Chio Oven Jumpys Sea Salt

 

I was quite excited to see another flavour for the fabulous Jumpys. 

Of course the Chef and I first discovered Jumpys in 2013 (so long ago!) and I thought the taste a bit dull. After years of testing: just me and the Chef, or with the Reluctant Taste Testers, I have discovered that the simple flavours work the best. For me anyway, and I think for a lot of other people too.

So what we first tried were a Sunny Paprika flavour (although I have never worked out what makes it sunny), and I think the little kangaroos were fried. Look how picky I was back then! Goodness me. I had no idea at all. Because actually the Sunny Paprika Jumpys are fabulous, not to mention pretty cute (I wonder who ever had the idea for a miniature crunchy kangaroo?), and these oven cooked Sea Salt flavoured Jumpys are much less nice. Oh don’t get me wrong; I did finish the packet but I feel these little kangaroo shaped snacks weren’t as tasty as they might have been.

The crunch is still the same but somehow the sea salt flavour isn’t quite interesting enough. Yes oven cooked with 40% less fat is probably a healthier option, but there’s very little point in healthy if it isn’t tasty. 

Yes. There is little point in a crispy snack if it isn’t tasty. But a healthy crispy kangaroo is more intriguing than fried slices of potatoes. Well m there you are.

Found in Switzerland.

Chio Minions Maisstangen/Sticks de Maïs Gesalzen/Salés

This interestingly vegan crispy snack has Universal Studios' minions (or should that be Minions?) on the packet. And Minions, as you see, is the name of the snack. Considering how loud and shouty the Minions are (I’ve only seen clips not whole films) it is a bit odd how subtle the packaging design is. I can’t help feeling if this were a UK snack the packaging would be a whole lot gaudier.

I haven’t seen this crispy snack from Chio before so I don’t know if they’ve always produced a snack like this but called something else. It’s quite a common style, and the reluctant taste testers and I have seen a number of different versions, as I dare say you have too although usually cheesy, so you’d think they might have. Although having said that, this is not as orange as most crispy snacks of this type usually are. In fact they are downright colour free.

And fairly taste free too. Not even particularly salty (and of course the flavour is salt). That sounds like a really bad thing but maybe not.  All the taste testers said this snack tastes of nothing much... but couldn’t stop eating it. Almost all this huge packet got eaten with no trouble at all: always a sign of a successful crispy snack.

I feel there is a slight design problem here; this snack looks more like a packaging material than a snack. The reluctant taste testers fully agreed with that. But again, it didn’t stop them snacking enthusiastically.

A surprisingly successful snack.

Chio is owned by Intersnack Switzerland so it’s anybody’s guess why it’s made in Austria. Ours not to question why. Well done Intersnack because the plastic packet is recyclable, but less well done because the snack is cooked in palm oil.

Ich einfach unverbesserlich or Moi moche et mechant which I’m guessing is German and French for Despicable Me.

Soletti Salzstangerl

Managerial taste tester sloped off to Austria for a spot of skiing and on his way home picked up this little bag of pretzel sticks at the airport.

Long thin sticks (really very fine) strewn with little nuggets of salt, with a lovely light pretzelly crunch, we all rather liked these.

But pretzel sticks can be a little bit dry and we all agreed that this crispy snack might be tastier with a glass of something. Senior taste tester suggested a gin & tonic. Which of course we can't do in the office. And probably shouldn't do first thing in the morning; not even in the privacy of our own homes. Well you can if you like but I'm not recommending that.

So a bowlful did get eaten, possibly Extremely Senior Volunteer taste tester made away with more than a few, but I brought the rest of the packet home to try an experiment. And I can exclusively reveal that these pretzel sticks are pretty tasty when snacked in conjunction with  glass of Pino Grigio.

... immer dabei!! says the packet; always there!!  Seems a slightly weird slogan but there you are.