San Carlo 1936 Antica Ricetta

Here's a seriously fabulous packet of crisps which the Chef and I found in our favourite supermarket in Florence. It's a wonderful shop with a tiny entrance but the inside goes back and back and wiggles round past the meat and the cheeses and wiggles some more past the dog food and cleaning stuff until you arrive back almost where you started. And it's handily placed very close to the Oltrano end of the Ponte Vecchio. So no more than 5 minutes walk from our usual hotel; even allowing for the thousands of bridge fans who clutter the place up at all hours of the day and night. At weekends they sing. For hours.

I was a little bit concerned because the packet is slightly past its sell-by date but in fact I don't think this was a problem at all. Yes, you guessed, we would have tried them sooner but I wasn't fancying crisps while I was ill.

Lovely small crisps, a little bit thicker than the norm for a UK crisp (which of course it isn't) with a truly great crunch. Remember Dutch taste tester is a cruncher of professional standard? She really approves. Nice lightly salted flavour. Very nice indeed. Everybody, even Architectural taste tester, was a fan. And that is a high accolade indeed. Senior tatse tester was pleased to approve too. Which is good because I annoyed him last week with those weird green bean things.

The reluctant taste testers ate ¾ of the 150g (6 portion) packet with no trouble at all. The Chef scoffed the rest very quickly indeed.

I don't think the sell-by date was an issue - but if it was... then these crisps are sensational.

The packet is quite tough with a wide gusset. It features slightly blurry sepia archive photos of early San Carlo employees and a nice little drawing of the amazing Milan cathedral. And the fabulous contents, it seems, are a recreation of the original 1930s crisps.

I can't recommend these highly enough. Probably available in grocery stores all over Italy. There's an Italian deli near the Royal Free hospital. I wonder if I can persuade them they need to stock this great crisp?

Highlander Kiss My BBQ! (Gusto Barbecue)

The Chef and I have tried the Black Pepper Forever! and Tomato or Nothing! flavour crisps from Highlander. We discovered them at Italian railway stations and found them tasty, indeed pretty much irresistible. Especially the tomato flavour.

 

So when Noble Friend went to Rome for a family do I asked her to look out for a packet of Highlander crisps for the reluctant taste testers to try. Which she duly did. And the reluctant taste testers found this barbecue crinkle cut crisp really very good.

 

I quite liked them too and I'm not usually mad about BBQ/barbecue as a flavour. In fact sometimes I find it downright horrible. but not here.

 

Lovely crunch, nice rich colour and a very nice taste.

 

Sadly these crisps are no longer made in Scotland but for some strange reason Italian crisp giant San Carlo finds it a good plan to market these crisps with guys wearing kilts. Weird isn't it? But easily recognisable.

 

Highlander crisps: crunchy and brave!

Highlander Black Pepper Forever! (Gusto Pepe Nero)

Another packet of crinkle cut from Highlander Crisps by San Carlo. And I thought these would probably be be tastier than the Tomato or Nothing! flavour because - because black pepper is easy, and tomato don't always work so well - but I was wrong.

And the Chef was wrong because he had thought the same.

Don't get the wrong idea. Black Pepper Forever! is a fine flavour and nothing the matter with it, but to our surprise we liked the Tomato or Nothing! flavour better. A nice fine crinkle, good crunch and a tasty flavour. And very nice too.

This packet of crisps came from Milan railway station. In fact, we found it on our way to Florence and it whetted our appetite for the Kiss my BBQ! and Fight for Vinegar! flavours which we have not yet tried. The Tomato or Nothing! packet, as you know, came from Pisa. I guess we didn't visit enough different railway stations because we didn't spot these crisps in any shops. Another time perhaps.

And here's a final chunk of Florence.

Wacko's Perfidamente Buono Gusto Salami

And yet another offering from Italian crisp giant San Carlo, this one discovered at Milan railway station. Although frankly, if I'd been an ordinary person and not an internationally renowned food writer I should probably have walked past these crisps without a second glance.

And I would, I think, have been right. Because the design of this crisp packet, based (I can only suppose and only sort of ) on Homer Simpson, is pretty fairly off-putting for any person remotely grown-up. And the taste… it can't be aimed at adults.

Pity. I had hoped that a crispy snack tasting of salami might be rather good. But no. Why not do you suppose? A great big Italian food company ought to know what salami tastes like. And I was only wondering the other day why I had never seen a salami flavour crisp in Italy. Which I why I invested in this packet. And that, I guess, gives me the answer I was looking for: salami flavour crisps don't work.

Not bad crisps, not bad colour, a light crunch. But neither the Chef or I liked the flavour at all.

But I won (if that's the correct word) a brown "Style" toy keyring from the little Wacko's packet included with the crisps. Lucky me!

I have slightly struggled to find any information about these crisps online but it seems they have been around a little while. And I think they have ketchup, cheese, paprika and lightly salted flavours on offer. One can only hope that these are tastier than the new salami flavour. Which as I said, we really didn't like much at all.

Autentica Trattoria Bruschetti al Gusto Pomodoro e Basilico

Another packet of crispy snacks found at Pisa railway station (there are several shops) and I had the choice of tomato and basil or black olive. I chose the tomato and basil because I thought the black olive flavour might taste too strongly of olives. Which to be honest, I'm not completely mad about. I guess I was right (or the factory packed these Bruschetti incorrectly), because they taste tremendously of olives even though the flavour isn't olive. Must be the 5% genuine olive oil I suppose.

The Chef did not much enjoy these crunchy little Bruschetti but I did. Somewhat to my surprise I enjoyed them lot. Great big crunch, tiny little snack. And I really enjoyed the taste too. And guess who makes them? Of course, you guessed. The mighty San Carlo.

Next time I go back to Italy I will definitely look out for this crispy snack. They do Bruschetti, Chips and also Baghetti. So plenty to look forward to. I say next time because Italy is quite close. And although we haven't done it yet, we often talk about going for lunch at our favourite restaurant on Lake Maggiore. Best pudding in the world!

Anyway, in the meantime, because I found this packet in Pisa, some more pictures of Pisa. Which is so pretty. I mean, Florence is fabulous but so crowded. So why not check out Pisa if you are in the area?

Oh OK then. Since you've asked so nicely, here's the Leaning Tower of Pisa (other photos are a view along the Arno river, the Campo Santo, and the side of the Baptistry with typical Italian umbrella pines).

San Carlo Virtual Coni di Mais dal Gusto Deciso

Sounds glamorous doesn't it? But what does it mean? Basically, according to Google Translate, it means San Carlo crisps (we knew that), in a style mysteriously called "virtual" (meaning "virtual"), and the flavour is corn flavour cones.

Corn flavour cones? Well, maize flavour cones. Which is interesting because the flavour is a little bit barbecue (sorry, obviously that should be BBQ) and not really very maize. Or that's the aroma when the packet is opened. But the cones bit is right. Slightly ridgy cones of extruded maize crunchiness.

In the list of ingredients (under the heading "Snack di Mais") we have the giveaway aroma di affumicatura: smoky flavour. Well, yes, But why hide the flavour away in the small print?

Maybe Italians expect virtual crispy snacks to taste smoky. Who knows? Obviously not me. The flavour seems to be a mix of "smoky flavour", salt, sugar, paprika, mustard and rosemary. But what you get is a quite tasty mild BBQ taste.

Since 1936, San Carlo crisps have been singing the same song, genuine as ever and always fresh says the website , but isn't at all helpful as to why these crispy snacks are called virtual. But then if you take a look at the list of their other snacks they are called dixi, rodeo, cross and b.bacon. Well, if I ever get back to Italy again I will look out for dixi, rodeo et al. The cross snack (incredibilimente gustoso) looks rather fun; but I don't suppose I will ever discover why the San Carlo popcorn is called pony pop.

I tried these out on the reluctant taste testers at work, who are I have to say, a lot less reluctant than they used to be. Anyway, they rather enjoyed these softly BBQ flavoured cones. One tester said she was thrilled because they reminded her so much of the crispy snacks she ate so much of (so many of?) when she visited Thailand.

I thought these tasted OK but a little bit greasy. It seems everyone else liked them rather a lot.

San Carlo Più Gusto Vivace

A third crisp flavour from the multipacco we found in Baveno in Northern Italy. And really rather good. I like these più gusto flavours. The flavour is certainly not strong by UK crisp standards but very pleasant nonetheless.

This flavour is called "vivace" which means lively, brisk, bright, vivid or vivacious (or vicious as my spell checker would prefer). I'm not sure any of those words would be  my choice, certainly not my first choice, of name for this tasty but quite gentle flavour.

The flavour seems to be mostly paprika and mustard. Which sounds a fairly nasty combination. But the taste is really good.

These crisps are quite small with a light crunch. Not a great deal of flavour dust. A very nice crisp though.

The reluctant taste testers at work again snacked these down pretty quickly. Everyone thought they were very nice. This sounds as though I am damning them with faint praise but I think very nice about sums them up.

Usually I complain that bags of crisps are far too large but we could have done with more than 25g of these. Lucky thing the multipacco had two bags in so I have a spare at home. But perhaps not for long.

San Carlo Piu Gusto Pomodorini di Stagione

So I think these crisps are seasonal tomato flavour.  This masterful translation is based on years of not eating quatro stagione pizzas (because I don't want artichokes or mushrooms on my pizza, or olives come to that). Google translate prefers "tomato season" but that doesn't sound like a crisp flavour to me.

This packet of crisps is one of the multipacco selection we picked up at the Carrefour supermarcato in Stresa. So it is also one of the piu gusto flavours; in this case it seems, with a mediterranean passion. And why not?

Well, the flavour is obviously tomato, but as so often I think it doesn't really taste of tomato but more of a high quality tomato ketchup. It's odd how difficult tomato flavour is to get right. I've tried a number of different tomato flavour crisps and not a one has actually tasted of tomato. Ketchup, soup, chutney yes; tomato no.

Interestingly the crisps seem to be rather larger than the lime and pink peppercorn crisps from the same multipacco. You'd suppose they would be made on the same production line with the same potatoes. Perhaps it was chance.

The packaging tells me that these crisps have been prepared with undiminished passion since 1936. But this is a simple and natural product with only three ingredients: potatoes, oil and salt. Oh, and then "at the end of cooking to give a hint of flavour sprinkle with the most delicious natural flavours: with taste become more" (Google translate again!).

Whether it is the mediterranean passion or the hint of flavour sprinkle, these are rather good crisps. Not a terrifically strong flavour but very pleasant.

Very easy to finish a small packet without noticing how many you've eaten. Oh, and I have another bag...

San Carlo Più Gusto Lime e Pepe Rosa

Mmmn these are good.

We found them in the Carrefour supermarcato in Stresa on Lake Maggiore in a multipacco which has six bags of three different flavours. So far so yum.

This is a light flavour - not too heavy - but a really good one. The crisps are not too large, with a good light crunch, and not too many breakages. I think they would work really well with some guacamole. And the taste is great.

But, look at the name. It says piu gusto. Which I think means more flavour, more taste. Which leads me to think that the two Italian flavours of crisp I have tried this week have a very slight flavour (from a British point of view) because that's what Italians expect and like. And that's why I thought them a bit dull.

These have more flavour, although not too much, and for that reason I think, I like them better.

Lots of sharp lime with a very nice heat from the pink peppercorns. This is a very simple flavour but I noshed down the whole 25g packet without pausing to think about it. Damn! I'll have to open another packet to photograph the crisps. Although, they don't actually look terribly exciting so there's not a lot to see. They look just like your average crisp. And none the worse for that. And not really a lot more to say. But I have another packet and I will happily eat that too.

So here's a photo of Lake Maggiore instead of a portrait of some crisps.