Fiddler's Lancashire Crisps Sea Salt

This is a sensational crisp.

A very plain sea salt flavour, a fabulous crispy crunch and a great golden colour. Brilliant.

I can't always find Lancashire crisps (probably because I don't live anywhere near Lancashire) but these were on sale in one of the cafés at Tate Modern.

The Chef & I were at Tate Modern to see the Alexander Calder exhibition and although we didn't stop for a drink or a snack my spider senses spotted some crisps on sale. Of course they did. What a shame we didn't buy more than one packet.

Tate Modern isn't difficult to get to but it does seem a bit odd to travel to South London in search of a favourite crisp... what am I saying? We frequently travel to Switzerland on just such a search. But it would be good to find a source slightly closer to home.

Thanks very much to Robert for cooking this lovely crisp for us.

Fiddler's Lancashire Crisps Simply Spuds (No Added Salt)

By 'eck you'll find em tasty! say the packet.

Awfully sorry Fiddler's. I didn't.

The thing is, really, for me (and this is a personal taste issue), for me crisps and crispy snacks are all about the salt. Yes, yes I am well aware that salt is frightfully bad for me - and you - but I can't help loving it. Almost every time I would rather have salt than sweet and it's only in moments of extreme stress that I will wolf a chocolate bar. And then I will eat it so quickly it barely touches the sides.

Just as a stiff gin and tonic (you have to drink it in a not-too-hot bath) is great in combating a severe attack of hay fever, chocolate is fantastic at fighting off a nasty period pain (cramps I think you guys gals in the US say). And chocolate can also be a huge help in times of extreme stress or fury. Cake can be helpful too. I know a lot of people would plump for cake.

But ordinarily I would pick a salty something.

And these crisps ain't got no salt!

Tall Elegant taste tester thought they were rather good. And in fact this little 40g packet was snacked up fairly quickly.  So no-one else was bothered by the lack of salt.

Lovely little crisps, very nice, good crunch, cooked by John (well done John), I don't want to say anything nasty about this no added salt crisp. Just not for me.

Fiddler's Lancashire Crisps Black Pudding & English Mustard

All my life I have studiously avoided eating black pudding.

It's on the list of things I really can't bring myself to fancy; pork belly, pig or beef cheek, tripe (once tried never forgotten), hot cooked tongue (cold pressed tongue is quite a different matter), ox tail (a speciality of an old boyfriend's mother - oh dear), and cod throats (seriously?? how do you cook a throat?). Of course there are many other thing I won't eat, but I don't want you to get bored.

So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I opened this packet of crisps.

First thought: it's a beautifully designed packet. Lovely grey and yellow combination. Very swish. Whoever it is designs the packaging for Fiddler's has done a top job.

Second thought: the most obvious taste is mustard. Now it's not that I won't eat mustard, I quite like the kind that comes with mustard seeds and honey, but all too often I find it an overpowering addition to a recipe.

The mustard was not overpowering in this flavour but it did mean that I was not particularly keen. However, the rest of the reluctant taste testers, once they had overcome their anxiety about the black pudding, seemed to quite like this flavour.

I say quite like because we felt it doesn't meet the supremely high standard of the Creamy Lancashire Cheese flavour. Which is just superb.

Fiddler's Lancashire Crisps Sea Salt & Ellsey's Malt Vinegar

Another very nice flavour from Fiddler's Lancashire Crisps. And a very pretty blue bag; it's a lovely subtle blue, gently shaded and very smart. I like the soft yellow text too.

The reluctant taste testers tried these with enthusiasm and wondered that the vinegar used in the recipe is a malt vinegar.  So often you get such a strong vinegary flavour that your mouth shrivels up and cries no more! But we were all pleasantly surprised at the subtlety of the flavour.

I see that Ellsey's vinegar has been made in Wigan since 1932. So I guess they know what they're doing.

A very nice version of salt & vinegar. A very good crisp indeed.

Fiddler's Lancashire Crisps Creamy Lancashire Cheese & Onion

As luck would have it noble friend chanced to be in the vicinity of Oxford Street once again and kindly took a detour through Selfridge's Food Hall to buy four more flavours of Fiddler's Lancashire Crisps; all that she could find.

And today we tried these delicious Creamy Lancashire Cheese & Onion crisps. What did we think? Delicious. Something to do with the Lancashire Cheese I suppose. Because they're not the same as your average cheese & onion crisp.

I can't say that I am surprised this crisp won a Great Taste award in 2014. I think, and the reluctant taste testers unreluctantly thought, and the Chef agreed, that this is an extremely good good crisp.

Top marks all round.

Slightly thicker than the average, these crisps are cooked in small batches by John. The packet says By 'eck you'll find them tasty! and the packet is right. We did.

We like the packaging design too. Nothing fancy just a different colour for each flavour, as is traditional.

Highly recommended. Try them if you can.

The packet also says lovely'n'local which leads me to think you may only be able to buy them in Lancashire, or at Selfridges (which is in London). But I'm fairly sure you can order them from Amazon. And seriously, I think you might find it worth your while to seek them out.

Fiddler's Lancashire Crisps Lancashire Sauce

I knew about Fiddler's Lancashire Crisps from tech taste tester who took a packet up one of the hills in the Lake District as part of his picnic lunch. He highly recommended these crisps and I was wondering how to get hold of a packet.

And fancy that, noble friend went to Selfridges Food Hall (of course she did, because you know how she gets about) and found a packet there. In fact, it seems she spotted several flavours, but sensibly only bought the one. After all, we might not have liked them. And if I want more of these crisps I can take the 82 bus down to Selfridges and buy some more crisps myself.

So the fascinating thing is that the flavour of these Lancashire Crisps is Lancashire Sauce. I have never been to Lancashire but I read that Lancashire Sauce is a big thing. Entwistle's Lancashire Sauce is the thing; Grandma Entwistle's Genuine & Original Lancashire Sauce. Which I have neither seen nor tried. Probably on account of having spent very limited time in the North of England. And none at all in Lancashire.

However, it looks to me as though this crisp is Lancashire Sauce flavour. Not flavoured with Lancashire Sauce. A nice distinction. I may be wrong of course.

Handsome looking crisps, a little thicker cut than normal I think, and therefore a slightly harder crunch. And the taste is... kind of curry. Sort of. A little bit too much curry for me, but the spicy taste (garlic, onion, cumin, pepper, coriander, lemon juice and "natural flavours") is quite pleasant.

This wasn't a large packet of crisps and the bowlful was reduced to a few crumbs of crisp by the time the tall taste tester woke up to today's crisp opportunity.

I see this flavour won a Great Taste Gold award in 2012. I'm not sure we would have gone so far as that; we were not totally thrilled with today's flavour. However, I feel a trip on the 82 bus may be in order; a test of other flavours beckons.