KP Honey Roast Peanuts

I am continuing my quest to see if I really like any flavour of peanut better than the regular salted kind. And I think it’s possible that I don’t.

This Honey Roast flavour (source of protein, high in fibre) is quite sweet (made with glucose syrup - no wonder it’s so sweet), and I am not sure that’s what I want from a peanut. Oh dear, I seem to be a lot pickier than I used to be.

I read that grief can cause changes to your sense of smell and taste, but a year after my dear husband died, although I am still grieving, I am not sure this is a good excuse. I guess I just don’t like the sweetness anymore. Maybe age also affects your sense of taste?

Honestly, I’m sure I remember enjoying Honey Roast peanuts. And the peanuts in this case seem pretty good. So don’t pay any attention to me not enjoying them as much as I once did. Even though I don’t even feel like finishing the packet. 

Maybe I will try another flavour… and there are some flavoured peanuts on sale in my local supermarket that I have never attempted. 

Y’all know what peanuts look like, so no extra photos.

The Chef 
He changed my life forever and never tried to change me
1951 - 2024

KP Dry Roasted Peanuts

I thought I would try probably the most well known peanut company in the UK: KP.

And what do I think? Actually, I’m wondering if I ever liked Dry Roasted Peanuts in the first place. Did I used to like them? I can’t really remember. Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.

Oh, this is a fine peanutty snack, no doubt about it, but I’m going to be just as picky as I was with the last two Dry Roasted options I have tried recently. And in this case, I think there’s too much dried yeast extract. And thus these nuts are too Marmitey for me. Although I do love Marmite, the flavour of these nuts is just too marmitey.

I am not going to abandon this 250g packet of very nice nuts. I will eat them all, but slowly. And I think perhaps I will attempt a different style of nuts next time.

I must say though, I really do applaud KP’s reseal system. Quite a lot of other companies offer resealable packaging these days, and quite a lot of the resealing just doesn’t work, or hasn’t worked for me. I hope all these resealing systems will work better in the future.

Butterkist Crunchy Toffee Popcorn

 

Well, what can I say?

This yummy packet of Butterkist popcorn says “creating smiles since 1914”, and who knew we had popcorn such a long time ago? I mean, did the characters in Upstairs Downstairs ever eat popcorn? What about those people in Downtown Abbey? Perhaps they did. But unfortunately I’ve never really watched either of these popular programmes so I cannot really comment. 

Maybe the Ancient Mexican people of 9,000 years ago who first grew maize (thanks to Wikipedia), made popcorn? You’d think there would be ample opportunity to drop kernels into your cooking fire, and then… pop! Chicomecoatl’s your auntie and you have popcorn. I wonder how long it took for popcorn to be imported into Europe? Anyway, the poor old Ancient Mexicans would surely not have the benefit of this sensational toffee sauce.

This genuinely is a great packet of popcorn. Very nicely popped corn. I suppose that Butterkist has had plenty of time to perfect the process so (good news) there was no dribble of unpopped kernels at the bottom of the bag. And the toffee sauce is delicious. Totally delicious! But I shouldn’t have eaten this whole packet all by myself.

Yes of course. That wasn’t good for me. But I cannot remember the last time I ate popcorn, so provided I don’t eat another packet tomorrow, or not for another month or two at least, I think I can get away with that. 

Highly recommended though. 

KP Original Salted Peanuts

A big display of large packets of KP Original Salted Peanuts beckoned to me in the supermarket today. Buy us! they cried. But I was very firm and only picked up a small 90g packet (peanuts are heavy - that’s less than it sounds). And when I got home I asked myself if I had ever written up this very simple snack? No ingredients but peanuts and salt and sunflower oil. Delicious. But the answer, until now, was no. And my second question is why on earth not? So anyway, here we go…

Ah, you say. Lucky old you, you can eat peanuts without suffering any ill effects. Don’t boast about it. 

Well, yes, I can eat peanuts and I am fairly sure that I have been eating them since I was about three, so that’s more than 60 years! My parents didn’t really let us eat sweets, but there were always salty snacks instead. However, as a child I was horrendously allergic to grass pollen, and cats, and goodness knows how many other things. Even 30 years later I heard that the lovely mother of one of my school friends still had nightmares about the day she very kindly took her daughter and me for a picnic in a beautiful field full of flowering grasses. She thought I was going to die. So I do understand about allergies. 

I still am allergic to grass pollen and cats but nothing like so badly as I used to be. Put it like this, if I reached the final of an egg and spoon race this summer, I wouldn’t have to pull out because I couldn’t see. But looking at today’s weather I would need an umbrella.

Anyway, these salted peanuts, made without maple syrup or honey, with no chocolate chunks or bits of honeycomb in the bag, not even any herbs or jerk seasoning, just salt, are simply delicious. And I can definitely eat a whole bag while sitting on the sofa watching the tennis.

Highly recommended if you can eat them. 

Mysteriously distributed by Tayto Snacks in County Meath. I can’t work out if this is an Irish snack or a UK snack. I’m going for UK.

KP Velvet Crunch Cheddar Cheese & Onion Gourmet Bites

Well now. For some reason I thought this crispy snack was going to be a potato crisp. But no. It’s made with tapioca and cassava and is more of a very fine-grained Popchips style of snack, or perhaps the texture of a Bunny Bites. You will have noticed that this misconception is entirely my fault because obviously I failed to look at the picture on the packet: patently not a crisp. However, it wasn’t just me. The Chef thought the same.

So, this fine, and perhaps velvety, snack from Ireland seems to be made on the same premises as Tayto snacks. Now, Tayto is owned by Intersnack as is KP Snacks, but for some reason the Tayto and Velvet Crunch brands don’t want to advertise this. And so far as I can tell, Tayto hasn’t gone down the KP Snacks route. But the ownership of crisp companies is often convoluted and complex, so let’s move on to the taste.

So what did the Chef and I think? A bit more oniony than cheesy. And the texture is so oddly light you rather eat them without noticing. I think I would prefer a snack with more substance. A bit more of a crunch. This crispy snack may have 60% less fat than standard crisps but (a) it isn’t a crisp, and (b) it has a fair percentage less crunch. And I think crunch is important.

Velvet Crunch was relaunched by KP in 2017 to reflect its new “healthier positioning”. I suppose that’s why the number of calories features so large on the front of the packet. Interestingly, the two other flavours, Thai Sweet Chilli and Salt & Vinegar, have 1 less calorie each than today’s snack.

KP The Real McCoy’s Muchos Nacho Cheese

New! Weird looking folded crispy tortilla snacks. Hmm.... did I think these are going to be tasty? No.

No, and I was wrong.

What an interesting crispy snack. Quite a nice crunch, quite a nice cheesy flavour, worked very well with a dip. As you can see from the packet detail below, this crispy snack is based on Mexican street food. Well, I've not been to Mexico, and while I have been to a well-known restaurant that claims to serve Mexican street food, I wasn't that impressed. But these are OK.

Not perhaps really my thing but might be yours. Give them a try.

KP Frosted Maple Syrup Roast Peanuts & Cashews with Plain Chocolate Chunks

I guess you might suppose that this here packet of frosted nuts is a companion to the ultra fabulous KP Frosted Honey Roast Peanuts & Cashews mixed with pieces of Belgian Milk Chocolate Honeycomb nuts. And yes, it seems to be. There are Christmas trees on the packet and it all looks very similar.

But is this nut selection as fabulous? Sadly, for us at any rate, the answer is no.

Perhaps if we had tried this version first this would have been the fabulous one. But I suspect not. The maple syrup flavour doesn't seem to work as well as the honey roast, which I have always loved, and the chunks of plain chocolate simply cannot compete with the milk chocolate coated honeycomb chunks. Why no plain chocolate coated honeycomb? That could have been great.

Don't leave a packet on the supermarket shelf just because the Chef & I didn't enjoy this as much as the Frosted Honey Roast version. You might love this fancy nut selection.

KP Oven Baked Italian Herb Peanuts & Cashews

I really am not at all sure about these nuts. The Chef seems to quite like them but I'm not sure.

The packet shows the nuts all glossy and golden and brown and covered in herby goodness. The nuts in real life are a bit matte and more grey than golden brown. Which is not exactly a great look. But they do have some herbs on.

And the flavour? Er... well to be brutally honest I felt the taste was more sick than Italian herbs. Not nice. After 2 or 3 nuts they start to taste OK, a fairly tasty herbiness. But honestly I thought the initial taste was very unpleasant.

The Chef, however, didn't seem to know what I was talking about. He said they were tasty. And that was that.

I'm really not sure I want my nuts oven baked to lock in flavour. Which apparently is how they cook nuts these days. I have no clue how they used to cook nuts (presumably in a thoroughly unhealthy fashion) but whatever they did it was pretty tasty (and did not include Italian herbs), and I think I really liked it.

Why can't we all learn to eat less of the full fat version? Because the healthier oven baked or whatever is never as nice. And I feel sure that people are encouraged to eat more of the "healthy" version because it is labeled healthy even though the healthy aspect is quite limited.

Seriously, and I do mean seriously, I would far prefer to eat something full fat and bad for me - but carefully, thoughtfully eat less than I I'd really like - than eat more of a so-called healthy version which isn't anything like so nice.

In this case less really is more. And don't let anyone try to persuade you otherwise.

KP Frosted Honey Roast Peanuts & Cashews mixed with pieces of Belgian Milk Chocolate Honeycomb

As we step forward cautiously into this brave new world of ever stranger politics (forthcoming attractions: elections in The Netherlands, France and Germany), perhaps it's time to buy more nuts.

Regular readers will have noted that I haven't had a whole lot to say about nuts until just recently. There are so very many potato crisps to write about, and crispy snacks, and popcorn, that I thought nuts might be an unwelcome distraction.

However, I couldn't help observing the stealthy entry of nuts, alongside crisps and popcorn, into the weird and wonderful world of fancy flavours. Dutch taste tester tells me she welcomes this departure. Apparently interesting flavours of nuts have long been on sale in The Netherlands. I gather they are called Cocktail Nuts.

Anyway this little packet of Christmassy nuts (snowy Christmas trees on the packet - what a giveaway) almost leapt off the supermarket shelf into my shopping basket.

Oh dear. The Chef and I think this packet of nuts is rather good. We could get seriously fat. And the reluctant taste testers haven't got a hope of trying this packet because I don't think the Chef would be happy to see it leave the building. But I will buy another packet for the Christmas tea table when the relations come round.

Peanuts and Cashews, all covered and coated in sparkly honey roast yumminess and chocolate coated honeycomb! Amazing eh? Who could possibly resist? Apart from people with a peanut allergy obviously. Which is a dreadful thing. But seriously give them a try if you can find them.

Not nearly enough chunks of chocolate coated honeycomb. But that is a tiny criticism.

Oh, and shock horror.... none left in the supermarket just one day later. And no space on the shelf for them either. None at all in two other supermarkets the Chef has investigated. Did I imagine buying this fabulous product?

Update: the reluctant taste testers have now had an opportunity to try this amazing product. And found it almost universally fabulous. Senior taste tester (who has given up remarking when something is not a crisp - no! it's not - you're quite right) did suggest somewhat grumpily that the taste is a bit sweet but everyone else ignored this truth. History Graduate taste tester (back again) said it was without doubt the best selection of nuts ever. Yum!

And: luckily this product is now available in the shops again!

KP Nik Naks Rib'n'Saucy

 

I don't think I really get Nik Naks. They were never part of my childhood snacking (possibly not invented yet), or indeed my snacking at any time. I don't spot a packet and cry "Amazing I haven't seen Nik Naks for ages!" in an enthusiastic fashion as did Slightly Red Haired Bristolian taste tester the other day. Tech taste tester likes them too. I'm pretty sure they were a childhood treat for him.

 

However, it's always good to try something new, and this is a new Nik Nak flavour for me. Rib'n'Saucy. Hmmnnn..... We think this is a Chinese style rib not an American barbecue rib. And to me it tastes a bit sweet and sour, or aromatic crispy duck-like.

 

Not being a big eater of Nik Naks, neither a big eater of ribs (not even Chinese ribs) I am struggling slightly here. I think if you are a fan of Nik Naks you are likely to enjoy this crispy snack a lot. If not, perhaps not.

KP Hula Hoops Stars

Ever had Hula Hoops? Of course you have. At least if you live in the UK. Well, look what I found in Sainsbury's. Star-shaped Hula Hoops.

Seasonal shaped crispy snacks seem to have appeared all over the place in the last couple of years. A Christmas tree is a popular shape but stars are fairly Christmassy too. The reluctant taste testers and I pondered this at work the other day. We wondered about angel-shaped snacks. They might be good. Three wise men? And what about baby Jesus shapes? Perhaps not.

Did I see holly leaf shapes in Tesco a year ago? I think I might have but I can't remember. We have of course tried Jacobs Treeselets; tree-shaped instead of rectangular, Jacobs Cheesonal Mini Cheddars which come in bell and snowman shapes instead of round, KP Cheese & Tomato Christmas Crackers which come in bell, star and tree shapes, and Tesco Snowmen Tortilla Chips. Shame about the lack of angels. Cookie cutters always come angel-shaped and reindeer too. Ooh....

These stars were smaller than I was expecting. Somehow I had expected the inside of the star to be the same size as the inside of a regular Hula Hoop. But no. The outer points of the star seem to be the same size as a regular Hula Hoop and then the inner points are just squished in from that size. So you can't put them on your finger unless you are a very very small child. Kind of disappointing.

Returned maternity leave taste tester (I must think of a better nom de crispy snack for her) missed these little stars. She isn't in the office every day. But her first question was; can you still fit them on your fingers? Because, you know, what could be better than food you can fit on your fingers and then eat? So not just disappointing to me.

Otherwise these are just exactly like a regular Hula Hoop. Quite a hard crunch and lightly salted. Pretty good.

Improbable though it may seem, this is the 400th crispy blog post!

KP The Real McCoy's Ridge Cut Mexican Chilli

I had quite forgotten that McCoy's call themselves "MAN CRISPS" and have an online pub with online darts.

But the packaging designer knows that these are man crisps and designs the packets accordingly. Mexican Chilli flavour has a rich brown packet. The Flame Grilled Steak flavour is a darker brown with grill marks on it. This is not a style of crisps for girlies.

However, being a girl myself (OK, grown up woman), I am interested to see what exactly makes these crisps MAN CRISPS.

The flavours are Thai Sweet Chicken, Sizzling King Prawns, Salted and BBQ Ribs, Flame Grilled Steak, Cheddar & Onion, and Salt & Malt Vinegar. I admit I'm not particularly attracted to most of these crisp flavours, but is this because I'm not a man? Are these especially manly flavours? I am a picky eater and don't fancy Thai food, and won't eat prawns. But I know plenty of girls who have a broader idea of tasty food than I do.

It's a bit odd. And the deep ridges don't put me off either. Yes, they may be ridgier crisps than others but this difference is as nothing compared with the difference between ordinary chocolate and the Yorkie Bar which was marketed as a chocolate bar for men. Or even lorry drivers (obviously stronger and manlier than mere company director or premiership footballer style men). It had such thick chocolate you had to have teeth like a hippopotamus to bite thorough it, never mind the teeth of man.

These crisps have a lovely dark golden colour and loads of tasty flavour dust. The ridges are deep and the crunch is good. Some of the reluctant taste testers told me they thought the chilli flavour would be too strong - but it wasn't. One of the least enthusiastic testers told me enthusiastically that she rather liked them. Which is a pretty strong endorsement.

Tasty certainly. And surprisingly good. We liked this little 50g packet. And thanks to the (not actually on a corner) corner shop in Oxford next to the (on the corner) pub where I had lunch on Saturday for selling them.

KP Skips Tingly Prawn Cocktail

This is interesting. To me at any rate. KP Skips are made with tapioca starch. At least they are in the UK. For some reason in Ireland they are made with potato starch. Doesn't that seem as though it would be a totally different product?

I read that Skips were launched in 1974 and are manufactured under licence from the Japanese company Meiji Seika. And, which I didn't know because I don't remember seeing them, you can get Skips in three other flavours (Bacon, Cheese and Salt & Vinegar). At some unspecified time in the past there were limited edition flavours such as ReBoot Dots Donut. What??? Oh well what can you say? Anyway, they are best known for the Prawn Cocktail flavour.

I have been aware of Skips for years and years but I'm not sure I have ever tried them before. So let's go.

You know what? These are actually quite nice. I followed the instructions on the packet to balance a Skip on my tongue and let it melt in my mouth. They are quite fizzy, light and melty (as the packet tells me) and quite nice. Although I do slightly get the sensation of eating one of those packaging peanuts.

I don't eat prawns so I don't know if prawn cocktail tastes anything like Skips. Very likely not.

Skips contain no artificial colours of flavours and no MSG. They are cooked with 100% sunflower oil which is supposed to be healthier than other oils. And they are suitable for vegetarians so no prawns involved. I thought as much.

The little guy throwing his rubbish away responsibly has a little label: slam dunk your junk. So, a snack aimed at basketball players perhaps?

I like the way the 39p price tag on this 17g packet is designed to look like an old fashioned dangly tag.

KP Hula Hoops Puft Salted

Here's another flavour from Hula Hoops Puft: salted flavour wheat & potato rings.

Salted perhaps, but not terribly salty.

Nice gentle fried crispy aroma, nice gentle salty taste, nice crunch but not very exciting. Very pale colour. I do rather feel they would be better with a bit more colour but that is a minor quibble. They do taste OK - it's just all a little quiet.

The reluctant taste testers polished off the bowlful (2 little bags) but we weren't mad for this crispy snack.  Quite nice. Inoffensive. But rather bland. That's possibly the best description. Sorry chaps; I think I'm damning this crispy snack with faint praise.

To be honest I think I prefer the original Hula Hoops.

KP Hula Hoops Puft Cheese

The packet tells me that Hula Hoops Puft are new. And I confess that I've not seen them before.

Puft. Honestly! Anyway, what you get is a sort of puffed up version of the original Hula Hoops we know so well. And somehow, because this crispy snack is puffed it seems to be much larger than an ordinary Hula Hoop.

You get a huge waft of (rather processed) cheese when you open the bag and the taste is pretty (processed) cheesy too. Lots of dairy products in the ingredients although I suspect that much of the flavour comes from the dried onion, garlic and tomato listed on the packet. And of course the colour comes from paprika as so often.

I was expecting the texture to be softer - like a cheese puff or a Quaver - but in fact they have a good crunchy crunch. Not as hard as regular Hula Hoops obviously.

The packet describes this as a hoopy snack. Which takes me straight back to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Hey you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who knows where his towel is. Or words to that effect. Ah, how the mind can be dragged back to 1978. Mind you; Douglas Adams would have struggled with his predictive text when writing that today.

Not bad. But I think I will stick to regular Hula Hoops next time.... although I do have some Hula Hoops Puft Ready Salted to try.

KP Cheese & Tomato Christmas Crackers

An assortment of festive shaped crackers it says on the tub. Perfect for Sharing!

Mmn.... what you get in this tub of Christmas crackers is a selection of little biscuits; star-, Christmas tree-, and (presumably Christmas) bell-shaped biscuits - with a sort of cheese and tomato streusel topping.

I had hoped for great things from this new product. Because cheese footballs, which I love, come in tubs as do the terrific cheeselets (this year of course they are treeslets) and of course twiglets. All great tasty snacks.

Unfortunately although the cheese and tomato topping tastes quite cheese and tomatoey, and herby too, the biscuits themselves are characterless and dry. Which is a real shame.

So we were't that impressed. And neither were the reluctant taste testers.

I'm afraid these get a "could do better" rating. Suitable for vegetarians though.

KP Wheat Crunchies Crispy Bacon

In the spirit of trying more bacony flavour crispy snacks I'm now trying these rather strange "wheaty tubes with a serious crunch". Or that's what it says on the packet. 

It's true. They do have a serious crunch. And supposing they really are made of wheat (and I don't see why not because it's on the ingredients list) they are wheaty tubes: 50mm or 2" long. So quite big. And you can see right through the tube.

The smell is... not so much crispy bacon as a fake crispy bacon crisp flavour. Perhaps that's not surprising as there doesn't appear to be any actual bacon involved. And the colour of course comes, as so often, from paprika.

It says here that Wheat Crunchies contain no artificial colours or flavours, and no MSG. I wonder how they've managed to make the taste so fake then?

It's a shame that this crispy snack is so greasy tasting. Not very nice and leaving a greasy feel in my mouth. The flavour dust tastes better on its own than on the snack. But it stays on your fingers for a long time. Even after a very thorough hand wash.

What a pity. This was part three of my crispy birthday present. Still, the first two packets I tried were very good so I won't feel too bad about saying: very sorry KP but I'm not going to finish the packet.

KP Cheese Footballs

Oh wow! It's Cheese Football time of year again. 

They are sort of wonderful and sort of the last thing you ought to be eating all at the same time. And I can't help loving them. Yum yum yum.

OK, so if you never tried a Cheese Football think two semi-spherical half-football-shaped wafer outsides with a squishy salty fake cheese filling. It's a completely pretence food made of 100% not actually cheese at all. Just delicious!

Of course, one of the great things about Cheese Footballs is that you only get them at Christmas. So you get to look forward to them. Like looking forward to real English-grown strawberries in the summer. If Cheese Footballs were available all year round I probably wouldn't buy them. Yes, I know it's me being contrary again.

What do they actually taste like? Hard to say. The outer shell is a sort of wafer which doesn't taste of much, it's just there to hold the cheese in. And to pretend to look like a football I suppose. And the inner cheesy bit is a sort of cream-coloured salty cheesy mush. And quite sweet. Sounds horrible doesn't it? And yet... and yet, I find them hard to resist. At least once a year.

The trick is to bite off one half of wafer shell and eat that, then bite off the second half of the shell so you're left with the squidgy cheesy bit. And then you let that dissolve in your mouth. Or you can just eat them like a normal person would.

Because Cheese Footballs come in a drum I can't shove the packaging into the scanner so here it is on a bookshelf. The packaging says "the winning snack at home or away". Is this a snack you would take to a football match? I shouldn't think so. We also have two dreadful riddles:

Q What does Santa do when elves misbehave? A Give them the sack.

Q What do you sing at a snowman's birthday party? A Freeze a jolly good fellow. 

Probably best not to comment. Cheese Footballs were originally made by Huntley & Palmer and I have to admit I thought they were currently made by Jacobs but since many confusing mergers and a takeover by German snack conglomerate Intersnack they seem to come under the KP brand name these days.

Important Information 2 January 2022

I contacted KP at the end of December 2021. The Customer Services Team kindly replied almost immediately to tell me, and I am passing on the information to you lot, that this fabulous crispy snack is sent out to “most supermarkets” in mid September. So the advice is, if you find a shop with a stock of them, buy lots and eke them out. Because they have a 12 month shelf life you can safely keep a supply in the cupboard under the stairs. Or like me just gorge to your heart’s content over Christmas. And this Christmas I was given 2 tubs by 2 different family members! What could be better than that? (Because I don’t really like chocolate that much).

Just to add, I’m not sure what “most supermarkets” actually means. I haven’t seen Cheese Footballs in any of our local Waitrose branches for years, and my spies tell me that the smaller local Tesco stocks them, but the very large branch doesn’t seem to. And at least one branch of Sainsbury’s had them in December. So obviously you need to shop around….from mid September. Good luck next year.

October 2022: I followed my own advice and just picked up 5 tubs of Cheese Footballs from a giant branch of Tesco. But beware - there were four huge shelves of crisps and none of them were Cheese Footballs. We were super disappointed but kept looking and found what we were looking for on a completely different shelf some distance away. So keep looking.

KP Hula Hoops

I tried a selection packet of Hula Hoops.

I hadn't had a Hula Hoop for years so it was interesting to try them again. We used to have them all the time and for some reason it seemed really cool to put a hoop on to the end of each finger and then eat them off my fingers - instead of just eating them out of the packet. Of course that was a long long time ago.

And guess what? They taste just as I remember. And also guess what? Apparently everyone else in the world used to eat Hula Hoops off the ends of their fingers. Well well.

It turns out that although there is nothing at all the matter with Hula Hoops I find I'm not terrifically impressed. Perhaps it's because they seem to be exactly the same as they were back in 1973 which is of course a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... But in 1973 we didn't have such a wealth of crispy snacks to choose from. Or indeed so many fascinating flavours to try.

I read on the website that Hula Hoops currently come in BBQ Beef, Cheese and Onion, Original, Salt and Vinegar, Roast Chicken, Smokey Bacon, Sour Cream and Chive, and Sweet Chili flavours. I haven't actually seen most of these as our local Waitrose has quite a small crispy snack section and tends not to stock the more exciting flavours. This multipack has Cheese and Onion, Original and Salt and Vinegar; the classics.

Hula Hoop Facts: did you know it would take over 250 million Hula Hoops to weigh the same as the Angel of the North! Hula Hoops in a hole world of their own. Not, I have to say, something I had ever considered but you never know what thrilling info will be printed on the back of a crisp packet.

I started with Cheese and Onion. The cheese and onion-ness is quite pleasant. Not too strong, not too oniony, but weirdly you can suck the cheese and onion flavour off and then you just have an original flavour Hula Hoop.

And then I moved on to Original. Quite tasty, a little bit salty, not very exciting but OK. As always, quite a hard crunch. And of course these crunchy potato snacks are little hoops. What else? Not convinced I would want to eat more than a very small bag at one sitting but perfectly good as a crispy crunchy snack.

Finally Salt and Vinegar. Which is a little bit too sharp for my taste. A little bit too vinegary. Not too bad but I far prefer the Original flavour. In fact I'm inclined to think that Original is best.

I can see why they still sell of course. These small multi pack bags seem to be aimed at the packed lunch market. Little children (and let's admit it, not so little children too) will always enjoy eating them off the ends of their fingers.