M&S Wiltshire Ham & Piccalilli Hand Cooked Crisps

One of the reluctant taste testers contributed this crisp. I think it was Tall Elegant taste tester but I confess I cannot remember exactly.

I don't think I would have chosen to try this crispy flavour under normal circumstances. I once tried a ham flavour crisp that was so disgusting I felt quite sick. That was a long time pre-blog but you know how the body remembers feeling ill after eating a particular food and puts you off trying it in future. Well, I should tell you straight away that these crisps are not disgusting.

But I remain a little dubious about ham as a flavour for crisps.

And then there's the piccalilli. Not a favourite pickle for me. I find the colour off putting and it's too mustardy for my taste. Anyhow, I had the feeling that Noble Friend and Tech taste tester might like these. And I think I was right. But Dutch taste tester (a big fan of piccalilli) was sorely disappointed because the piccalilli flavour was not flavourful enough for her. Well, sometimes you just can't win.

And if you don't know what piccalilli is, here's a recipe from River Cottage.

Nice big golden crisps with a good crunch. But perhaps the flavour is not for everyone.

M&S Maple Bacon Hand Cooked Crisps

Another new crisp variety from the wonderful world of the crisp development department at Marks & Spencer. Maple Bacon flavour.

OK, now. This allegedly bacon flavour crisp is advertised as suitable for vegetarians. The family vegetarian happened to be staying so I asked how she felt about what I consider to be a pretty odd idea. I mean, if you don't want to eat meat why would you want to eat a meat flavoured crispy snack?

And the family vegetarian agreed that's how she feels. Because one of the reasons she doesn't eat meat is that she doesn't like the taste. However, she does admit to knowing vegetarians who fancy the meat taste but won't eat animals. So they will eat meat flavour crisps. So. I guess you pays your money and you takes your choice.

Well, I am not a vegetarian so I tucked into these crisps regardless. And so did the reluctant taste testers.

Lovely crisps as always from M&S. Good crunch, lots of lovely flavour dust, nice smell too (even a week later as I write this the bag smells rather good). But the flavour isn't quite as flavoursome as I had hoped. Very nice crisps but I think they could have been rather wonderful had the taste been stronger.

Nonetheless the bowlful at work was snacked up quite quickly.

This is one of the Tastes of the British Isles range which has appeared in the summer of 2015. As there is no bacon in the recipe I can't ask which part of the UK that comes from, and maple syrup? Famous for coming from Canada isn't it? I'm not aware of any maple syrup farms in Britain.

I hope The Furry Gnome at Seasons in the Valley will forgive me for adding a link to his fascinating posts about maple syrup farms in Canada. Do take a look if you are at all interested. He followed this post with 2 more.

M&S Scottish Langoustines with Dill & Lemon

Well these hand cooked crisps from the new M&S summer 2015 range turned out to be amazingly popular with the reluctant taste testers. Amazingly popular.

I bought a packet yesterday but then put it in a food parcel to post to a friend in the United States (where obviously you can't purchase such luxuries), so bought another packet today at lunchtime and put out a bowl for the taste testers. And as the bowl was completely emptied before the senior taste tester returned from a site visit I put out some more.

Whoosh! All gone in no time at all. I confess I was quite surprised.

I was also surprised that these crisps not only contain prawns but actual langoustines "fished from Scottish waters". And real dill and lemon. So, you know, these are real langoustine flavour crisps. (I know: I'm suspicious. But so often crisp flavours seem to be manufactured out of dairy products and wheat. Or some combination equally unrelated to the flavour you are supposed to be enjoying.)

The potatoes are called Taurus and were grown in Herefordshire. The packet tells us that M&S crisps use a selection of varieties. It seems that they choose a different variety depending on the season.

The aroma on first opening the bag is quite sea-foody but the taste is really more crisp with dill and lemon. Quite a gentle taste. Mostly smaller than I was expecting, the crisps have a great crunch and a nice golden colour. The taste testers all liked these a lot and had many good things to say about them.

I don't eat sea food but (despite sea food anxiety) I quite liked them too. The lemon and the dill are really very nice. It's a great combination.

Brand new taste tester at work who hasn't had time to get used to free crisps in the office at the drop of a hat said langoustines are her absolute favourite food and she liked these crisps a lot. And that has to be a seal of approval.

The new summer selection of crisps are all part of a Tastes of the British Isles range. It's so new I haven't had time to investigate properly. But these crisps represent Scotland. Where my surname comes from. Even if I don't.