Serious Pig Pickle with Dill flavour crisps

I rather like the flavour of dill pickles but I don’t terribly like the texture. Tiny little cornichons are fine, but the big pickles not so much. So you might suppose that these pickle with dill flavour crisps would be just right for me.

Here we have nice crisps, perhaps a little small, skin on which is always a plus, nice crunch, all in all quite a good crisp. But the taste! Where is the punchy taste of dill pickle? I really think the people at Serious Pig need to add a lot more flavour to warrant the pickle with dill flavour label.

Not bad but a little disappointing on the flavour front. There really is not enough pickley pop. I’m a bit sad.

Johnny Cashew, Honey Seasalt

This 100g packet of cashew nuts from Johnny Cashew tells us something I genuinely didn’t know: cashew nuts grown in Africa are exported to Asia to be shelled. Where in Africa? I don’t know. And where in Asia? No sorry, I don’t know that either. 

But in any case, why?

Does this sound a bit like the C19th gold miners in California sending their dirty clothes off by sailing ship to Hawaii to be laundered? I mean seriously, does the technology to remove the cashew shells from the cashew nuts not exist in any African country in the 21st century?

Well, yes, apparently if it didn’t before, it does now. Because Johnny Cashew, the company, boasts that it has (gasp!) bypassed the long 12,000 km trip to Asia and shelled its nuts in Africa. Which we can only suppose must be a good thing (hurrah!).

Very tasty. I do enjoy a cashew nut. And the honey sea salt flavour is pretty good. Very easy to eat. I finished the packet with no trouble at all, and put a lot of effort into poking my finger into all the corners so as not to waste any tasty flavour dust. I can’t remember where I found these nuts but I would definitely be happy to try another packet. Seek them out nut fans.

And have I any explanation for paragraph 2 being inset? No. No, no idea at all. I tried hard to do something about it but with no success. I do not know how this happened. Computer programmes have minds of their own.

M&S British Hand Cooked Hot Maple Pigs in Blankets Crisps

 

Oh no! Two crispy snacks in a row that I really don’t like.

But not to worry crisp fans, just the other day I watched Cliffs of Moher Taste Tester eat two bowls of these Hot Maple Pigs in Blankets crisps. I managed one. One crisp. 

I don’t like the smell and I don’t like the taste. I think there are just too many flavours battling for supremacy, and really and truly I prefer simpler flavours. 

I’m not sure I would want to eat pigs in blankets with hot maple syrup even before they became a crisp flavour. I don’t really like pigs in blankets. Even without hot maple syrup, chilli, and oak smoked sugar. What is this conspiracy to flavour absolutely everything with smoked salt or smoked sugar these days?

Put your trust in Cliffs of Moher and ignore my pickiness. In any case, as ever, try for yourselves.

The Original Chicken Crackling with the Taste of Sunday Roast

 

I’m not entirely certain who makes this chicken skin product. Maybe Little Bobby Jebb Foods. Apparently it is cooked chicken skin crackling, with a rosemary and thyme seasoning. It’s high in protein (isn’t everything these days?) and low in sugar, and contains no seed oils. Is this a good thing?

I love the chicken logo. It’s charming.

But. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. Not for me. 

When I actively dislike a crispy snack I am always conscious that it’s only my opinion. And I feel this more acutely when it’s a product from what looks like a small company. After all, nobody makes and sells something nasty on purpose. So you might like this crispy chicken skin. I don’t.

I didn’t like the smell and I didn’t like the taste which is ridiculously salty. And I write as someone likely to sprinkle bacon with extra salt.

Sorry.

Cambrook Dry Roasted Peanuts

Back in September I posted a review of some M&S Dry Roasted Peanuts, which I complained tasted too smoky for me. So here’s another packet of Dry Roasted Peanuts, this time from a company I don’t really know, Cambrook.

My beef last time was with the smoked salt. This new packet is also made with smoked salt, but rather less of it in the recipe I feel. This time I think there’s a bit too much cinnamon. Please don’t say I’m picky. I’m just telling you what I think. 

This packaging has a clear panel so you can see the product before you buy. I suppose it saves on design costs. But it doesn’t work too well when the Taste Tester (me) scoffs down all the nuts before remembering that she should have taken a photograph. Well, if you are reading this you probably have a fair idea what a peanut looks like. But sorry.

Not nasty, not at all, just not really to my taste. I’m not mad about cinnamon. But I ate them perfectly happily. The peanuts themselves are a little smaller than I would like.

Call me weird if you like, and I know you will, but every time I eat peanuts from a small packet I remember Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle, when she’s on the plane to Seattle eating a packet of airplane nuts. Not that I look anything like her. It’s just the shape your (my) hand makes when you pull another peanut out of the little bag.

I really must try a few more different varieties of Dry Roasted Peanuts to see which ones I like best. I’m quite surprised that I haven’t taste tested more of them before. 

Serious Pig Snackingham Classic

‘Snackingham. It’s not a village in HAMpshire!’ says the packet.

No, it’s tender slices of air-dried British pork infused with a blend of garlic, caraway seeds and just a hint of white pepper. And very nice too.

And while I don’t know where this product is actually made, possibly Kent, the company is based in London.

Delicious! Very tasty indeed, and hard to stop eating. Great with a glass of white wine.

It looks a little like slices of a salami style sausage, but the taste reminds me more of the Swiss delicacy viande sechée (which of course is actually made with beef).

OK, I admit, this is not a crispy snack. But it’s a snack. And so good that I would be remiss in my mission to alert my readers to new snacks if I didn’t include this one. Just 17g in this little packet, which makes it look like a crispy snack which it still isn’t, but definitely recommended.

I would buy this product from Serious Pig again. In fact I have. If you eat pork, maybe you should too.

Highly recommended.

Boundless Gut Happy Snacking Smoky Bacon Flavour

Well, this is a tasty crispy snack. 

To be honest, I am not usually mad keen on Smoky Bacon flavour which can often be a bit overpowering, but this crispy snack has a gentle flavour that I really appreciate. Very nice indeed. 

And, quite interesting, not at all what I was expecting, 46% of this crispy snack is made with sprouted sorghum. What even is sprouted sorghum? (Apparently it’s high in cyanide!) Other ingredients include pea flour and maize flour. But whatever this crispy snack is made from it’s definitely tasty and has a very nice texture.

I am not at all sure what makes this snack so good for my gut. Maybe the sorghum? I don’t know.

But yes, I would buy this again. It would be interesting to try another flavour from Boundless, and see how that works.

But where to buy it? I got this from the drinks trolley on my GWR train from Stroud to London and I have no clue where else it might be sold. If you can find it not on a train, I think you will enjoy it.

Vegan approved. And pretty packaging.

Red Leicester Cheesies

These tiny cubes of cheesy crispy snack are slightly larger than, say, a rice crispy. But with a rather different bite. They are very light so you don’t get many cubes in your 20g packet.

I must say I was a little surprised at the flavour. Many cheesy snacks are very sweet. And not actually all that cheesy. These Red Leicester Cheesies are not at all sweet, more sharp, and actually do taste of cheese. 

Perhaps this is because the only ingredient is cheese. The packet tells us there are no carbs, no sugar and no junk. And also they are carefully labelled high protein. Everything has to be full of protein these days, doesn’t it? Instagram is even full of people drinking protein coffee which I think I will manage without.

I’m not sure that I would want to eat more than 20g of these Cheesies at a time, but I might change my mind if I had a glass of nicely chilled white wine to hand. Or perhaps a dry sherry.

Not the most photogenic of snacks but you can see that I ate most of them before I thought to take a photograph.

By the way, I shouldn’t have to say this but I will: nothing that appears on this blog has anything to do with AI. I eat all my own snacks and write all my own words using my own brain. Scientists keep telling us that using our brains is a good thing so I will try to continue doing just that.

Pretzel Pete Cheese Pizza Flavour Pretzel Mix

What? Wait, Cheese Pizza flavoured pretzels? How can this be a thing?

OK, pay attention, it’s not just pretzels because there are chunky bits of biscuity bites and some little sticks too. But I actually prefer the pretzel shapes. They really seem to work quite well with this very strong cheesy pizza flavour. And there’s a lot of flavour going on.

To be honest, I think there’s a bit too much flavour here, and I’m not entirely sure it actually tastes of cheese pizza.

Not bad. But fairly sure I wouldn’t buy another packet.

Cambrook Hickory Smoke Seasoned Almond

 Oh dear. Don’t call me picky, but I really didn’t like these Hickory Smoke flavour almonds.

I’m not mad about almonds in the first place, but if they are fried in butter with a handful of salt chucked over them, I think they are fairly edible. My godmother’s Christmas Day recipe.

However, these almonds are flavoured with hickory smoke seasoning. And to be honest I really don’t like this.

And there we are.

See what you think if you come across them.

Huligan Pretzel Crush Honey Mustard Sauce

This little 65g packet of broken up pretzels is very tasty. Very crunchy. A rather harder crunch than you get with most crispy snacks, but none the worse for that. 

And the pieces are exactly as shown on the packet. It looks as though the factory makes actual pretzels and then hits them with a hammer to make the bits.

The flavour says honey mustard sauce. I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this taste but in fact I really liked it. So I ate this entire packet very quickly. And wished for more.

Recommended.

M&S Dry Roasted Peanuts

I was in M&S recently, picking up some cold meat that I could have for supper when I came home from staying with friends. And I casually snatched up this packet of Dry Roasted Peanuts to eat on the train.

I generally love Dry Roasted Peanuts but haven’t eaten any for quite a while, so I was sure I would enjoy these. But I didn’t check the list of ingredients which I discovered later features smoked salt. This significantly altered the taste of these peanuts and created a flavour I wasn’t expecting. Not the reassuring taste of your regular Dry Roasted, but a very strong smoky flavour.

Not nasty, just unexpected. I really think the addition of smoked salt should be in the name of the snack. However, the packet seems to be designed to be difficult to read.

I finished the packet over several days, and quite enjoyed them. But I think I would have been happier without the smoked salt. Very nice quality peanuts though.

Butterkist Simply Salted Popcorn

 

This gently flavoured popcorn isn’t as exciting as the Sweet & Salty version of my previous post. It is lightly salted, and lightly buttery, which may not sound very gourmet. But the popcorn itself is tip top. Really good quality, very nice indeed. 

If you like subtle flavours then this is the popcorn for you. Very easy to eat and extremely moreish.

Butterkist Deliciously Sweet & Salty Popcorn

 

Absolutely delicious! Really nice quality popcorn and a lovely taste. 

What more could you want? Umm, yum, I think this is the best popcorn I have ever tasted. Honestly, so good!

I am not sure why this simple combination of sweet and salt is so extremely tasty, but it is. I’m not surprised it won a Great Taste Award in 2024.

Run to your nearest supplier and buy a packet for yourself because I’m not sharing. I got mine in the local Co-op.

Really good!

Walkers Heinz Tomato Ketchup

 

 I’m pretty sure I haven’t tried these crisps before. And I’m not very sure I should have bothered.

Tomatoes are quite sharp and almost citrusy, and ketchup can be quite sharp too. So we need something to sort out the flavour. And in many cases, a spoonful of sugar will do the job.

I think the flavour of these crisps is just too thin. And the crisps themselves are quite thin. Not a lot of crunch really.

Not bad, not nasty, perfectly edible but just not quite right. They just don’t seem to taste of ketchup. Honestly, Walkers, I think you could do better.

There are even TV ads for this flavour. That’s not going to change my mind, Sorry Walkers.

What other ketchup flavours have we tried? What about this one?

Tyrrell’s Furrows Beef Brisket & Black Peppercorn

 I am gobsmacked. This Beef Brisket & Black Perppercorn crisp really tastes as if it was made with actual meat. Or meat extract. Or something. But no. It is actually suitable for vegetarians.

Now, the Family Vegetarian Taste Tester tells me that no amount of  “oh yes all the ingredients are suitable for veggies” style info on the back of crisp packets makes any difference. If the packet is labelled Beef Brisket she’s just not going to try it. I wonder how many vegetarians this applies to.

And I do wonder if crisp manufacturers are trying to woo vegetarians with totally veggie flavours that sound meaty, or are creating meaty flavours (that are in fact veggie) because that’s what they think people want.

Hard to say. But if you ask my stepdaughter they’re going in the wrong direction.

And honestly, I am not mad about these crisps. They smell, not exactly meaty, but not veggie. A little bit marmite. They look tasty. Nice crinkle cut. Yum.

Except…there’s a sort of greasy aftertaste that I’m not a big fan of. I noticed that Cliffs of Moher Taste Tester was able to eat a lot more than me. 

Brown Bag Crisps Rosemary and Sea Salt

 

Brown Bag Crisps. Very nice.

Naturally delicious apparently. 

Proper British potato crisps. Gluten free and vegan.

Well, I have already tried the lightly salted crisp from this brand, and the West Country Farmhouse Cheddar and Onion. Although, I only got to sniff the empty packet that Senior Taste Tester gave me when he brought it into the office and complained that the taste was too strong. I am very fond of Senior Taste Tester, but really. He could have left me one crisp at least.

This is a lovely crunchy crisp but there’s an awful lot of overly tasty flavour dust, and I think it’s a bit too rosemaryyyyy. I think it was a present from kind Cliffs of Moher Taste Tester.

The Masters Potato Chips

My stepson, who shall remain nameless, went to the Masters this year. And while he was there he spotted packets of Masters themed crisps and thought ooh I expect Georgina would be interested. Did he buy me a packet to taste test? Have a guess.

For those not in the know, the Masters is one of the most famous golf tournaments in the world. British golfers want to win the Open, preferably at St Andrews, American golfers want to win the US Open (I don’t know what their course of choice would be), but everyone wants to win the Masters.

Held at Augusta in Georgia, the Masters is perhaps one of the very few sporting events that might also interest enthusiastic gardeners. The course is beautifully landscaped with big trees and planted with masses of azaleas and dogwoods which are usually in full flower during the tournament.

Like all events these days there is merchandise to buy. Glastonbury socks anyone? Obviously most of the merch available at Augusta is golf related, but the food is also branded. 

I understand that these crisps are available in plain (ready salted) and Bar-B-Que flavours. And have I got a packet to try? Nope.

But I thought you might be interested. And that’s a very odd spelling of barbecue.

Waitrose All Butter Cheddar Cheese & Chilli Bi

 

This is a very tasty little cheesy bite, with a kick of chilli to liven it up. Very nice.

It has occurred to me that the British palate has changed enormously over the last 20 years. I can’t help feeling that not so long ago these cheese and chilli bites might have been considered very much too hot. These days I suspect they are acceptable to all the world and his grandmother. We are all eating a lot more chilli, and even the most conservative cook thinks nothing of throwing a pinch (minimum) of chilli flakes into the spaghetti bolognaise.

Lovely texture, very nice bite, good cheesy taste and that little kick of chilli. I really enjoyed these.

Interesting. In the past I think these cheesy bites might have been packaged in a silver plastic baggie inside the cardboard box. You can see that this baggie is clear. Maybe the clear bag biodegrades more quickly?

Lorenz Pomsticks Paprika flavour

Here’s another packet of crispy snacks that I found in our local Turkish shop. They have an amazing array of different brands that can’t always be found anywhere else.

PomSticks, or as we called them when I was a child, chipples, are a tasty way to eat finely chopped and deep fried potatoes. And if I remember correctly, my brother and I learned to eat chipples in Edinburgh, in about 1963. So this style of crispy snack has been around for quite a while.

And this packet of “chipples” is a very tasty example of finely chopped deep fried potatoes. Very nice indeed. 

It tastes nicely of something or other, I couldn’t work out what, but I wasn’t really bothered. But tasty.

If I had bothered to read the label (sorry, I didn’t) I would have known the taste was paprika. Really? I’m not sure I could taste paprika. They don’t seem to taste particularly paprika-y. Whatever it was tasted quite good, so we’ll stick with that.

Here’s another Lorenz crispy snack.

Jacob’s Cheddars Red Leicester

Oh dear. I have enjoyed Cheddars for a long time. Delicious. Although I am surprised to find that I don’t seem to have reviewed them. How odd.

I have also enjoyed many bags of Mini Cheddars in various flavours*. Mostly delicious but smaller. So I was interested to try full size Red Leicester Cheddars.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Red Leicester is a red coloured cheese originally made in Leicester. I believe it works very well in sandwiches. 

However, and I am very sorry to have to report this, Red Leicester Cheddars aren’t a good idea. Same size as your classic Cheddars, same packet of biscuits style packaging, very nearly the same ingredients I expect, but and it is a very big but, they don’t really taste of anything. 

They have just the right crunch and snap, and feel the same in my mouth, but the taste is very disappointing. I am disappointed. I feel there is no real discernible taste of cheese.

*that’s four different posts about Cheddars for your delectation and delight.

Well, just my opinion because there’s no one here to ask their opinion now.

Lay’s Tomato flavoured

And… here we are again. This time with a tomato flavoured crisp from Lay’s which I think started life in Poland. It seems likely that this product was not originally intended to be sold in the UK, but I bought the packet in my local Turkish shop here in North London. According to the lists of ingredients, you should be able to find these crisps in PL, HU, CZ, SK, LT, LV, EE, HR and SI. 

The packaging of all sorts of products, from potato crisps to shampoo, is an interesting way to learn foreign languages. In this case though, there is no list of ingredients in any language that I actually speak. Sadly I have no knowledge of Hungarian or Lithuanian. Or even Polish. How careless of me. So the information on this packet isn’t going to act as a Rosetta Stone for me today. It’s a pity because I find the differences (and similarities) between languages fascinating.

However, the front of this packet is prominently labelled in English, so that’s a fairly big clue.

OK, so this is a tomato flavoured potato crisp. The crisps are finely cut, maybe that’s the Polish preference? And they do taste fairly tomatoey.

But once again, I have here a crisp which is perfectly edible, but to me at least, tastes far too sharp to accurately give us crisp fans a genuine taste of the advertised flavour.

Not bad. But… No, I mean, it’s not a bad crisp but I think tomato is a surprisingly difficult flavour to get right.

Butterkist Crunchy Toffee Popcorn

 

Well, what can I say?

This yummy packet of Butterkist popcorn says “creating smiles since 1914”, and who knew we had popcorn such a long time ago? I mean, did the characters in Upstairs Downstairs ever eat popcorn? What about those people in Downtown Abbey? Perhaps they did. But unfortunately I’ve never really watched either of these popular programmes so I cannot really comment. 

Maybe the Ancient Mexican people of 9,000 years ago who first grew maize (thanks to Wikipedia), made popcorn? You’d think there would be ample opportunity to drop kernels into your cooking fire, and then… pop! Chicomecoatl’s your auntie and you have popcorn. I wonder how long it took for popcorn to be imported into Europe? Anyway, the poor old Ancient Mexicans would surely not have the benefit of this sensational toffee sauce.

This genuinely is a great packet of popcorn. Very nicely popped corn. I suppose that Butterkist has had plenty of time to perfect the process so (good news) there was no dribble of unpopped kernels at the bottom of the bag. And the toffee sauce is delicious. Totally delicious! But I shouldn’t have eaten this whole packet all by myself.

Yes of course. That wasn’t good for me. But I cannot remember the last time I ate popcorn, so provided I don’t eat another packet tomorrow, or not for another month or two at least, I think I can get away with that. 

Highly recommended though. 

M&S Boxing Day Turkey Curry Crisps

You will have to forgive me for not posting this packet of Christmas time potato crisps before. If you have read my previous post you will have guessed something went terribly wrong with my Christmas plans last year. The Chef and I picked up these crisps in Marks & Spencer a couple of weeks before Christmas when we went to stock up on our favourite pasta (it’s only available in M&S), but never got to try them.

Anyway, here we are in April and I thought I’d better taste test this turkey curry flavour.

I have to admit that the last time I had turkey for Christmas dinner was probably when I was 5 or 6. My mother was ill in bed, I think she had flu or something, and my father cooked the turkey. I don’t actually remember this at all, but I expect you can imagine that it was a story my mother told often in the run up to Christmas. She didn’t like turkey (neither do I really), so she usually cooked chicken or pheasant, both of which are a lot less gigantic than turkeys. With lots less leftover to turn into a curry. Not that my mother ever cooked a curry but you get the picture.

We weren’t even allowed to have pheasant after my pampered brother whined that he didn’t like it. I notice he ate it happily enough when his wife cooked it.

So what did I think? Well… erm, I am not sure that I could taste any turkey flavour until several minutes after I stopped snacking. Suddenly there was a familiar taste of cardboard (I have eaten turkey often enough at work Christmas lunches). And there was a delicate taste of curry. 

But what did these crisps actually taste of? Citrus. Mostly citrus. A bit odd. 

For anyone confused by Boxing Day in the name of these crisps: Boxing Day is 26 December, a bank holiday in England, when traditionally tradesmen (the dustmen, your gardener, the postman, in the days of open fires the coalman, maybe even your local shop owner) would call in expectation of a seasonal tip. In the road where I live there is always a collection for the dustmen (garbage collectors) and the postman. 

Boxing Day is also traditionally the day when people mad enough to buy a gigantic turkey for their Christmas dinner have to find something tasty to do with cold turkey meat. Turkey sandwiches, turkey rissoles, turkey soup, maybe even turkey curry.

For another take on Boxing Day Curry see here.

Taylors Brie, Bubbly & Orange flavour potato crisps

I wasn’t sure I wanted to carry on writing about crispy snacks because the Chef, always an enthusiastic taste tester, is no longer with us.

But this packet of crisps was a Christmas present so I thought I ought to post about it anyway.

To be honest, I don’t remember ever having heard of Taylors (no apostrophe) who seem to be based in Perthshire and Dublin, but this packet of their crisps was bought in Colchester. Interesting. Anyway, pretty much the whole family has tried these “thick cut” crisps: Ski Instructor, Farmer’s Daughter, Family Vegetarian, Graffiti Artist, even Cliffs of Moher … and we all thought they are a bit too weird.

Now you all know I don’t like being mean about crispy snacks. But honestly, this is not a good crisp. Sorry, but it’s not. For a start it isn’t thick cut. And then it doesn’t taste of Brie, it doesn’t taste of Bubbly (presumably Champagne was not involved in the manufacturing process), and it doesn’t really even taste of orange. Anyway, who wants a potato crisp that tastes of oranges?

Really sorry Taylor family: none of us enjoyed this crisp. The flavour was just wrong.

The Chef: 1951 - 2024
Very much missed by all who knew him