite hard to stop snacking when you’re not sure which animal will come out of the packet next. And if the shape is a bit broken, well, they taste just as good.

I only let the Chef eat a few but he definitely approved.

I’m thinking of an Australian Outback selection of pretzels. Koalas, obviously. Kangaroos, wombats, platypus, echidna, and perhaps a numbat (numbats are great), or a saltwater crocodile. There we go, a whole nother product. The Jungle Pretzels could be rebranded as African Savannah Pretzels. But I am getting picky. I have probably watched too many BBC wildlife shows. (NB Australia would be a great shape for a snack. I know because I have an Australia shaped cookie cutter. It makes a good scone. So does the wombat shape.)

Recommended for people who like pretzels or salt or crispy snacks.

*possibly only available in Switzerland, or maybe France if you are lucky.

Here’s a numbat. You can see I found him on Instagram.

Vico Curly Sweety Cacahuètes caramélisées pointe de sel

The other day the Chef was talking about his childhood drives through France with his parents and his younger brother. Of course that was before the splendid motorway network was built with its service stations full of all sorts of interesting products to buy. He was bemoaning the serious lack of nougat on sale these days. I don’t like nougat myself, but I know a lot of people who love it. And it is disappointing to see shelves which used to be stocked with nougat filled with American sweets instead. There are an awful lot of British crisps on sale too. You know I am always on the lookout for French snacks and not something I could pick up at the local supermarket.

It seems his journeys over the years have been full of nougat, and, what has never been mentioned before, caramel covered peanuts. I couldn’t find any nougat, but I was pleased to find this packet of salted caramel  peanuts. The Chef was not excited. He said it wasn’t what he had meant. Because he meant peanuts with a hard brown coating.

I opened the packet anyway and I think this is a delicious little packet of peanutty goodness. Nice quality peanuts, not small or hard, and slathered in shiny, slightly sticky salted caramel. Yum! Very, very moreish. I ate rather a lot of them.

I put the packet in the kitchen and fancy that, would you believe it, the Chef at quite a lot too.

The packet tells us this was voted product of the year in 2023. I don’t know what the competition or the category was but I can easily see why these yummy peanuts won a prize.

For other Vico Curly products see here, or here. Goodness knows why all their peanut products are called Curly!

Vico Street Food Saveur Poulet Tex Mex

Nouveau! And for a change I think this actually might be a new crisp flavour. I only saw it in one service station, but to be honest I wasn’t looking very hard this year.

And Street Food! That’s not very French sounding, is it? Although the French world of marketing and advertising has been thoroughly infiltrated by English, or maybe American. So perhaps the French way of life has been infiltrated by eating street food rather than having lunch at a nice little bistro on the corner?

To be honest I’m not a big fan of eating outside, and therefore don’t really go for street food. Too many wasps. And I have never knowingly eaten Tex Mex food. Oh how boring you must think me. So what I am trying to say is I am poorly qualified to review this particular crisp flavour.

A nice narrow ridged crinkle cut crisp (compared to the wider or perhaps broader ridge usual for U.K. crisps), a good bite, hot and spicy but not too hot, a fair amount of flavour dust: quite nice. I’m not sure there is any detectable taste of chicken but perhaps there’s a faint aftertaste of synthetic crispy snack type not actually chicken flavour. Mysteriously moreish. I can’t really decide why.

The Chef agrees these crisps are spicy and hot, and definitely don’t taste of chicken. But I can see he will probably finish the packet.

Vico is a French company owned by snack giant Intersnack. It’s based in Picardy in Northern France, which is notable for huge gothic cathedrals and lots of war memorials. 

This is the first review I have written since my blog has passed 500,000 hits. That’s a bit of a surprise considering I only began writing about crispy snacks because I was bored on a rainy day in August 2003.

And on reflection… I don’t think I would bother to buy another packet of Poulet Tex Mex.

Migros M Classic Triangles Paprika

Another packet of crispy snacks from Swiss supermarket Migros (but manufactured in The Netherlands). And this time not shaped like tiny turtles, but like triangles. It really is unusual. I have never seen a triangle shaped snack before. Well, yes, tortilla chips are triangular, but not like this.

Normally I would say I love an extruded smooshed up maize based snack. And these triangles certainly do have a nice bite. And what’s more, they don’t gum themselves to your teeth like so many such snacks do. 

But, most unfortunately, I don’t really like the taste. The paprika taste I am used to is slightly sweeter and nothing like so smoky. I know smoky flavours are all the rage these days, but I am not convinced. I can do without the smokiness thank you. And let’s get rid of the slightly greasy aftertaste please.

I did manage to eat almost an entire packet in one sitting out of a sort of addiction to the triangle crunch, and for my pains I got smelly orange fingers. The smell lasted through several thorough hand washings, an overnight sleep (not just a quick nap) and a bath. 

I really would like to try this crispy snack in a different flavour; but I think it only comes in paprika.

A good try though: the shape is great.

M&S Collection Hand Cooked Crisps Prosciutto & Formaggio

 

We stopped at the last sensible motorway service station on the way to Dover and bought sandwiches, plus this packet of Prosciutto & Formaggio crisps.

Well, Marks & Spencer… possibly not your finest hour. Not very big crisps but still, a good crunch. But, tell me gentle reader, are you wondering if this combination of flavours is going to work?

And… these Prosciutto (uncooked, unsmoked, dry cured ham) and Formaggio (basically cheese) flavoured crisps are surprisingly moreish. You start off thinking oh… I don’t really know, I’m not at all sure, but before you know it you’re having another delicately flavoured crisp, and then another.

I am not at all sure they actually taste of prosciutto and formaggio (honestly, how can I really tell? I don’t think I have ever actually tried this mix of flavours in a crisp before), but you know, erm, quite nice,

Not the best crisp ever, but not bad. You can tell, can’t you? Not bad.

And remember. You might like this crisp combo more than I do.

Migros Party Mini Turtles Gesalzen

The Chef and I recently shopped at a motorway service station in Switzerland, at Bavois. It’s the first in Switzerland if you arrive from France through the Jura. Anyway, we found a very nice packet of salami (direct from the farmer by the looks of things), an extremely good bottle of local wine, and this packet of turtle shaped crispy snacks. If only one could shop so well in service stations in Britain.

At first crunch I thought this was going to be rather a dull snack. I mean, the only flavour is salt. 

But, the more you snack, the tastier these crispy little turtles seem to be. And eventually they seem to be absolutely delicious. In fact, yum yum.

The texture is shiny (if that can be a texture), polished and slightly slippery in your fingers, and the brown side has a sprinkle of salt.

I really liked these turtles. Each one is about the size of a Penny. I’d take a picture for you, but unfortunately I ate them all. If I ever manage to buy another packet I promise to try and remember to take a photo. And I have already tried 2 different branches of Migros but so far no luck.

Bought another packet. Ate the lot. Sorry.

Croky Explosions Mac’n Cheese Flavour

This packet of Croky Explosions Mac’n Cheese crisps may have been bought in France, but apparently it comes from Belgium. Here’s the Croky Belgium website. I expect I chose these crisps off the shelf because this flavour looks a bit mad.

OK, do you know what? I am not convinced that Mac’n Cheese is a traditional Belgian dish. I know it’s not traditionally British, I’m pretty sure it’s not French, and I have a feeling it’s not even traditionally Italian either. Every so often I make macaroni cheese from scratch and it doesn’t taste anything like this. In fact, on first bite I thought this flavour was cauliflower cheese. Oh dear. 

So I suspect that this Mac’n Cheese flavour may be based on the ‘delicious’ sounding Mac’n Cheese ‘food’ that comes in a cardboard box in North America. The stuff you see people feeding their kids on paper plates on Instagram.

Who even wants a potato crisp that tastes of a bland flavour like pasta and cheese? Perhaps the people who loved the fabulous Marks & Spencer baked potato flavoured crisps from back in 2013. What? Yes I know that sounds like a rubbish flavour for a crisp, but they were brilliant and really did taste of baked potatoes. Don’t knock a flavour if you haven’t tried it. Such a shame M&S discontinued this fabulous crisp. I remember them with great affection.

So, these crisps are not super exciting. The crinkle cut crunch is nice, but I can’t help feeling that they taste of some sort of highly processed ingredient like cheese powder. I dare say all crisps are highly processed but you don’t always notice it so much.

Not nasty, not horrible, but I don’t think I would recommend them.

The Chef finished off these crisps before I got around to photographing a little bowl of them. I still don’t think he would recommend them though.

Takis Fuego Chilli and Lime

You may recall that earlier this year when we were in Switzerland I tried Takis Volcano crispy snacks. I rather enjoyed them. They are hot and spicy, but not too hot to be eaten and enjoyed. The Chef missed out on the taste test because he wasn’t feeling at all well. In fact he was rushed to hospital the next day so no wonder he didn’t fancy a piquant snack.

While the Chef was in hospital (horse casserole for lunch one day) I acquired a packet of Takis Fuego chilli and lime flavoured snacks.

Well now, I did not scrutinise the hot/piquant-ometer carefully enough before trying this Fuego snack…. and was a bit thunderstruck at how extremely hot and spicy this crispy snack is. Ridiculously hot if you ask me. I am a bit surprised that Fuego (fire) is hotter than Volcano (volcano). You might think it should be the other way around. And I am honestly not sure if I could detect the lime. Definitely could detect the chilli.

Ski Instructor taste tester tried one. I think he probably eats considerably hotter curries than I do so has a palate better accustomed to heat, but he was not at all impressed, and pronounced this crispy snack a ‘waste of time’ . Well, so it is if you can’t bring yourself to eat it.

No surprise then that we ditched the packet. Do not buy these unless you really really really love lots of chilli. I wonder if Barry from In The Chips would appreciate this snack? I follow him on Instagram and he really seems to enjoy hot flavours.

You will be pleased to know that the Chef is now recovered from the virus that laid him low. It is unfortunately easier than we think to pick up a virus so all we can do is try to be careful.

Lay’s Paysanne Saveur Fromage Frais, Ail de Garonne et Fines Herbes

 

Oh my goodness I very nearly failed to post this packet of fromage frais, garlic and herbs flavour crisps. Apparently I carefully filed the packet on one of the bookshelves, so that I would know where to find it, and then totally forgot. I was just sitting in my usual spot on the sofa today, vaguely watching Death on the Nile (with Peter Ustinov and David Niven) for probably the 14th time, while I downloaded a podcast about ancient Egypt, when I glanced across the room and saw the packet. Oh look. Where did that come from?

So when was it exactly that the Chef and I tried these crisps? Who knows? Some time last year, I suppose. There’s no trace of a sniff of the flavour left. Life zooms past at such a rate sometimes it’s hard to keep up. 

Well, the packet says Nouveau. But if this crisp flavour is still available it won’t still be new will it?

Thinking very hard, I seem to remember this was rather a nice flavour. Fromage frais to give a lovely cool background; ail de Garonne, which is garlic, presumably grown somewhere in the Garonne region (it’s a great big river that meets the sea at Bordeaux); and Fines Herbes, which is a French catch all for lots of finely chopped herbs for when you make an omelette or want to add flavour to a casserole or even a salad. 

A nice combination. And the addition of a nice crinkle cut crisp made it a very good crispy snack.

French potatoes. Probably a French supermarket. Not entirely sure how these crisps qualify as Paysanne. It doesn’t really matter.

Seafood Wholefoods Thai Chilli Crackers

 

I confess I was deeply suspicious of this rice based crispy snack which was part of a Christmas present to the Chef. I think rice cakes are disgusting and I was worried that would be the overarching taste.

However, I was completely wrong. 

This little snack has a pleasing hit of chilli heat and a nice sweetness. It sounds all the sort of flavours I don’t like in a crisp doesn’t it? But, I admit it, I really rather enjoyed this snack. Not sure about the bite which is a bit odd, but don’t let that put you off. I’m also not sure I could detect the flavour of any pizza sauce.

I see you can buy a very similar looking product from our local supermarket, possibly an exactly the same product but packaged differently, so I am sure they can be found all over the place.