Bénenuts les inCRAquables Goût Barbecue

Here's another weird crispy crunchy snack from Bénenuts.

All the reluctant taste testers really rather enjoyed this snack despite most of them telling me they thought it looks like deep fried caterpillars.

Well, I guess there's a gap in the deep fried caterpillar market then.  Aren't people weird? You'd think if they can see a deep fried caterpillar instead of a crispy snack made of maize flour and teeny weeny bits of potato they maybe wouldn't attempt it. Apparently not. Because quite a lot of these little crispy "caterpillars" were crunched down in no time at all.

A vote of confidence I think.

And not too much barbecue in the taste. Just quite a tasty smokey bacony... tastiness.

The packet tells me this crispy snack is une forme amusante et unique. I think we noticed!

Bénénuts Apéro Cracks Fin & Fondants Sésame Pavot

Another little crispy snack to go with your aperitif. The apéro market seems to be big business in France these days: a tasty little morsel to go with your evening drink as opposed to a packet of crisps that you might munch down at any moment. At least, I guess that's the distinction. And the apéro usually comes in a little cardboard box with the crispy snack in a foil bag, while crisps come.... in a crisp packet. Oh the technicalities of the crispy snack market!

And this is a very little morsel. A crispy crunchy morsel but really very small. And sort of... lip-shaped. A bit unusual that. I can't think of another word for the shape but maybe there is a technical term for this shape that I haven't come across.

The mix of sesame and poppy seeds seemed to taste slightly more of sesame - but not overwhelmingly so. And then I thought maybe they tasted more of poppy seeds. These little biscuits have a nice crunch, and are not as sweet as many of this style of biscuit. They don't actually taste of very much... but in a very pleasant way. And you will find yourself having another.

 

The reluctant taste testers quite liked them and so the I, and the Chef too.

Bénénuts seems to be owned by Pepsico France. Wow, Pepsico owns a lot of companies. I wonder if they ever lose track?

Benenuts les inCRAquables Gout Sale

I have no idea at all why Benenuts thought it a good idea to spell les inCRAquables with such an unusual combination of capitals and ordinary letters but thought it best to copy their example in case it was important to them.

This is one of those crispy snacks extruded from a massive machine somewhere. And none the worse for that because I think it's rather tasty, and the Chef agrees. The reluctant taste testers loved this crispy snack. Yum!

But what a scary design! Why would you design your crispy snack to look like a devil mask? The packaging says a partager aver tout la famille! but really, would you expect your 6 year old grandchild to enjoy this creepy snack? Maybe children aren't bothered about this sort of thing.

I wonder if this oddly creepy snack is a Hallowe'en design? It's hard to know. Very tasty though.

Benenuts Apero Cracks Maxi Craquants Gout Bacon

We tried this crispy snack in a traffic jam on the A31 going South through France. A lorry with a heavy load had fallen over in the night and the authorities were taking forever to tidy up the load (which didn't look that heavy) and move the vehicle.Three lanes of motorway traffic filtered into one so we crawled along for about 45 minutes. Hope the driver was OK.

I reached behind my seat for a crispy snack and this was at the top of the pile.

Hmmnnn..... Not sure I would have chosen this under the circumstances. In fact I would probably have taken it home for Tech taste tester to try: he loves a meaty flavoured crispy snack.

Can you tell from the photograph? This snack is not square. It's not oblong. It's not even a rhombus. It's a kind of uneven squarish shape. Nice texture, but wow what a strong flavour! This snack " gout bacon" tastes strongly of maple cured bacon. Very sweet. 

Quite nice, but to be honest with you, not really suitable for a traffic jam on a very hot day. 

Benenuts 3D's Bugles Goût Chèvre

This is one of the last packets of crisps left over from the grand tour of Europe earlier this year; another choice from the giant Carrefour outside Reims in Northern France. And yes, this bugle (or cone) shaped snack really does taste of goats cheese.

Of course goats cheese is not everyone's cheese of choice, but Giraffe Fan taste tester was amazingly enthusiastic. I said, next time you go to France just pop into a supermarket - we did. But sadly her next holiday is a family trip to Israel to visit her many uncles and aunts and cousins. Oh calamity! (does anyone else but me remember Robertson Hare in All Gas and Gaiters?) so she'll have to make do with Israeli crisps. But obviously could look out for Benenuts Bugles another time.

But no. It turns out that Giraffe Fan will be putting in an order with rels who are going to France this summer. I have emailed her the scan of the packet so they don't buy the wrong thing. And that would be unfortunate.

Some of the reluctant taste testers don't much care for goats cheese, and I have to say I felt that this crispy snack does really taste of goat's cheese. So some of them weren't mad keen. But some of them liked this crispy snack quite a lot.

Well, as I often point out, it's all about personal taste. If you are a fan of goat's cheese you really might like these crunchy bugles. Check out the local supermarché next time you are in France.

Bénénuts 3D's Bugles Goût Fromage

Another thoughtful present from the Chef's kind daughter and son-in-law. From a French motorway service station. Again. Of course. They have great shops and you never know what you're going to find.

Bugle-shaped (so genuinely 3D). Tasting a bit cheesy. From France.

Nice cheesy aroma on opening the packet. Nice crunch, and a pleasant light cheesy (not a recognisable cheese obviously) taste. The shape works really well and the crunch is very good.

But here's weird: the aftertaste is sort of mushroomy. Which is a bit strange. And it wasn't just me. Several of the reluctant taste testers reported that they felt just as I did. Which, well, is a bit odd.

And you can kind of tell from what I have written already: this maize-based crispy snack is nice. Nice, but nothing fantastic. Although the shape and crunch do work well.

Bénénuts is owned by Pepsico France. But then they own so much.

And while I am writing about crisps (because, you know, that's something I hardly ever do) here's a link to something fun I picked up on recently. Star Wars crisps. Yes, you read that right: STAR WARS CRISPS. If you are a Star Wars fan click on the link.

Sadly these crisps aren't real. At least, I doubt they are. My goodness: if you ever see a packet I shall be staggered and expect you to send me a sample!

These faux crisps have been around for a while but I thought I would draw them to your attention in case you might be interested. A fun idea. And why hasn't a major crisp manufacturer picked up on this and pitched it to Lucas Films?

Bénénuts Fritelle Goût Bacon

And yet another choice from the lovely motorway service stations of North Eastern France. OK, mostly they aren't that lovely but they do feature interesting shopping: car accessories (especially faux Ferrari stickers*), maps, produits du terroirs, lots of drinks, and many crisps.

According to an online dictionary, fritelle are sweet fried rice cakes eaten on St Joseph's Day in Chianti. That's interesting because these fritelle look like chips or fries such as you might eat with steak, but made of maize meal and potato powder; pommes frites... only not. I am, however, comparing an Italian fritelle with a French fritelle so let's ignore this little excursion into etymology.

The packet calls them bâtonnets soufflés which is a pretty good description so perhaps we'll stick with that.

Well.... lovely texture. It's a very nice crunch and not as dry as some products like this. But I'm not crazy about the bacon flavour (since when was 'bacon' a French word anyway?) which is a little too smokey for my taste. The reluctant taste testers ate plenty so I suppose it must just be me.

I think I'd try these in another flavour if I could find it.

* Why would you want a Ferrari sticker on your Ford Ka or your Volkswagen Up!? I imagine the Chef would get pretty upset if I suggested putting one on his Audi.