Cofresh Hot Chilli Flavour Potato Hoops

This packet of hot Chilli flavour Potato Hoops was kindly contributed by the Tall taste tester.

Lovely aroma from the bag, nice taste and quite hot (the bag does feature two chillis to warn you) and a slightly softer crunch than you might expect. But all in all not bad. Indeed, I think all the reluctant taste tasters thought this was a very acceptable snack and quite a lot were eaten.

You can see from my photograph that some of these little rings of potatoey goodness are more colourful than others. The colourful ones have more chilli in the taste. No surprise there. But they were all tasty and the whole 90g packet got eaten up.

The picture on the packet is somewhat misleading though. It allows you to think these crispy snacks are big and round like onion rings. But no. What you get is basically a sort of Hula Hoop. Only not.

I was kind of disappointed. But if I had really thought about the picture carefully it might just as well be showing a great big pair of cuff-style bracelets. And I certainly wasn't anticipating anything as large as that. That would be weird.

What is a bit of a surprise is that the ingredients are native potato starch, potato solids and modified potato starch. Am I beginning to feel I shouldn't have read that? I wonder what a potato solid is? Why does potato starch need to be modified? Maybe I don't really want to know.

Anyway, we really rather enjoyed this crispy snack. Cofresh make very tasty crispy snacks.

Eat Real Lentil Chips Chilli & Lemon Flavour

Yum! The senior taste tester brought this 113g bag into the office for the reluctant taste testers and me to try. 113g sounds a lot. But I think it's just that lentil chips are heavier than some other products.For example, the Eat Real Quinoa Chips (not yet reviewed) in the exact same size bag weigh 80g.

Gluten free (endorsed by Coeliac UK), vegetarian, vegan and 40% less fat than regular potato chips. A crispy snack that's supposed to be healthier for you and they taste great. What could be better than that?

I really like the combination of chilli and lemon; it works really well for me. True, the crunch is a little heavy, but I am willing to overlook that. And I think the reluctant taste testers agree. A bowlful put out in the late morning was finished by lunchtime.

Eat Real Hummus Chips Creamy Dill Flavour

The senior taste tester brought in this packet of hummus chips. At first glance you might be forgiven for thinking you were looking at a bowl of pasta shells. But no. This is a crispy crunchy snack made with chickpea flour.

And the big marketing grab is 48% less fat. 48% less fat? Yes, the fat content is reduced from 10g to 5.5g per serving (when compared to regular potato chips - whatever they may be). However, we have to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope this really is a healthier option.

And I am especially keen to give this crispy snack the benefit of the doubt because the crunch is pretty good (although a little dull compared to that of a potato crisp), and the taste is pretty damn good too. Amazing.

The first taste is all about the cream but then there is a lovely gently aftertaste of dill. Very nice. I think we approve.

This possibly healthy crispy snack option is made by Cofresh and we've tried several of their products before. Like this one. Good for Cofresh.

Cofresh Hot Chilli Flavour Potato Spirals

What a fun crispy snack this is from Indian style snack specialists Cofresh.

I always enjoy an interesting shape and these spirals are certainly an interesting shape. With a terrific chilli taste - not sweet chilli which doesn't really work for me but seems amazingly popular as a flavour these days - but simple chilli heat. Think Hoola Hoops but spiral shaped and with a much more grown up taste.

I liked this crispy crunchy snack so much I can't think of a vast amount to say. Weirdly I usually find miles more to say about the crisps I don't like. Extra weirdly my posts about crisps I don't like are usually far more popular than the posts about my favourites. So not many crisp fans will read this.

But I'll say it again; I liked this crispy crunchy snack a lot.

Cofresh Jalapeño Flavour Potato Grills

Britain's favourite Indian snacks! it says on the pretty purple paisley packaging (very fetching). I can believe that. But I'm not so sure I believe in the mild & tangy label. More like quite hot & tasty.

So, quite hot & tasty and with a gorgeous light crunch.

I tried these deliciously light crunchy snacks on the Chef. He wasn't sure; thought the taste was more hot than tasty. But I left him a little bowl of these potato grills so he could try again if he felt like it. And fancy that! Apparently they are pretty good after all. At any rate, they all got eaten.

The tasty flavour dust doesn't really show in my photograph but I don't think these potato grills were as dark as shown on the packet.

At work several of the taste testers said they really liked these potato grills, and isn't the shape interesting? And the tall taste tester said they were perfect in every way: good taste, nice crunch, melt in your mouth.

Well really, what could be better? Tall taste tester asked where I bought them. Tesco in Finchley Central in this case, but I've seen Cofresh products in lots of places since I first discovered them.

Eat Real Hummus Chips Sea Salt Flavour

We seem to be having a super healthy week on the crispy snack front chez the reluctant taste testers.

This was a contribution from tall elegant taste tester. As an apology for something... I'm not quite sure what.

Anyway, these shell-shaped crispy snack are made with 45% chickpea flour so I guess they have a right to describe themselves as hummus chips. Gluten free (certified by Coeliac UK), vegetarian, vegan, 48% less fat than regular potato chips. Sounds pretty good doesn't it?

But, and you just know with me that there's going to be a but, I'm not sure these hummus shells taste of very much.

I'd like to say thy had a lovely crunch (it was a bit hard in my opinion) and a nice salty taste. But to be truthful I didn't think they tasted of much. The extremely sceptical taste tester liked them; she says she likes bland tasting crispy snacks.

Most of a 45g packet (I saved a few to take home to the Chef) got eaten up quite quickly. But. But yet another crispy snack that is meant to be a healthier option, and thus better for us than your average snack, turns out to be a bit dull. I thought there was a slightly greasy after taste and the tall elegant taste tester agreed with me.

I have a feeling that with this lovely shell-shape these hummus chips would work extremely well with a nice dip. But then I daresay they would be a lot less healthy for us.

Cofresh Poppadum Curls Mango Chutney Flavour Lentil Snack

Another packet of crispy snacks kindly donated by the teaching taste tester. Ooh! Spicy mango chutney. Rather good.

Our Mango Chutney Poppadum Curls are a sweet & tangy lentil snack made from the finest ingredients says the packet.

Mmn, these are really tasty. And curly. And presumably lentilly too, but there's also potato starch. The flavour is made from mango powder (as advertised) but also mint, orange juice powder and lemon juice powder.

An interesting mix. And perhaps the mint and fruit are why the taste reminds me of Pimm's. We don't actually have any in the house just now (careless, I know) but it would be fun to try a bowl of these wonderfully crispy lentil curls with a great big glass of Pimm's with plenty of sliced apple, orange, lemon and cucumber. And mint. Maybe strawberries too.

I took a bottle of duty free Pimm's to the United States last time I went to stay with great friend in Buffalo. Too long ago. We struggled to find English style cucumber at the giant local supermaket but finally retired to her sofa to drink this essentially English cocktail. Actually, I'm not sure it is a cocktail but somehow all the Americans I met that visit called pretty much anything alcoholic a cocktail. Anyway, foolish me, I allowed great friend to mix the Pimm's which she made terribly terribly strong. And while we enjoyed it very much, we did suffer an awful hangover next day.

Well done Cofresh for creating this delicious crispy crunchy spicy snack. These lentil curls are wonderful. I hope that teaching taste tester has tried this snack herself. If not she better get herself down to Sainsbury in Shadwell and buy another packet. But, a note of caution; the Chef doesn't really like them much. Turns out he prefers Tyrrell's Hand Cooked Summer Butter & Mint crisps which we tried the other evening, and which I damned with very faint praise.

I've had one or two Cofresh crispy snacks before. Their Chilli & Lemon Potato Grills are great. But you don't see their products everywhere.

And I mustn't forget to tell you that these are suitable for vegans, and there are no artificial colours or preservatives. I wonder if lentil snacks are healthier for you than potato or maize based snacks? They probably are. At least until you break out the Pimm's.

Cofresh Cheese & Onion Flavour Potato Grills

It appears that a potato grill is one of these weird crispy things that looks like an armadillo. How they came to be called potato grills is anyone's guess. Or I could look online and see if anyone out there knows...

That wasn't very helpful! Number 9 on the list of 1,660,000 results was my entry on Cofresh's wonderful chilli lemon flavour potato grills. While gratifying (and quite surprising) this doesn't get me any further in my research.

I was discussing the chilli lemon flavour with the lovely newsagent down the road when I bought these. We agreed it is a great flavour crispy snack but sadly he was out of stock and so I bought these instead.

Not bad. But not madly exciting either. You can see they aren't a very interesting colour. There seems to be no evidence of frying or even baking which is a bit of a shame. The crunch is a bit dull too, perhaps not really crunchy enough. But the flavour, described on the packet as "mild", is very pleasant. A gentle cheese & onion, with quite a lot of flavour dust on the concave side (inside the curve). And very nice too.

Cofresh describe themselves as Britain's favourite Indian snacks. I wonder how Indian this flavour is?

Cofresh Chilli & Lemon Flavour Potato Grills

The nice newsagent at the bottom of our road sold me these crisps when I was adding credit to my Oystercard. They stock a slightly random selection of small bags of crisps and I never know what I will see next. But I really like that the packets are all small. This bag is 28g which turns out to be very slightly less than 1oz. A tiny amount of crisps so you don't feel too ghastly guilty about eating them all.

Really the way the supermarkets sell crisps does annoy me. Huge great big sharing bags or even huger multi packs of 6 or 8 or 10 bags of something. And what if you only want one small bag? Apparently they don't really care. And then we wonder why everyone is getting so fat.

So anyway, I'd not heard of Cofresh before but they appear to be based in Leicester (in the UK) and sell their products in the United States, Australia and New Zealand (from the nutritional facts / information printed on the bag), and France, Germany, Spain, and The Netherlands (from the languages the ingredients are printed in).  The oh so helpful internet tells me that Cofresh is the UK's leading Asian snack business. So good for them. And the Cofresh website tells me there are plenty of crispy snacks for me to try if I can find them.

I've called these crisps but I suppose it's more of a crispy snack. And weirdly they look like armadillos. Yes, all right, I expect it's only me but you know I can't help it.

Quite an unusual mixture of hard crunch and soft crunch - it depends on whether you're biting into a thick bit or not - with a delicate spicy taste. There's more flavour on some of the grills than on others, and you can see that some of them have a lot more orangey brown flavour dust than others. The smell is really nice and I think the label "Tangy" on the front of the packet is about right. I was pleased the spiciness was as mild as advertised and I really like these.

The packaging is pretty too. I like the yellow paisley pattern. Just going downstairs to check on the taste again... mmmn yes, very nice. Quite hot but not too hot and the lemon really works well. I'm enjoying these with a glass of Swiss wine.