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.

Koikeya Pickled Plum Original Premium Japanese Potato Chips

The (ex) Ski Instructor and the Farmer’s Daughter Taste Testers brought me back this interesting packet of crisps from their travels across the U.K.. It looks to me very much as though they bring me packets of crispy snacks they don’t fancy themselves. Well, OK, we are here to try.

Ooh! Or do I mean Urr…? These crisps, mysteriously manufactured in Belgium, definitely qualify as weird. Very weird. At the very least they are quite different from any other crisps I have tried.

I hadn’t heard of Koikeya before, but the packet tells me it is a long standing producer of Japanese crisps. Is that different to being a Japanese producer of crisps? Apparently they have a vast group of loyal consumers in Japan and wish to spread their flavours across the world. And the packaging blurb hopes that we will “enjoy the potechi with its refined and sophisticated flavours, representing Japanese cuisine and tradition”.

When I asked my iPad to give me the meaning of potechi it told me firmly that it’s Bulgarian word meaning ‘steps’. When I just typed potechi I discovered it’s a transliteration of a Japanese word meaning potato crisps. Or for you lot in the rest of the world: potato chips. 

And did we enjoy these Japanese crisps? Erm, enjoy is not exactly the word I would employ. It’s such a different flavour from what I was expecting, so different to any flavours in my life. So…. sour. Am I supposed to be tasting plum? I think there’s a bit too much lemon oil in the recipe.

Right, well, perhaps I am failing to appreciate the flavour because I don’t eat Japanese food. All my friends love sushi but I don’t eat fish and have never ventured to a Japanese restaurant. I completely failed the test when I travelled Japanese Airlines some years ago, carefully ordering the European menu. A fellow passenger* who decided on the Japanese menu impressed her (Japanese businessmen) neighbours so much they bought her a pretty brooch from the duty free trolley. Good for her. 

*We met at breakfast in our Tokyo hotel: the buffet featured a bowl of tiny fried fish, stewed lotus root (I think), tinned spaghetti bolognaise, bacon, eggs, chips, and a vast selection of other food I can’t remember nearly 25 years later..

The Chef wasn’t mad keen on Pickled Plum flavour, Cliffs of Moher declined a second crisp, and apparently the Ski Instructor and the Farmer’s Daughter weren’t fans either. 

As you know, this is just what we thought. If you are a big fan of Japanese food, and I know a lot of people love it, this Pickled Plum flavour might be just the thing for you. If you can find a packet. You might have to go to Brussels.

Croky Paprika

This handsome blue packet of paprika flavoured crisps is the last packet brought home from the Netherlands by Noble Friend. And I for one thought them rather tasty.

I’m not sure why, but Noble Friend didn’t have high hopes for this crisp. Maybe it was the packet design? Maybe “Croky” didn’t appeal as a crisp name? Maybe it was the parrot? Who knows. No, no... I get it. She doesn’t eat red peppers. (No more do I, but that’s another story).

A simple crisp. A Belgian crisp, and a tasty one, this was quite popular with the reluctant taste testers.

Amaizin Organic Natural Corn Chips

Tall elegant taste tester visited the health food shop at lunchtime and came back bearing this packet of simply flavoured corn chips in triumph.

And the girl done good (which is something I don't think I have ever uttered before) because this is a stunning, simple (three ingredients only), yet delicious crispy snack. You really cannot go wrong if you get simple right, and Amaizin have certainly got it right.

Gluten free, wheat free, GMO free, palm oil free, organic and suitable for vegans these corn chips are made to an original Mexican recipe. The reluctant taste testers were rather impressed. Even new Bookkeeper taste tester was pleased to approve. And I think he thinks we're a bunch of nutters.

Very nice indeed. And probably wonderful with a good dip.

Pringles Pigs in Blankets

🎄Merry Pringles🎄says the tube. I couldn't find a holly symbol so I used the Christmas tree instead. It's not the same I know, but we have to work with what we've got.

And Pigs in Blankets as a flavour for Pringles? Well, apparently, yes. And the Pringle on the tube is shown wearing a Christmas bobble hat, skiing on actual pigs in blankets (that's mini sausages wrapped around with bacon for those of you not in the know), and with a string of Christmas lights wrapped around its neck. It must be hard to ski with no arms or legs.... and no head either. Life is so tough when you're a Pringle.

Slightly oddly the tube also says Immagini a scopo dimostrativo (for illustrative purposes only - so they don't actually expect you to believe in a skiing Pringle). Which is Italian. Also Snack Salé au Goût Chipolata et Bacon. Which is French. I've got used to the fact that Bacon is apparently a French word, but Chipolata? Very strange.

I have the say the Chef is a bit horrified. "I thought it was real pigs in blankets" he said sadly. He doesn't like Pringles.

So let's find out what the reluctant taste testers have to say.

"Delicious".
"Lovely".
"Just like crackling".
"I could taste the bacon".
"These are really good". They said.
Except Tall taste tester who said, "Well, they just taste like Pringles don't they?" He doesn't really like Pringles either.

A success then. Not unqualified, but definitely a success.

Zweifel Erdnüsse

I think we bought this little packet of Zweifel peanuts in the little bar on the train. The day we took 12 different trains, a funicular and a paddle steamer on the Brienzersee. That's the kind of fun day out you can have in Switzerland without getting too stressed.

We only had to run for one train and that was because our first train was uncharacteristically late. Someone standing on the platform shouted "Dépêche toi" at the Chef and he started to scuttle, and then to run to catch our connection. I started running too and I was thinking "oh no I'm running at altitude" (a lot harder than running at sea level as I'm sure you know). The Chef tells me it was only 500m but Wikipedia tells me it is a whole 658m above sea level. Which seems a lot when you live at about 85m above sea level. Actually I wasn't expecting our lhouse in London to be so high: you can discover so many exciting facts online. The flat in Switzerland is at 1500m. I wouldn't dream of running there.

For some reason this packet of Swiss peanuts was manufactured in Belgium. The world of crispy crunchy snacks is always full of surprises.

Tasty.

N.A! Nature Addicts Rice Crackers Poivre Noir

These strangely communion-wafer-like crispy snacks are a lot paler in real life than they are on the packaging. Weirdly both Slightly Red Haired Bristolian and Tech taste testers were reminded of communion wafers and I could see just what they meant. But (luckily) this circular snack does not glue itself to the roof of your mouth in the way that wafers do. 

However, the taste is much stronger and more appealing than communion wafer (which as I recall tastes of nothing very much): quite salty and very peppery. Very peppery indeed. Lots of taste. And quite a good crunch too.

It seems the reluctant taste testers were happy to snack on this mystery rice cracker which is obviously intended to be a healthy snack. I'm not sure that I was mad for it myself, but it is quite tasty. Don't know if I would buy it again... if I were in France (which is where I found this crispy snack).... but I would not despise to try it again if it were offered. Interesting.

Lay's Winter Edition Bratwurst Flavour

The Dutch taste tester paid a flying visit to her home country to celebrate Sinterklaas and came back with her suitcase stuffed full of Dutch goodies. Plus, she heroically brought back this packet of Dutch crisps for me and the reluctant taste testers to try.

This "winter edition" crisp is wearing (as it were) a Christmas jumper with a knitted snowflake design. And it's a limited edition for winter. Why not Christmas I wonder? Another winter edition we sadly did not get to try is Cheese Fondue flavour. Interesting. We'd like to know what that's like but as none of us is going to the Low Countries any time soon it seems unlikely.

Anyway, we were all amazingly impressed how good these Bratwurst crisps are. Amazingly they really do seem to taste of Bratwurst. And, sign of a good flavour, we ate quite a lot of the packet. Impressive. I have to say I liked them quite a lot.

The Chef quite liked them too. Except. He was eating some plain salted crisps and then tried this flavour which made him realise that in fact the flavour is really rather artificial.

So I recommend that you try them on their own. And then you'll agree that this is a pretty good flavour.

Als de dagen korter worden is het de best tijd voor gezellige avonden thuis, samen met vrienden en familie. Geniet samen van de Lay's Winter Editions die je doen denken aan heerlijke en typische winterse gerechten! says the packaging. Basically when the days are cold it's the best time to spend your evenings at home with friends and family. Enjoy Winter Editions from Lay's and they will remind you of delicious traditional winter dishes.

No! of course I don't speak Dutch. I'm roughly translating the French blurb. And slightly wondering what makes Bratwurst or Cheese Fondue particularly winter dishes. Because we eat both all year round.

Anyway, don't pay any attention to the Chef and grab them if you can.

Lay's Saveur Sel & Vinaigre

Another flavour from the French branch of crisp giant Lay's, although according to the packet these crisps are actually made in Belgium. The packet tells me the potatoes are washed, peeled, fried, seasoned and bagged up inside an hour. But since the potatoes seem to come from France and Germany as well as Belgium, we don't know how long it takes from field to bag.

What we do learn from the packet is that this is the number 1 selling flavour en Angleterre. This claim made under a Union Jack. Now I wonder is salt & vinegar the best selling crisp flavour in England? Or is it the best selling crisp flavour in the UK? I have no idea whether crisp statistics are broken down by country within the UK.

Not a bad version of salt & vinegar. Obviously salt & vinegar, but not too harsh. Although some crisps seem to taste stronger than others.

As usual with Lay's potato crisps, they are fairly fine cut and a nice golden colour. Not bad at all, but perhaps not a flavour I would normally choose for myself.

Plural Bio C'est la Vie Chips Chili

These very nice tortilla chips from Belgium were found in the health food shop in Sion, in Switzerland. On the recommendation of the Chef's healthy eating French friend; the mountain fan.

And what a great crisp this is.

Nice rich colour and a lovely crunch. Generally nicer taste than your average tortilla chip and a wonderfully spicy chilli flavour. Quite a lot of chilli heat but also flavoured with paprika, onion and garlic, coriander, fenugreek and (definitely a first for me on a crisp) lovage.

I was concerned these organic crisps would be dull. And I was quite wrong.

The reluctant taste testers and I really liked these a lot. And there weren't any left over for me to take home to the Chef. We might have to get another packet next time we're in Sion.

Very simple packaging. Which unfortunately doesn't look too pretty in the scan.

Poco Loco Crispy Salted Tortilla Chips

This must be the heaviest (and largest) packet of crisps I have ever bought. 450g! That's very nearly 1lb (one pound to anyone who doesn't read imperial measurements). The bag is giant and stuffed full.

I found these at the Turkish shop down the road. Some local people say the shop is run by Kurds not Turks. I've not asked (it seems intrusive) but they do have a great shop, open from dawn until very late indeed and just crammed full of stuff. And this packet was on such a high shelf I had to get a man to help me reach.

Although the Turkish shop sells a mass of fabulous pastas and spices and fruit juices and goodness knows what that you can't find anywhere else, they aren't terribly good at crispy snacks. But I hadn't seen this brand before so I thought I'd give it a go.

And why haven't I seen this brand before? Because it's from Belgium. I haven't been to Belgium but maybe I should because I found some very nice Belgian crisps in Switzerland. Well, you know, the international crisp market is pretty... international.

There were not so many reluctant taste testers in the office the day we tried these but I was impressed that the most sceptical tester of all really liked them. They are her favourite she said. And I think she was quite impressed.

Especially after I laid in some dip. Because you can't go wrong with tortilla chips and dip.

Very nice crunch, lovely taste - not too much maize in the taste but a good toasty flavour - and an acceptable level of saltiness.  Pretty good really. Yes, we liked these.

The only trouble is it's such a gigantic amount of chips. I mean, absolutely massive! If you are throwing a big party with a selection of dips then check these out. If it's only you... then maybe look elsewhere because you'll be eating them for weeks.

Unfortunately I don't have an A3 scanner so the top and bottom of the bag are missing but I don't think there's very much to miss. And here are some white roses from my garden.

Roger's Hand Cooked Sea Salt

Here's another Belgian crisp from Switzerland. Apparently Belgium is the world's fastest growing potato producer, and these crisps are made with the best potatoes Belgian soil has to offer (somehow I cannot imagine a British crisp producer phrasing it quite like that). Anyway, the packet offers us a delicious all-natural flavour and a golden yellow colour. Enjoy!

Or Guten Appetit! Bon Appétit. Smakelijk! I wonder if it is an accident that the French exhortation doesn't have an exclamation mark?

This Sea Salt flavour of premium Belgian potato chips is rather old fashioned. The crisps have the skin left on and a good crunch, and there's no denying they do have a more natural taste than many modern crisps. Perhaps that's because the ingredients are potatoes, sunflower oil, and sea salt. What? No sugar? Apparently not. And just the right amount of salt.

Old fashioned in their lack of superfluous ingredients. And none the worse for that.

Roger's Hand Cooked Sour Cream & Onion

Let's step away from M&S for a moment (even though they do make a lovely range of crisps) and try a brand which is new to the Chef and me.

We found these Belgian crisps from Roger's in the wonderful basement food department at Globus in Bern. I could have gone quite mad and bought up half the shop but had to restrict myself slightly as we were going home by train. As it turned out, the train was very crowded with both commuters and people taking their families away for the weekend and there wasn't really much room for such limited shopping as we had.

Anyway, it was interesting to find Belgian crisps. I'm sure I've not tried any before. And interesting to find that the front of the packaging is all in English.

But on the back. Oh my goodness. The ingredients are in 23 different languages. Including Finnish, Czech and Hungarian. Another great way to learn a language. Who knew that brambůrky was Czech for potato crisp?

On to the crisps... which are a pale golden, slightly strewn with tiny herbs, and with the skin left on. Rather a hard crunch but not in a bad way. A good lot of tasty flavour dust and a very nice way of looking hand cooked with many of the crisps folded over or featuring a large bubble.

The onion is not too harsh and the sour cream works extremely well. All in all a very nice crisp. I liked them a lot, and the Chef (always more reserved in his opinions) agreed that they are quite nice.

But really! My predictive text has gone a little mad today. I typed onion. The computer thought lion would be better. I typed pale golden. I got apple golden. Which could be a good description but not in this case.

So I thought you'd like know we rather liked these lion and sour cream crisps.

Pringles Xtra Kickin' Sour Cream & Onion

"Uma explosão de sabor", "Barstensvol smaak", "Une explosion de saveurs", "Wybuchowy ładunek smaku" and sadly I cannot find a cyrillic font so you don't get what is either Russian or Bulgarian. Sorry about that.

I haven't bought a tube (can?) of Pringles for ages. I quite like Pringles but I always have this weird idea you have to put them into your mouth whole. I have no trouble biting into other kinds of crisp if they are too large to fit in all at once, but for some reason I have this thing about not biting into a Pringle. Only they are quite big. My mouth isn't really large enough - maybe I mean wide enough -  to fit in a whole Pringle comfortably so I struggle them in and hope I'm not going to cut the corners of my mouth. Which I have done in the past.

I know they are specially manufactured like this to fit neatly into the tube and thus prevent the usual breakages, but who has a mouth this wide? Why not make them a bit smaller, the tube a bit narrower? OK, yes, it's only me isn't it?

So anyhow, I tried this, er, "kickin'" flavour out of interest. And you know what? I have the same trouble with the size of the Pringle and the apparent smallness of my mouth, but this favour is rather fabulous.

It starts out all sour creamy (which is interesting as all the other creamy flavours I've tried have kept the cream taste to the end), and then there's the onion, and then there's a great kick of.... something hot. The list of ingredients includes the somewhat vague "flavourings". But the drawing on the front of the tube shows onion, spring onion and chilli. So I guess the kickin' part of the flavour is probably chilli. The real problem, of course, is that so much of the Pringle flavour comes from chemicals and not from real ingredients. Nowadays so many varieties of crisp trumpet the virtue of their real ingredients so a crispy snack crammed full of MSG is rather a disappointment.

I am interested to see that in French this savoury snack is an aperitif. Which to the English mind is a drink. Here I guess it is a crispy snack to go with a drink, although what drink I'm not sure; the taste is kickin' enough to defeat most drinks.

Pringles come in a number of weird flavours and this Huffington Post article has some very strange ones for us to consider. Read about them here. Old American Circus flavour anyone? I know. It makes sour cream and onion sound dreadfully pedestrian.

I mustn't forget to tell you that this crispy snack gives an Intense Xperience and is "Bursting with Flavour" which is pretty much correct. I think they taste pretty good. But I also think that all that MSG, disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate cannot be a good thing. Oh, and I never knew Pringles belonged to Kellogg's. did you? Yup. Proctor & Gamble sold the brand to Kellogg's in 2012. And these Pringles were made in Belgium.