Seafood Wholefoods Thai Chilli Crackers

 

I confess I was deeply suspicious of this rice based crispy snack which was part of a Christmas present to the Chef. I think rice cakes are disgusting and I was worried that would be the overarching taste.

However, I was completely wrong. 

This little snack has a pleasing hit of chilli heat and a nice sweetness. It sounds all the sort of flavours I don’t like in a crisp doesn’t it? But, I admit it, I really rather enjoyed this snack. Not sure about the bite which is a bit odd, but don’t let that put you off. I’m also not sure I could detect the flavour of any pizza sauce.

I see you can buy a very similar looking product from our local supermarket, possibly an exactly the same product but packaged differently, so I am sure they can be found all over the place.

Pu-Thai Squid Flavour

I can't tell you how much I wasn't looking forward to trying this crispy snack. And when I opened the packet and there was a huge waft of fish food... that didn't help much.

But it turns out this crispy snack (presumably maize based although I don't know - blame my lack of expertise in translating the Thai language) is not squid shaped. There's a couple of crab snacks on the packet, and then a sort of squid logo.  But for no reason that I can see, this snack is crab shaped. And very handsomely too.

You might suppose that if the manufacturer can produce such good crab shapes they might have had a go at squid shapes but is that me being picky?

So, filled with trepidation we had a go at tasting. And discovered they actually taste a bit like prawn crackers. So not too terribly fishy or weird at all.

Despite me leaving the packet lying around for all to see a good many of these crispy crabs were eaten in an absent minded sort of a way.

Not bad at all. And a bit of a surprise.

Tasto Seaweed Korean Style Sauce

Here's another packet of crisps specially imported by Still a Student for the reluctant taste testers and me. All the way from Thailand. I'm really impressed she managed to bring home 6 packets of crisps without any of them exploding in her luggage (it's worth stuffing your crisps into a ziplock bag for the flight if you're worried about this scenario). I'm also impressed she had the room for 6 packets of crisps!

I'm told Still a Student has yet to sample any of these crisps, so here goes on the second choice.

This crisp was a great hit with the taste testers who like seaweed. Tall Elegant taste tester was very taken with the flavour but Cliffs of Moher and I were not. But then we aren't seaweed fans. Personally, I thought the taste was just horrid. Just like taking a mouthful of beach. But as I said, the seaweed fans amongst us enjoyed this 75g packet quite a bit.

I have battled with google translate, and I think I can assure you that Thai for potato มันฝรั่ง does appear on the packet. However, I am slightly hampered by knowing nothing of the Thai language or culture (no, I've not been), and the way the translation software takes out all the gaps between the words in my English text. Still, finding มันฝรั่ง is a bit of a triumph.

No, not for me but yes for others.

Apparently Tasto's signature crisp flavours are Crab Curry, Pla Sam Rod and Salt & Sour.

Entree Barbecued Crispy Pork Classic Rock Extra Crunch

I'm afraid I am struggling with this crispy snack. I don't know who makes it and I'm not sure which parts of the English text on the packet should be included in the name.

Still a Student is back for a bit more holiday work and has just been to Thailand. She hasn't seen any of us for a year, and some of us not at all, so what does she do but bring us 6 packets of crisps. Amazing!

Anyway, knowing nothing about the Thai language or alphabet, I luckily stumbled on a website that will sell me this square crispy snack. Apparently it's made of pork, oh wait a bit... it actually says that on the packet. How silly of us not to notice.

That will interest Slightly Red-Haired Bristolian who said it reminded her of pork scratchings which she loves but can't eat (much too hard) and she really liked the taste. Graffiti Artist (the Chef's son-in-law and actually a Chef) was also reminded of pork scratchings, and pork crackling too.

And one of the reluctant tastes testers said the texture reminded her of skin. Now we can see why.

Apparently this snack is made by an old and trusted Thai firm called Sor Khonkaen  famed for their pork products. I hope the website I've found has got this right! I put that name into google translate to see it in Thai lettering but could not find anything similar on the packet.

Not sure I was made about his pork snack. Not sure we were prepared for it. To be honest I thought it looked more like a breakfast cereal than a crispy snack.

Opimus Banana Joe Chips

This has got to be one of the weirdest crispy snacks in the history of crispy snacks!

Tall Elegant taste tester went to the health food shop and came back with these banana chips. Crispy thin layers of banana chips flavoured with Gruyère cheese. Premium golden bananas - apparently they use hom thong golden bananas which I didn't know was a thing, and over two bananas per packet are handcrafted into these chips.

They certainly are thin, and crispy, if not somewhat sharp and pointy. And some taste of Gruyère cheese while others do not. Basically I couldn't fancy these chips. I felt they tasted of soap. Not even exciting soap; just that plain white soap that people with sensitive skin use.

This is a shame.  Because obviously someone has put a lot of thought into choosing exactly the right kind of cheese to match their fancy golden bananas. You don't just choose Gruyère at random or put the Swiss flag on your packet for no reason so it really is a shame that these chips are not nearly cheesy enough. Or bananary enough come to that. 1    Although, having said that I do rather feel that banana and cheese is a dead weird combo. what about you?

Tall Elegant taste tester ate most of her packet, ably assisted by Giraffe Fan  who told me she really liked this crispy snack, and nobody else mentioned the taste of soap. So just me again?

Tasto Japanese Seaweed Crisps

Tall elegant taste tester has been to the Far East recently and brought back this offering for the reluctant taste testers and me. She is now covered in confusion because she has subsequently discovered that the signature crisp of Tasto is apparently curried crab and she stupidly bought Japanese seaweed instead. Doh! I think we can forgive that. Of course we can. We'll live. I mean, it's very kind of her to bring any crispy snack home with her.

And what did we think? Japanese seaweed? Sounds disgusting doesn't it? But in fact not so weird as you might suppose.

And the reluctant taste testers, far from saying "ugh yuk, what's this nonsense?" said, instead that this is a very tasty snack, delicious, they liked the umami, and what was the flavour because they were rather enjoying it.

OK. So the reluctant taste testers are getting really international in their appreciation of crispy snack flavours. And good for them. Or... why not?

A pretty good crisp, not a bad flavour, not a bad crisp. Tasty. We quite liked these.

The Giving Tree Strawberry Crisps

Strawberry crisps? Well, no, not really. Although this is a crispy snack. More of a crunchy snack perhaps.

Because I didn't read the label I was sort of expecting slices of strawberry, perhaps oven dried and rather chewy. What I got was whole strawberries looking quite surprisingly strawberry-like and freeze dried. Kind of astronaut food.

They certainly look pretty. And are very crunchy. And I do mean very crunchy. A little bit like Edinburgh Rock, a little bit how I imagine biting into a lump of chalk would feel and if you aren't careful when you crunch in you get a cloud of strawberry dust and there may be a lot of coughing involved.

Anyone else remember GloZell and the Cinnamon Challenge? OK, so that's an extreme example and we certainly didn't get that sort of reaction to our taste test but I think perhaps Tech taste tester laughed at the wrong moment. GloZell has her own Wiki page but that's another story.

Apparently if you managed to eat the entire packet (about 8 strawberries) it would constitute one of your five a day. I think I'll stick to real strawberries. With cream, obviously. However, if you fancy giving these crispy crunchy strawberries a try, Tell Elegant taste tester found this packet in the local health food store.

Bizarrely made in Thailand... because we don't grow strawberries in this country do we?

Oh sweet little thing, just where do I start?

This magical fruit that's shaped like a heart.

It's great on its own or topped up with cream.

On top of a scone, it's a tea party dream.

The Giving Tree has plucked this fruit from the vine.

With love, from the earth, a small taste of sunshine. Says the packet.

Jax Coco Toasted Coconut Chips with Chilli & Lime, and with Wasabi

Tall elegant taste tester, currently at home with a horrible cold poor thing, bought those two packets while I was away in Switzerland. She asked if I would like to write these up and I said no. Because you have to draw the line somewhere.

But here I am anyway. Despite the fact that I deeply dislike coconut. And these coconut chips (not surprisingly) smell strongly of coconut. The chilli & lime flavour chips are darker and small very strongly of lime, the wasabi flavour chips are paler. You'll not be surprised to learn I have not attempted a taste test.

These toasted coconut chips are all natural, not fried, gluten free, 100% vegan, and with no preservatives, no artificial colour or flavouring. Sounds good.

I gather that both of these flavours are pretty hot. So if you like your coconut, and you like heat, maybe this is a snack for you.

Very nice resealable packaging. A lot of crisp packets could do with this technology.