Co-op Irresistible Hand Cooked BBQ Lamb Kofta & Tzatziki Flavour Limited Edition

I’ve only gone and bought yet another bag of crisps that I don’t like.

I don’t care that they’re a limited edition, I don’t find them irresistible and I can’t taste Lamb Koftas, BBQ or otherwise. 

That’s unfortunate. The Co-op, that’s the UK Co-op, usually produces a good crisp. And here we have a nice sized crinkle cut crisp, not too large, with the expected good crunch. But… whatever were the flavour scientists thinking? I know what you’re thinking; it’s probably just my weird sense of taste. But seriously, I can just barely detect the lamb and the tzatziki not at all.

What a pity. I love lamb koftas. And I’m rather partial to tzatziki. Hey ho.

I’m really sorry but I cannot recommend this crisp. Look, it’s not a nasty flavour it’s just not the flavour as advertised. Luckily, it is as I said before, a limited edition crisp and probably all the bags that were made have been sold and eaten by people less fussy than me. But remember, I am an internationally renowned taste tester. So that’s my job.

Sorry everyone.

Co-op Limited Edition Dill-icious Dill Pickle Flavour Crisps

This is a wonderful crinkle cut crisp with a great bite and lots of good crinkles for the flavour dust to stick to.

Unfortunately the flavour is all wrong. I really enjoy dill pickle as a flavour, I love dill. But these crisps are far too vinegary for my taste. Far too vinegary. And I don’t like the way they smell. What a shame. And disappointing because Co-op crisps are usually very good.

Pretty packaging though.

Jacob’s Mini Cheddars Frank’s Red Hot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce

Pay attention if you like spicy snacks. This is a limited edition offering from Jacob’s. Although, obviously I don’t know when the time limit began or when it will finish. 

Hot! A bit of a surprise to a regular Mini Cheddar fan.

Yes, these are basically the ordinary everyday Mini Cheddars that you know and love (always a good bet if you fancy a little biscuitty, crunchy, cheesy snack), but invigorated with the exciting addition of Frank’s Red Hot sauce (since 1920). 

Yum. Definitely yum. Not for you if you don’t like spicy, and honestly I didn’t used to, I really didn’t. But your palate evolves if you give it a chance, and perhaps you might like to start here.

But if you do fancy a red hot taste of cayenne pepper sauce, seek them out and try them while you can. I very much enjoyed this 150g packet and eked them out for a week, not wanting to snack them down too quickly.

Manōmasa Limited Edition Chimichurri Steak

Quite a lot of ‘meaty’ or ‘chickeny’ flavoured crisps are in fact suitable for vegetarian snackers. Even, perhaps some of the fake bacon shaped snacks. Is this to save money, or is it easier to create a flavour without adding dried meat or extract of meat or whatever sort of meatiness the food scientists are tinkering with these days? 

Whichever, the family vegetarian told me once that even though a crispy snack might be entirely vegetarian (though likely not vegan), if it has a meaty name that’s enough to put her off. In any case, that doesn’t apply here, because much to my surprise, this Chimichurri Steak flavour corn chip is actually made with meat.

I think it’s a long time since I tried a meat flavoured crisp that is actually made of meat. And that’s probably a good thing because I’m not sure I like these. They are…. aggressively meaty. And for me that’s not a good thing. 

And I am not at all sure I can taste the black beans. Maybe they are in the recipe to give a weird dark brown colour to the chips. 

Not really sure what I think. See what you think.

Co-op Irresistible Limited Edition Hand Cooked Chicken Shawarma

I really don’t know quite what to say about this limited edition crisp from our local Co-op here in North London. You will probably think the Chef and I are terribly boring, but we are both fairly sure we’ve never had a chicken shawarma. We almost never have a takeaway. I think the last one was a pizza in lockdown in Switzerland. So neither of us knows what taste to look out for in these crisps. Oh dear. That’s not a great help, is it!

I looked up a chicken shawarma recipe to see if it tallied at all with the ingredients on the packet. What do you think? Not really. I think the taste that I can’t quite get to grips with is lurking behind the unhelpful ‘chili chicken shawarma flavour seasoning’. I wish I knew what that concoction is made with.

Don’t run away with the idea that this crisp is nasty. It’s not. I have eaten quite a few, and the Chef has been absent mindedly snacking away with no complaints. 

The crisps themselves are not very large but with a nice crunch, and they are richly golden in colour. It’s just that I can’t work out what they taste of. Could it be the cumin? I can’t make my mind up. Whatever they taste of, it’s like no other potato crisp I ever tried before.

Manōmasa Limited Edition Pineapple and Habanero Chilli

I suspect you won’t be at all surprised to learn that this Limited Edition packet of Pineapple and Habanero Chilli tortilla chips from Manōmasa just leaped off the supermarket shelf and into my hand this week. 

I was just walking innocently towards the croissant and crumpet department with the Radio Times and a bottle of washing up liquid, but how could I resist the bright yellow packaging or the slightly weird lure of a pineapple flavour crispy snack? 

I confess I was a little bit disappointed by these excitingly packaged tortilla chips. If I had been doing a blind taste testing I would never have guessed there was pineapple involved. The blurb on the back of the packet does say they went through 30 different variations before settling on a final version, and they are tasty, but… the bright yellow packet does give one the impression that there will be a great big pineapplely taste. And there isn’t.

I think what we have here is something I have seen more than once on the Great British Bake Off. The contestant produces a cake flavoured with, let’s say, raspberries, cherries and elderflower. The judge says yum, delicious, but I can’t taste the elderflower. And the contestant says, yes I know, but I tried it without the elderflower and it wasn’t so good. 

Actually, I think you can taste the pineapple here. But only if you know it’s there. You can taste the chilli though, and very nice too. There is, in fact, a nice lot of tasty flavour dust. And then there’s the scattering of quinoa which I have no idea if I can taste it or not, because I never tried it before. At least, I don’t think so. The little quinoa grains do have a tendency to drop off though. I couldn’t work out what the little red things on the kitchen work top were. Could have been insects. Turned out to be quinoa. I hope.

Anyway, not what I expected, but I would happily eat this crispy snack again. Probably brilliant with a dip, but I didn’t have one so I just snacked in anyway. The Chef was not impressed but cheerfully admits he would far rather have a potato crisp. He doesn’t really like tortilla chips.

NB I have read that increasing numbers of people are allergic to quinoa, so take this into consideration.

Tesco’s Finest Christmas Pudding Flavour Limited Edition Hand Cooked Crisps

 

Wow! Christmas Pudding flavour crisps? What the…?

So what would you expect? I think I was expecting something horrible. But although this crisp flavour is horribly wrong, it isn’t horrible.

I actually quite liked the flavour. It reminded me of raisins and sultanas in a Christmassy sort of a way. Quite a nice sort of a flavour for a biscuit. In fact, a bit like a squashed fly (Garibaldi) biscuit. But if you ask me… oh dear no; not in a crisp. And I was quite surprised that the crispy flavour of potato, which you wouldn’t normally think to be too strong, was in fact punchy enough to fight back against the fruit.

Cliffs of Moher taste tester came round for a drink and on one tasting decided this crisp flavour was totally wrong. And refused to try another. She said she thought the flavour would be good for a scented candle. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not. She likes scented candles. I don’t.

The Chef thinks they are weird. 

As ever with Tesco Finest the crisps are on the large size with a good crunch, and rather darker than your average crisp. I don’t know how this flavour was created because the ingredients list only says ‘spices’.

The Chef tried again. He still thinks these crisps are too weird. And I am sorry to say that we couldn’t bring ourselves to finish the packet. That doesn’t happen very often.

Bought from a giant branch of Tesco where I also had a new passport photo taken.

Tesco Finest Limited Edition Sweet Potato with Cheese Fondue Hand Cooked Vegetable Crisps

Oh dear. What was Mr Tesco thinking?

Tall Elegant taste tester and I took a snap decision to throw these sweet potato crisps away before the rest of the reluctant taste testers had the chance to try. Noble Friend smelled the overpowering... I really hardly know how to describe it... and didn't try to stop us.

These crisps had a far too strong would-be-cheesy taste, and an aroma that pervaded half the office before we had a chance to stop it. And a frankly horrible taste not far off soap. Let’s just say we were very unimpressed. Oh dear.

Tall Elegant taste tester was much more polite than me: she didn't open up the bin and spit hers out.

I’ve got to say that I had my doubts about this flavour when I saw the packet but I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so nasty. Perhaps a lucky escape for all of us that this was a limited edition flavour.

The Chef's brother (not technically my brother-in-law but you get the picture) gave me this packet of crisps for Christmas. Impressive! One of the very nastiest crisps the reluctant taste testers and I have tried.

We spend quite a lot of time in Switzerland (lucky us) and have fondue quite often. It never tastes like this.

Tesco Finest Limited Edition Camembert with Rosemary Hand Cooked Crisps

No I'm sorry. This flavour is just too weird for me. The crisps smell far too strongly of rosemary (obviously rosemary is in the title so you expect some, but just the same...such a huge waft.. I wasn't expecting that). And a waft of Camembert too.

Seriously, what possessed the crisp development team at Tesco that this combination of flavour was a good idea?

The reluctant taste testers’ Christmas lunch was at a nice little restaurant in Hampstead and featured rosemary bread. Which was simply delicious. To be honest, I could have eaten just the bread (with butter) and been perfectly happy, and pretty well fed. I’d go back for the rosemary bread alone.

But rosemary doesn’t work well here. And the crisps were not popular with the reluctant taste testers. Or me.

Sorry about that, Mr Tesco.

Tesco Finest Limited Edition Roquefort with Roasted Chestnuts Hand Cooked Crisps

Well, apologies are in order as I’ve been offline for a while. I caught a horrendous cold in France in September and, while it only lasted two weeks (only!), it left me feeling I didn’t fancy crisps. Or writing about them.

But taste tester from the New Forest noticed I hadn’t updated the blog in a while. She was very polite about it but I thought I ought to pull my finger out.

So. A Christmas special. Lots of people eat blue cheese at Christmastime don’t they? I’m not sure why particularly. Perhaps blue cheeses have historically ripened at this time of year? Or maybe it’s that blue cheese seems a bit fancier than any old cheese so why not eat it when you’ve stuffed yourself silly on turkey or ham. Actually, I have no idea what countries other than the UK think about blue cheese, and here’s the thing, Roquefort is of course a French cheese not the traditional British blue: Stilton.

And chestnuts? Also a winter delicacy. People make a stuffing for the turkey with chestnuts. They buy roasted chestnuts from market stalls. They sing about roasting them over an open fire.

So I suppose maybe putting the two together makes sense for a limited edition Christmas special. Except I don’t like either of these flavours so the combination sounds pretty grim to me. But you know me if you’ve read this blog before. You’ll know that thinking something sounds horrible doesn’t stop me buying it and trying it out on the reluctant taste testers.

Now then. Back to the taste tester from the New Forest. When she saw this packet of crisps she was extremely dubious. She expounded at length on how one year her family made a chestnut stuffing for their turkey, and how she didn’t like the taste at all, and how it infused the whole turkey with its nasty (her opinion, obviously) taste which was a bit of a disaster for her Christmas dinner.

But guess what? After a faltering start it turns out she quite enjoyed this crisp. Quite a large bowlful got eaten - as usual the taste testers lost no opportunity to disagree with me - and then the Chef ate the rest of the packet by himself. So once again, it’s just me.

I was in Tesco again a while after buying this packet of crisps, looking for something else, when a young woman with obviously severe learning difficulties approached me. She wanted help getting a packet off the shelf. She said her cat likes these crisps!

Bobby’s Limited Edition Curry Sauce Potato Snax

It’s a well-known fact that I’m a very fussy eater. So guess what? I really don’t like curry or curry sauce.

Having said that, I saw one of those silly lists on Facebook the other day. You know: “50 books to read before you die - how many have you read?” (usually about 6 as I'm a very picky reader - what? no point in starting a book I know I won't enjoy) or “most people have been to at least 37 of these countries...” and in this case “how many of these 50 foods would you refuse to eat?” Let’s see... erm... 9. That seemed pretty picky to me. And then I noticed that my friend Alan had posted 43. He wouldn’t eat 43 out of 50 foods! Amazing. Impressive.

So maybe I’m a bit less picky than I thought. But still the flavour of this crispy snack was not for me.

However... I have to tell you that this was probably the single most successful snack I have ever taken into the office. So successful that I had to revisit my supplier (the local Post Office) and buy six more packets that very same day.

Cliffs of Moher and Jam Maker taste testers, Slightly Red Haired Bristolian and Noble Friend were all mad for the flavour while Tech and Senior taste tester commented very favourably on the texture. Jam Maker taste tester comes from the North and has curry sauce on her chips so she is something of a connoisseur. A great success. 

And I must confess that the lovely 3D lattice design is rather fabulous. In another flavour perhaps I’d be a fan myself.

Tesco Finest Limited Edition Candy Cane Hand Cooked Potato Crisps

Candy Cane flavour crisps? What does that mean? Well, to people of my generation candy canes were things we only saw in Tom & Jerry cartoons (The Night Before Christmas probably features candy canes) and maybe fancy sweetie shops if you were lucky. These days you can buy them all over the place; I saw some in John Lewis the other day, but I've never owned or tried one. So I can only suppose they are mint flavoured.

So this is a mint flavoured potato crisp. Is it a limited edition to make you want it? No-one wants to suffer FOMO. Or is it a limited edition because Tescos got cold feet and thought it wouldn't sell? I hope not because I see that 100% of profits from the sale of this crisp go to the Trussell Trust which co-ordinates a nationwide network of food banks, and Fareshare which is a charity aimed at reducing food waste and relieving food poverty. Both great causes to support as many people these days struggle to feed their families.

And the crisps? Well by no means as weird as you might think. The mint is quite a delicate flavour and works with the crisps better then you might suppose. Nice crunch too. Give them a try and see what you think.

Kettle Chips Limited Edition Hand Cooked Baked Camembert & Oak Smoked Garlic

Oh dear. I really don't like this packaging. Although I suppose it is kind of camembert  colour so I can see why Mr Kettle chose it.

I don't find it very appealing. But I must admit that the gold detailing is rather grand, and the dark red strip has a very smart self-coloured pattern. Which shows up almost better in the scan than it does in real life but only on the red. The dark cream (which is darker in life than the scan shows) also has a self pattern which doesn't show up in the scan at all. I don't know what to make of that.

Not sure about the flavour either. Was it Noble Friend who said it's just a fancy version of cheese and onion? Whoever it was was quite right.

I love camembert. I used to work for a man (sadly no longer with us) who was the proud owner of the smelliest camembert in the world. My goodness it smelled bad. So bad that his French wife wouldn't let him store it in the house. You would think a Frenchwoman would allow the cheese in the building. But no. The cheese lived in the garden shed and came into the kitchen at lunchtime. It smelled bad but wow did it taste good!

Not sure these crisps actually taste of camembert. Or oak smoked garlic. I think we're verging on the complicated flavour front. Not ideal.

And Dutch taste tester complained the crisps are too thick and the bite too hard and she prefers a lighter bite. I'm a bit surprised by this as she had such a professional crunch when taste testing. And it seems most of her friends would be surprised too. Apparently when Dutch taste tester and the Vinyl Collector give a party loads of people generously bring Kettle Chips with them.

Kettle Chips look a lot fancier than your basic Walkers or Smiths crisps both of which are a thinner crisp with a much lighter crunch. Trouble is, crisps from Walkers or Smiths look more everyday. Well... not like a present. Dutch taste tester likes a lighter bite. And maybe you do too?

And hang about; the packet says absolutely nothing artificial. Oh good. Because that rather implies that other Kettle Chips flavours might be made with plastic or polystyrene. I'm fairly sure they're not. In fact, looking at the list of ingredients they do all look fairly real. As far as dried roasted garlic (for example) can be real. Still. It does seem an odd thing to say.

Manōmasa Limited Edition Cinnamon & Muscavado Sugar

This packet of unusual crisps was a generous donation from Tall Elegant taste tester.

Not actually a crisp; more of a circular tortilla made with finest white masa, this really is a pretty unusual snack.  The flavour is made from cacao nibs (Tall taste tester asked if they were embedded with chocolate chips and it does look like it), maple sugar and cloves in addition to the advertised Muscavado sugar and cinnamon. Oh, and buttermilk.

Weirdly these tortillas are not particularly sweet. Not particularly cinnamony either. What particularly struck me was the texture. The bite is a bit dull and then as you crunch through you are left with a mouthful of kind of gritty flour. Not ideal.

Tall taste tester said "this is just wrong!" after his first bite, and then ate several more tortillas. Slightly Red Haired Bristolian said "they aren't exactly horrible", damning them with extremely faint praise. Sadly nobody told me they liked them. But I noticed that a large bowlful was very nearly finished. Not an enthusiastic response but somebody, probably more than one somebody, was eating them. So, no, not exactly horrible.

Extra weird (could it get weirder?) the packet suggests that these tortillas might best be enjoyed dipped into melted dark chocolate. And thinly sliced strawberries should be added for a little slither of heaven. Well! Not what you expect from what looks like a packet of crisps.

 "Not salty enough" complained Tall taste tester. And therein lies the rub. The reluctant taste testers have tried 700 different crisps and crispy snacks over the last three and a half years, but even they were not prepared for what the lovely people at Monomasa call Recipe No: 31.

Obviously we have tried other crispy snacks we were not prepared for, like Lay's Cappuccino for example (seriously weird), but this Cinnamon & Muscavado Sugar tortilla is what we are considering today.

I guess that a lot of people will buy a new or limited edition packet of crisps (or tortillas) out of curiosity. The question here is will they buy it again? In this case I'm not sure. But don't take my word for it. If you spot a packet give them a try and prove me wrong.

Fabulous packaging design though. I really love it.

Walkers Stax Limited Edition Sour Cream & Onion

Walkers Stax? Since when?

Lay's Stax, yes. Of course I've seen them on websites and so on, but they've never been available in this country. Because as you know, we don't have the Lay's brand here.  But Lay's is Walkers in disguise (or vice versa) and maybe Walkers have decided to trial a Stax brand.

So what do we think?

Well, obviously this is the Walkers (Lay's) version of a Pringle. Stax come in a tube but with  a cardboard lid not a plastic one. And Pringles are circular while Stax are more of an oblong. Which I like. Because they fit in my mouth better. Pringles are too big. Or I have a small mouth.

But aside from that this is pretty much the same product. Doing its best to avoid copyright issues.

Most of the reluctant taste testers (except those who don't enjoy Pringles) rather enjoyed this crispy snack and quite a lot were eaten up. I have to say that when I first tried I thought the oniony taste was very strong, and then it rather grew on me. But since I had some sour cream and chive dip handy I tried it with these crisps.

You might suppose that a sour cream and chive dip combined with a sour cream and onion crispy snack would be too much of a good thing. But guess what? The two tastes combined to successful effect and I thought worked very well.

What did we think? Rather good. Now, can I find another flavour before this limited edition disappears forever?

Ruffles Chili Cheese / Chili et Fromage

My very first Canadian crisps!

Brought home from British Columbia by the Ski Instructor, who has come to stay for a couple of weeks, these crisps are a little bit broken... but it's difficult to fly with crisps. Unless, as the Ski Instructor put it, you are prepared to sit the packet on your fold down table for the entire flight (not really feasible), crisps are likely to get a little crushed.

Now why has no-one invented a light weight but rigid crisp-packet protector for bringing your foreign crisps and crispy snacks home? I'm lucky: I often fly home from Switzerland to get back to work and the Chef drives home in more leisurely fashion with a pile of crisps in the boot. The cavity under the boot which used to be the home of the spare wheel (I gather no-one has a spare wheel these days) is a fine storage space for crushable items like crisps.

Anyway, slightly crushed or no, these crinkle cut crisps are rather tasty. In fact, fairly yum. And I am selfishly eating them on a Sunday morning so it seems the reluctant taste testers are unlikely to get a look it.

I read that on the packet this is a Limited Time Offer. Does that mean the flavour is a limited edition? The Ski Instructor confirms that this is indeed the case. And a little online research shows me that Chili Cheese is not a regular flavour and without trying any of the other flavours (I guess I need to visit Canada), I want to know why?

Could be all Canadian Ruffles flavours are fabulous so it's hard to add a new one (I guess I need to visit Canada).

Nice little ridges/crinkles, lots of flavour dust, rich orange colour and a nice crunch. Slightly unnerving that the packet says simulated flavour. Perhaps this is Canadian packaging law. But although in the UK increasing numbers of crisps appear to be made from more natural ingredients than you might suppose, there are still plenty of crispy snacks that are made of mostly maltodextrin and MSG. But they do taste good.

Tesco Finest Limited Edition Prosecco & Elderberry Crisps

Another Prosecco flavour crisp? Really?

I'm afraid so, crisp fans.

Sweet, delicately fragrant elderberry with the festive fizz of Prosecco says the packet. Luckily it also says Limited Edition.

I think I get it. I really do. The crispy snack technicians working for Mr Tesco, and for Messrs M&S  (Winter Berries & Prosecco anyone?) wanted to provide the most up to date crispy technology for all crisp fans this Christmas. And everyone knows we all drink Champagne and Prosecco and Cava at this time of year because bubbles are somehow associated with celebrations.

But that bubbly fizz on a crisp? It's not for me.

OK. So some people may love this crisp. I can hardly get past the horrible Sodium Bicarbonate fizz even to taste these things. That's a bit unfortunate isn't it?

And some of them are pink. I think the M&S version was a bit less pink. Maybe I'm remembering wrong. But otherwise there isn't a great deal to choose between them. So I'm guessing that whoever it is creates crisps for Tesco does the same for M&S. If you know any different I would love to know.

I went to Tesco twice in search of these crisps because I felt the need to try them. The first time there wasn't even an empty space on a shelf so I came away disappointed; the second time I'd looked on their website and seen they were out of stock but I took the bus anyway and triumphantly carried a packet home. And I put them on the Christmas tea table.

The Chef's nephew tried one and that was enough. The Chef's niece boldly tried three. She wasn't impressed. The Chef's brother had already seen the packet the week before and said "yuk" so there was no hope of getting him to try. The Chef bravely tried three and admired the actual crisps but not the weird fizz. Or the sweet taste.

As always with Tesco crisps these are big and crunchy and beautifully cooked. Great quality.

I'm sorry. We really didn't like these crisps. And I think the Chef's niece said she has two friends who are mad for Prosecco and and they don't get Prosecco crisps either.

The verdict: too weird for us.

Tesco Finest Limited Edition Roast Turkey & Stuffing Crisps

Hmm... here's another roast turkey flavour crisp from Mr Tesco. I wrote about a roast turkey crisp from Tesco last year. It was created for Christmas 2013 but I didn't get around to trying it for a couple of months. I wonder if this is the same recipe?

I wonder especially because I gave the 2013 crisp a fairly rave review. And I'm about to damn this year's edition with relatively faint praise. Could this be because I've tried 150 odd different flavours of crisp since then? I wonder.

Anyway, these turkey flavour crisps are OK. I think you can detect a slight smell of turkey - which is included in the recipe - but mostly it's all about the stuffing flavour. Onions and herbs and garlic. And that unwelcome addition of celery. Yes, I think it may be the same recipe.

As usual with Tesco crisps they are big and crunchy and covered in tasty flavour dust. And the potato variety is different from last time. I know because Tesco are careful to tell us. This time we have Lady Rosetta potatoes grown in a field called Lime Kiln 2. Last time the potato was Hermes and the field, Roundwood.

Please don't run away with the idea that we don't like these crisps. It's just that, well beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, and taste testing I suppose relies on what you've trying lately, what you really liked recently, and what you didn't. And perhaps if this really is the same recipe crisp in a different bag, maybe it shouldn't be? Maybe crisp tastes have moved on?

The Chef & I are celebrating Christmas with chicken and bread sauce. Partly because there are only two of us and turkey is a socking great big bird and we wouldn't eat even a quarter of a small one, and partly because we think roast chicken tastes better. Merry Christmas!

Joe & Seph's Thai Style Peanut Satay Popcorn "Limited Edition"

I went to sit down at my desk this morning and at once spotted that the crispy snack fairy had made a donation. Yes, noble friend had been out and about and discovered a new kind of popcorn. She has a genius for finding new and exotic crispy snacks.

She says she went to a Japanese restaurant and was going to buy the Wasabi flavour popcorn but changed her mind and took home the Award Winning Peanut Satay flavour instead. Because it was different. And different it certainly is.

Joe & Seph's popcorn comes in a very efficient resealable 32g pouch. I was very impressed because resealable packets often don't. Don't reseal at all. The pouch is clear at the front - so you can see the popcorn - and silver at the back - I suppose so you have a proper backing to show the popcorn to its best advantage. And the label is cardboard.

I read that Joe and Seph make their popcorn in London. A team of pastry chefs make over 40 different flavours. Really? Amazing: they really do make a vast selection of flavours. Some of them even more bonkers-sounding than Thai Style Peanut Satay!

But bonkers is always fun to try, so the reluctant taste testers bravely attempted this crazy flavour, and some of them liked it rather a lot. Sadly I didn't like it much. I didn't think there was nearly enough peanut to make it properly satay, and then there was far too much coconut (which I don't like at all). But this didn't seem to bother the others, but especially the Dutch taste tester.

And noble friend said if there was a bowlful she would probably sit there happily and eat the lot.

I took a half handful home for the Chef to try and he seemed to quite like it too. But then, I know he's a fan of coconut. Enjoy the creamy nutty taste of peanuts and coconut milk, says the website, followed by a blend of oriental spices.

A very interesting introduction to a new (for us) maker of popcorn. And the promise, perhaps, of more exciting flavours to come.

M Signature Limited Edition Mozzarella & Pesto Hand Cooked Crisps

This packet of crisps was brought into the office by the senior taste tester who I suppose shops at Morrisons.

I don't usually shop there, but I see they do a number of own brand crispy snacks so I might take a bus in a Northerly direction in the not too distant future to see what they have in stock. Or as the TV commercials so odiously put it these days "in store".

So the senior taste tester set out a bowlful of crisps. Some of the the reluctant taste testers really liked this flavour, and some of them didn't.

Someone said they were very good and just exactly like pesto. And someone else said the taste was all chemically and horrible and she didn't like them at all.

I have to admit that to me they tasted so exactly like the brand of pesto I have decided I really dislike that I fall into the not liking them camp. Plus there wasn't much evidence of mozzarella which is a great shame.

Nice looking crisps, good dark golden colour, but a much harder crunch than I was expecting.

It definitely would be worth trying other flavours if I can find them.