Osem Popco Butterscotch Corn Snack

This is popcorn. So why call it a corn snack? That seems odd.

Tech taste tester told me he doesn't do popcorn (fair enough) and not many of the reluctant taste testers seemed mad keen but the Chef has happily snacked down most of this 75g packet without complaint. Trust me: he complains if he feels the need.

I couldn't quite grasp why I didn't really like this crispy snack. The popcorn itself is perfectly fine. Nothing odd there at all; and some popcorn can be really bad. I think it must be the butterscotch. I was expecting toffee. No matter that the label says "butterscotch" in fairly large letters I still expected toffee flavour.

If I had been expecting butterscotch I think I'd have been happy. Expectations are weird aren't they?

Kosher for passover.

Zetov Super Snacks Wavers Wheat Snack Wild Onion

Hmm.... wild onion eh? And a wheat snack.

This square crispy snack reminds me of Shreddies breakfast cereal. You don't get the same checkerboard effect, more of a sort of corduroy stripe, and they are kind of wavy which Shreddies are not, but nonetheless, I did get quite a Shreddie vibe.

They taste, to me at any rate, of falafel. Onion flavoured falafel. Quite nice. But the bite is very dull which is not ideal. OK, but not super exciting and the reluctant taste testers didn't finish this little 40g bag.

Super Snacks, it says on the packaging, often imitated, never duplicated. A yummy treat that's good to eat. Yes well.

Made in Israel for a company based in Brooklyn, NY.

AM Buffy Corn Snack

Another choice from the local kosher deli. Another bugle snack. Which has a lighter colour than most bugle snacks, which I like, and a lovely light crunch, which I also like.

It also tastes of almost nothing. Pretty much no taste at all. Which it turns out I like quite a lot. And it turns out the reluctant taste testers rather enjoyed a taste-free snack too.

I think the reluctant taste testers get very fed up with crispy snacks that taste of far too much. And the crispy snack development departments of many companies seem oh so anxious to tempt our jaded palates. New crisps and crispy snacks are increasingly complex and often end up being either nothing like the flavour they purport to be, or really not very nice. Or both. Well, if you've read any of my posts before you'll be up to speed with this argument already.

So we really enjoyed this nothing snack.

Giraffe Fan taste tester took one look and said, oh I know these. They don't taste of anything do they?

No, they don't. But in s good way.

Badatz Paskesz Nosh.kes Grill Rings

Another tiny little packet of kosher snacks from Israel. And this time the grippingly exciting flavour is "grill". Grill? Yup.

I really have no idea what sort of a flavour grill is supposed to be but I'm guessing it's a variant on barbecue. Or BBQ. However you spell it, these little tubular crispy snacks are a gentler milder version of the barbecue flavour so beloved by the Israeli snack industry. And also, I suppose, by Israeli snack fans.

The ingredients list isof  no assistance. Apparently the flavour is made from the ever popular (and completely opaque) "flavourings". Helpful eh?

Not a bad little crispy snack. Finer and more fragile than Hula Hoops or Wheat Crunchies or even Cofresh Potato Hoops, these little crispy tubes do suffer quite a lot of breakages before you open the packet. But somehow it doesn't seem to matter too much.

Badatz Paskesz Nosh.kes Falafel Crisps

I have no idea why this crispy snack which is shaped like worms is called a crisp. It doesn't make any sense at all. Except, I suppose, that calling it "Nosh.kes Falafel Worms" probably wouldn't lure the average punter into giving them a try.

How does that song go? Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I'm going down the garden to eat worms. Something like that. Well, perhaps not such a top advertising jingle for a crispy snack.

These "crisps" have a very hard crunch, and they're quite hard to pick up. But the taste, the falafel taste, is very nice indeed. Once again I ask, why no falafel flavour crisps on offer to the great British public? Because not everyone has access to a kosher deli.

Gesher Snow Flakes Falafel Flavored

Another little packet of snow flake/flower shaped crisps snacks from Israel. And these ones are falafel flavoured.

I have probably said it before but I do wonder why we don't have falafel flavoured snacks in the UK? Or not that I have seen. Perhaps it's because even these days there may be parts of Britain where the wonder of the falafel has yet to penetrate?

Obviously, coming from North London as I do, I have access to all sorts of exotic foods at the drop of a hat, and I've not felt that I needed to drop many hats to find a falafel around here. Maybe if I were shopping in Cumbria or Orkney or Lincolnshire (no offence meant, honestly - I've simply chosen places I have never visited) maybe falafel might not be so easy to find.

But falafel are very tasty. And I do enjoy the taste. And I do enjoy the taste in a crispy snack. Especially in a lightly crunchy flower shaped crispy snack.

Very nice.

Badatz Paskesz Nosh.kes BBQ Twirls

This tiny little packet holds 30g (1.05oz) of these crunchy crispy snacks. Actually that is quite heavy for the number of twirls but they are heavy in at the same way that pasta twirls are.

In fact they do look very like a wholewheat pasta. And have a really hard crunch very like an undercooked pasta.

All this would be fine if it weren't for the not very BBQy flavour. More of a smokey bacon flavour we thought and I wasn't a mad keen fan. Dutch taste tester wasn't sure, Senior taste tester quite liked them, and Slightly Red Haired Bristolian was a big fan. So we have all sorts of views on this crunchy snack.

Beigel & Beigel Sour Cream & Onion

This is a packet of nice little biscuitty crackers from Beigel & Beigel. And the sour cream & onion flavour works pretty well. I think all of the reluctant taste testers rather liked this flavour, and rather liked the fine crunchy bite.

But almost every one of these fine crackers was broken. I think in the whole packet there were 5 unbroken.

That's very disappointing. Can Beigel & Beigel not create some more protective packaging? I understand that there are some serious food miles involved. After all, we know this crispy snack comes from Israel. But still. The Chef & I have (unprofessionally, which is to say on an amateur basis) imported crispy snacks from Europe and not suffered such disastrous breakages.

We all enjoyed this tasty snack but I think we'd have been more impressed if the entire contents of the packet hadn't looked as though someone sat on it.

Gesher Snow Flakes BBQ Flavored

Here we have another of those strange little flower-shaped (or perhaps snowflake-shaped) crispy snacks from Israel. I think it's a great shape for a crispy snack; light crispy crunchy little pillows - they're very nice. And a good base for a flavour.

So why have I never seen this shape in a snack not intended for the kosher market? I have no idea and  I think it's a bit odd. Still, perhaps there is a crispy developer planning a British version of this snack even as I type.

Another weird thing is that the only other flower or snowflake snacks I have tried were made by Beigel & Beigel. And guess who owns Gesher? Beigel & Beigel. So they market two different kinds of exactly the same snack. The Snow Flakes look as though they may be aimed at children, the Beigel & Beigel version has a more upmarket style of packaging and larger packets.

This is sold as a BBQ flavor snack. Which it isn't. The taste is more cheap tomato ketchup. Which is a shame. Because the crispiness is just fine.

Osem Apropo Sour Cream Flavour Corn Snack

So thanks to the wonderful resource that is google translate (although obviously it's not totally reliable) and a handy blog post I discovered from Daniela at  Isreveiw1, I have been able to translate something about this crispy snack in the privacy of my own home. The Isreview1 blog is about a different flavour bugle shaped snack from Osem, in fact Daniela seems to have reviewed two other flavours, but it shoved me in what I think it is the right direction. So that was a great help.

Thanks very much to Daniela although she doesn't seem to have posted anything since 2014 so perhaps she won't notice. (And how annoying! I see LinkWithin works on Isreview1 but has completely stopped working on this blog and I have no idea why.)

Anyway, I deduce that this crispy snack is made by Osem but as almost the whole of the text on this packet in in the hebrew alphabet (plus a little in arabic script) it was quite hard to tell.

And thanks to google translate (and Daniela)  I know it is a maize snack. It's hard for the non-reader of Hebew to be sure because the typeface on the packet is different from that offered by google. But luckily the Osem website comes in an English version. A savoury cone-shaped snack it says. Apropos has a delicate taste and a crispy texture and contains no cholesterol or preservatives. Thanks to its unique shape it has become the number one entertainment snack in Israel, alongside dips and spreads, but is also popular as a personal snack.

OK. What's a personal snack I wonder?

And the reluctant taste testers tested the crispiness so I can confirm that crispy is correct. And it's probably a corn snack although you can't really tell from the taste. But I'm really not at all certain what the flavour is meant to be. It looks as though it should be sour cream (see the packet) but you can't taste sour cream. And why doesn't the website have anything to say about the flavour? It really doesn't. Not helpful.

Noble Friend opined that this crispy snack tasted a little bit sweet, a little bit salty and a little bit nothing at all. But nonetheless a little bit tasty and moreish. (A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll perhaps?) But I could see what she meant. The Chef thought it tasted of nothing at all. But both of them ate quite a few.

So oddly tasteless in a strange way but quite a success.

Oh, and today is the 80th birthday of television. So let's all celebrate that amazing fact. And the first TV show was broadcast not 5 miles (not exactly sure how far it is, but not very far) from where the Chef and I live, at a place called Alexandra Palace. All us locals call it Ally Pally. Amazing eh?

Beigel & Beigel American BBQ Flavoured Snack

No I really have no idea what the difference is between a BBQ flavour and an American BBQ flavour. Especially when applied to a kosher crispy snack made in Israel. If you know better than me do let me know.

The reluctant taste testers and I have already tried onion and felafel flavour snacks from Beigel & Beigel. We liked them both quite a lot. Not so mad for this American BBQ flavour though.

The flavour was not so much an intrinsic part of the snack as a sauce added later. Some of the taste testers thought perhaps brown sauce. Noble Friend suggested teriyaki sauce. I rather agree. Definitely could do better.

Don't you find it odd that if you have 3 or 4 or 5 somethings to try the last whatever it is will almost always turn out to be the least successful. I always used to find this with library books. I expect there is a Law to cover that. Probably a corollary to Murphy's Law. Don't forget; if you know better do please let me know. Anyway, this crispy snack was a perfect example.

If Beigel & Beigel make more flavours of crispy snack I hope to find out soon. Because obviously if they are bought at a different time they are not affect by the above Law.

Beigel & Beigel Pizza Flavour Snack

Well this is a pretty good pizza flavour. I've tried some pizza flavour crispy snacks which were... not very pizza-y but this one does not a bad job.

And of course it's another lovely flower-shaped crispy snack so it has a lovely light crunch.

Pretty tasty!

And you know what? It's always more difficult to write stuff about a crispy snack that you rather enjoyed. So I haven't written much here because this was pretty tasty. Although not as good as the onion flavour.

Beigel & Beigel Onion Flavour Snack

Here we go with post number 601! Amazing. How did this happen? How did the reluctant taste testers and I manage to try quite so many crispy snacks?

Anyway, I'm pleased to be able to tell you that, apart from Tall Elegant taste tester (who doesn't like onion) and Architectural taste tester (who has discerning tastes and is not really a fan of crispy snacks), apart from those two all the taste testers loved this lightly onion fragranced crispy snack.

Including me.

Lovely light flower-shaped puffs, lovely light onion flavour. Lovely crispy snack.

Chairman taste tester asked me if this snack is wheat or potato based? Of course I had to tell him I don't read Hebrew. So I don't know. Because there's not a lot of English writing on the packet.

What I can tell you is that Beigel & Beigel mazon (1985) Ltd is based at 1 Chocolate Road, Safed 13110, Israel. Chocolate Road eh? What a great address. I wonder what other roads in the area are called?

We enjoyed this oniony snack very much.

Ha'emek Snacks Bugsy BBQ Wheat Snack

A second weird crispy snack in a tiny packet from Ha'emek Snacks about which I can find nothing helpful online beyond a few blog posts.

And this time Bugsy, (I assume it is Bugsy leaping about the packet) looks not so much like Buddy Holly as Chris Evans. This is not enticing for me. And truly I find crispy snacks with cartoon characters on the packet are quite off-putting. But it's a product aimed at children so I should stop moaning and get on with the taste testing.

Well, I never could bring myself to fancy Wheat Crunchies but I know lots of people enjoy them. So if you are one of those people, I think these little BBQ flavour wheat snacks will probably please you too.

Not very BBQ-y, and quite a lot of breakages in this tiny packet - which wasn't very impressive. People, even the reluctant taste testers, are reluctant to eat broken bits where the shape is an important part of the snack. I thought the mouth-feel was slightly greasy.

Not really for me, but that has never stopped anyone else!

Ha'emek Snacks Bugsy Falafel Wheat Snack

What a tiny packet of crispy snacks! It's about 4.5" square! And only 20g. In fact, it's so tiny I wonder if this packet wasn't created specially to go in children's party bags. And I hope I have the name correct as I do not have the assistance of Giraffe Fan taste tester just now. If you know better; let me know.

The Graffiti Artist (who happens to be staying this week) really likes the design of this packet; he thinks it's great, but wants to know why it's called Bugsy.... not Buddy. Because don't you think this little guy in glasses looks a lot like Buddy Holly?

Anyhow, these weird little worm-style crispy snacks taste a lot like falafels. Which is great because that's what they're supposed to taste like. They really have quite a hard crunch but are weirdly moreish. The Tall taste tester was quite taken with them.

Do you suppose worm-style is a technical term? I wonder what crisp technicians call this sort of snack?

Beigel & Beigel Falafel Flavour Snack

The other day Noble Friend went to one of the local kosher supermarkets in search of smoked salmon. And in said kosher supermarket she discovered a whole wall of exciting kosher and Israeli crispy snacks the reluctant taste testers and I have yet to try. Amazing!

And nobly Noble Friend took me by the hand on a thrilling excursion to the kosher supermarket. A journey of exploration. It's only 10 minutes walk from work but, well, it's a whole nother experience from the supermarkets I usually shop at.

Wow! Well worth battling the mystery labels in Hebrew lettering. I came away with a bagful of crispy purchases, and here's the first one we have tried. 

I had to ask Giraffe Fan taste tester to help me out here as I neither speak nor read Hebrew. And it turns out that she knows more than she admits to. I took her rough translations to google translate and translated them back and forth between English and Hebrew. And lo! it turns out that we were trying falafel flavour snacks. OK, that was written in English, but the name of the maker wasn't.

Really falafelly. I liked the taste a lot, as did a number of the reluctant taste testers. And I love the shape. These little puffed flower shapes are like nothing I have seen before. What a handsome design for a crispy snack. And we have at least 3 more flavours to try.

If you fancy trying a mystery kosher snack, check out your local kosher supermarket. You never know what exciting treats you may discover.

Bissli Smokey Wheat Flavoured Snacks

Well now, look at that. Turns out this is my 201st post. Who knew there were quite so many crispy snacks readily available in this crispy crunchy world?

And I'm pretty sure that I haven't scratched the surface.

This 70g bag of crispy snacks from Osem were contributed to the cause by the senior member of the taste testing club.

Kosher (obviously), quite a nice crunch, and they kind of taste of ham and cheese. But the after taste is cardboard.

So it's a sort of fairly tasty cardboard snack. But don't run away with the idea that cardboard is a bad taste. It could be a great deal worse. For example the, er,  fabulous Bissli BBQ snacks which were oh so horrible (in my opinion) that I couldn't bring myself to finish the pack.

Isn't it a bit odd, don't you think, that Bissli should produced 2 crispy snacks called BBQ and Smokey? Oh well. Who can fathom the thoughts of crisp manufacturers?

So there we are. Not too bad but a bit cardboardy. Despite the cardboardiness we quite liked this crispy snack.

Bamba Peanut Snack with Hazelnut Cream Filling

Yes I know. These crispy snacks sound a lot more like miniature biscuits than a savoury snack. But I found them on the same shelf as the savoury crisps. Honest.

I put some in a bowl at work without an explanation or description and it seems that everyone thought they were getting something sweet. Well, they are sort of sweet. You get a soft crunchy corn outside which is salty, and a creamy hazelnut filling - a bit like Nutella - which is sweet.

I rather liked these. And it seems most of the taste testers did too. Even though they felt cheated at not getting a mini sweet biscuitty thing.

But I wish I had read the ingredients list more carefully before this 60g packet was finished (it didn't take long). I failed to notice the rosemary. I didn't notice any rosemary in the taste. Either I must remain forever baffled or I have to buy another packet. As if the house wasn't full enough of crisps as it is.

Another ingredient, and one which sounds a bit dodgy to me, is cellulose. Which  is used to produce paper. And glue. And mainly produced from wood pulp and cotton! OK, let's not suppose that these peanut snacks are made of wood pulp. Of course not. But it does sound odd doesn't it?

Suitable for vegetarians, no cholesterol, no food colouring. Kosher. Contains 0% Vitamin A and C, 0% calcium and 0% iron. Isn't that a strange thing to have in your Nutrition Facts? Contains genetically modified cornstarch and soybean.

I wonder about the long and obviously complicated process used to make these crispy peanut snacks. Not to mention the food miles. I think perhaps I won't get a second packet.

Made in Israel by Osem which is owned by the Swiss multinational food and beverage company Nestle. They get everywhere don't they?

Bissli Pizza Flavoured Wheat Snacks

I never thought I'd write this of a Bissli snack, but these are extremely good. Previous attempts at trying Bissli snacks started with me refusing to eat more than one out of a packet and throwing the rest away. Now I'm saying these are yummy. Well, I guess they're doing something right.  Or I'm getting used to them. Or something!

And indeed the reluctant taste testers at work noshed down most of a packet with great enthusiasm and speed. Even Ruth who won't eat Bissli snacks ate several. She likes Bamba crunchy crispy snacks so she's allowed not to like Bissli. Even David who is the harshest of critics when it comes to taste testing asked me where he could buy them. For some reason he had got hold of the idea these pizza flavour wheat snacks are Polish in origin. Not a bit of it. These square crispy snacks are made in Israel by Osem, and of course, are kosher.

A very neat shape. A little bit like a small piece of lego maybe. Nice feel in the mouth. We like the squarey cubey thing going on here. They don't really smell of pizza and they don't really taste of pizza (perhaps a little) but we all liked the taste anyway. Not too wheaty which I felt was a bit of a problem in Bissli's other snacks. Yes, (nods head approvingly) these are OK.

But I see that Bissli are still using the weird cartoon guys to front this crispy snack brand. Is it just me? I'm not sure about the cartoon guys.

Suitable for vegetarians. Kosher - of course. Contains wheat gluten and soy. No preservative, no food colouring. And don't forget to protect from the sun (still strange!). And perhaps a little oddly, I haven't seen this flavour in any of the local kosher shops. These came from the Turkish shop. I'm going back there to check out the rest of their crisp selection.

Bissli Onion Flavour Wheat Snacks

How interesting. I bought this bag of crunchy onion rings some months ago but I put off opening it because one of Osem's Bissli products I have tried tasted really horrible. To me. You might think I was a bit of a masochist buying the bag in the first place... but you  know me: I'll try anything once.

So here we go.  Well. Quite a good crunch and a nice soft onion taste. In fact not bad. Not bad at all.

Here we have 70g of quite large wheaty rings. It's a small packet (good) and the rings are quite big so you don't get very many. The rings are quite ridged on the outside; the packet photo is a pretty good representation of this oniony snack, and the rings are quite bubbly on the inside.

I'd usually take a photo myself but the reluctant taste testers at work liked these so much that I didn't get the chance. I put a bowlful in the kitchen and when I came back there was only one ring left. So I think we can judge these a success.

We felt these were a little bit like Shreddies. "Shreddies and garlic," said one taster who does not normally comment on the crispy snack selection, "Quite nice for a change of crisp". Another taster suggested they were more of a crouton than a crisp. Not a bad reaction.

I like Shreddies as a breakfast cereal although not for every day (simply because they are too tasty), so the wheaty, slightly malty taste overlaid with onion worked quite well for me. Although perhaps not for every day.

No preservatives, no food colouring, suitable for vegetarians. Koshe Parve from (if that's the word) both Rabbi Jacob Moshe Charlap and the Chief Rabbinate Shderot. Could this be two branches of the same thing? I'm very ignorant about the kosher system so I can't answer that. And you have to protect these onion rings from the sun. This seems really odd. How will the sun damage them I wonder?

As ever Osem have used the dynamic duo of slightly bearded red-haired guy with an earing, and nerdy guy with glasses on the Bissli packaging. I still think they are a weird pair to advertise a crispy snack.