O'Donnells of Tipperary Hand Cooked Crisps Irish Sea Salt

This a a hard to find crisp. Apparently the Irish don't much care for plain salted crisps (how weird can you get? It's my favourite flavour), but Cliffs of Moher taste tester’s mother tenaciously tracked a packet down for us to try. Apparently she visited just about every crisp emporium for miles around. In Ireland obviously.

And actually, I wonder why O'Donnells make sea salt crisps if the local crisp buying population aren't mad keen on the flavour? I guess I will never know the ins and outs of it.

Anyway, the reluctant taste testers fell upon this crisp like a flock of gannets. Or perhaps a plague of locusts.

Delicious. A lovely crisp. You don’t get much better.

O'Donnells of Tipperary Hickory Barbecue Flavour

Hmnn... I confess I am quite disappointed. Cliffs of Moher taste tester told me this was a truly great crisp with a fab flavour. And guess what? I didn't much like it.  But I shouldn't be surprised because I almost never lie the barbecue flavour crisps and of course that's what this is.

However, worry not readers, because the reluctant taste testers paid no attention to my pickiness and liked this handsome Irish crisp anyway. And I suspect that unless you share my unreasonable dislike of BBQ as a flavour, you will enjoy them too.

This really is a handsome crisp and if it didn't taste all wrong for me I think I'd like it quite a lot.

So don't listen to me, listen to the reluctant taste testers and know that they approve. And this crisp won an Irish Food Award in 2013.

O'Donnells of Tipperary Irish Cider Vinegar & Sea Salt Hand Cooked Crisps

Another sensational crisp from Irish crispmeisters O'Donnells of Tipperary. All the reluctant taste testers who expressed a preference loved this crisp. Except Tall Elegant taste tester who can be a bit picky about salt. Her one trial crisp ended up in the compost bin (we do our very best on the recycling front).

We have to thank Cliffs of Moher taste tester for buying these wonderful crisps which I understand can only be found in the Republic of Ireland. Unfortunately she left them at home and we had to wait for her mum to post them. But lucky us because here they are.... or were... before we snacked them all up.

All our regulars loved this great crisp with just the right crunch and a fabulous flavour. Brand new taste tester from the New Forest took our snacking activities in her stride and enjoyed this crisp too.

I snaffled a few at the bottom of the packet for the Chef to try at home and, despite the fact that he doesn’t like salt & vinegar much as a crisp flavour, he polished them off in no time at all. His considered opinion? An excellent crisp.

Top marks all round. If only we could buy them in a handy North London branch of Waitrose (obviously other supermarkets are available).

O'Donnells of Tipperary Hand Cooked Crisps Mature Irish Cheese & Red Onion Flavour

What a wonderful crisp this is.

Posted to London by Cliffs of Moher taste tester's mother from darkest Ireland, this packet of crisps arrived at my house, went back to the office and was snacked up quick smart by the reluctant taste testers who were all very enthusiastic.

I see from the packet that this crisp won the Irish Café Quality Food & Drink Awards in 2015 and I'm not surprised. It is always harder to write about a really fabulous product than one you don't like (yes, I know that seems a bit counter intuitive), but what can one say?

Lovely crisps, nice crunch, great flavour. Everyone enjoyed it.

O'Donnells of Tipperary Hand Cooked Crisps Ballymaloe Relish & Cheddar Cheese Flavour

A great surprise this week when Cliffs of Moher taste tester got a parcel from her mother in Ireland. Because as well as the expected contents, there was a packet of genuine Irish crisps for me and the reluctant taste testers to try, and a jar of Irish relish for Noble Friend. Well, that’s a very kind gesture from someone I have never met, and may never get to meet.

An especially kind gesture as this is a crisp probably not available in the UK, in fact a brand of crisp I had never heard of; and so would not have searched for. But what a treat! This is a great crisp.

What a tragedy it would have been never to have been made aware or this brand, because this is a really great potato crisp. Nice big crisps with a very good crunch, and a fabulous flavour. I had never tried Ballymaloe Relish before (unlike Noble Friend who loves it), but I thought it made a pretty great crisp flavour. The cheese element isn’t very noticeable but that does not detract from a really top flavour. Although it would be interesting to see what it would taste like sans cheddar.

I think all the reluctant taste testers enjoyed this Irish crisp very much. Except Tall Elegant taste tester who doesn’t much care for tomatoes.

And I would just love to try a plain salted version of this wonderful crisp because I think that's the ultimate test of a good crisp. But Cliffs of Moher taste tester tells me that the Irish don't really care for plain salt as a crisp flavour. Speaking (writing) as a person with a Scottish name but lots of Irish ancestry I find that very weird.

Nevermind. This is a fab crisp. Get yourself to Ireland and try it for yourself because I don't think you can get this crisp brand anywhere else. And well done Ed O'Donnell for deciding to diversify.
Read about O'Donnell's here.