Jones o Gymru Y Ddraig Goch (Sweet Chili)

The fourth and final packet of Jones crisps brought back from Anglesey by Noble Friend. And we liked these too.

We thought these crisps had a very nice crunch, they looked good and they tasted fine. Not terribly sweet, not terribly chilli, not a lot like most Sweet Chilli crisps,  but pretty tasty.

Y Ddraig Goch means red dragon. Which might, I suppose, be Welsh for sweet chilli. So it's rather a shame that the little dragon on this handsome purple packet isn't red rather than purple.

Just as used to happen every time I took the maximum ten books out of the library when I lived in Cirencester, the first book I read (picked at random, obviously) turned out to be the best of the bunch, and the last book on the pile was the least good. And here we have the same syndrome. The reluctant taste testers and I liked all the Jones o Gymru crisps... but we liked the sea salt flavour which we tried first best. And we sort of liked this flavour the least.

Not that we didn't like the other three flavours. It's just that the wonderful plain Sea Salt flavour is sensational, and the others (in our opinion) are only very good. Which is hardly what you might call an only. And I suggest we liked this flavour "least" because we thought it the least exciting, the least individual and special, the least fabulous.

It seems a great shame that Madryn Foods (Jones o Gymru) only produce four flavours of crisp. The four flavours they make are so good I cannot help thinking that any further flavours would be fabulous too. We can only hope that they produce new flavours of crisp in the future.

If you would like to follow Jones o Gymru on twitter @MadrynFoods you might be surprised to find a good many of the tweets are in Welsh. Because this crisp comes from Welsh Wales.

Jones o Gymru Halen Mon PDO Sea Salt & Vinegar

Yes, you've guessed: another tasty crisp from Jones o Gymru. And looking online for further information, I find that this flavour Halen Môn Sea Salt & Vinegar celebrates Anglesey-born Dr Tom Parry Jones who invented the electronic breathalyser. Which is definitely the fascinating fact for today.

Plus, get this.... you can Say it With a Spud if you contact Jones o Gymru. Yes, a special Welsh-grown potato with your very own message written on it in (what looks suspiciously like) biro can be mailed to the loved-one of your choice. A potato-gram! Whatever next?

Well, I guess that was a pretty fascinating fact too.

This is another 40g packet of very tasty crisps and not too much scary vinegar. So the reluctant taste testers liked them quite a lot and noshed them down in no time. Very nice.

I have read online that you can buy these crisps in Tesco. But possibly only in Tesco North Wales. I say North Wales, because the Chef's brother was in South Wales just the other day and searched diligently for a Welsh crisp for me to try. Which was extremely kind of him. And he found nothing. So, as I say, maybe North Wales only. But I daresay you may be able buy them online if you want to try.

Jones o Gymru Mature Cheese & Onion

Another packet of crisps found in sunny Anglesey by Noble Friend. And very tasty too.

I thought this crisp was a very grown up, rather smart, take on Cheese & Onion. Most of the reluctant taste testers were very complimentary and liked this crisp a lot. Tall taste tester got there too late; it's not a large packet (just the way I like it) and the rest of us had been unable to keep away from the kitchen.

Dutch taste tester thought the taste was a little muted. She felt it could have been stronger and she'd have like it better. Each to their own.

A lovely traditional style crisp. wonderful crunch, great aroma and (I thought) a very nice taste. 

Jones o Gymru Halen Môn PDO Sea Salt

Noble Friend went to Anglesey for the weekend and in the local Italian deli (where else?) she found these fabulous Welsh crisps. From Wales. And indeed, in Welsh.

What a lovely aroma of old fashioned properly hand cooked (hand fried) crisp. What a great flavour of oil and salt. And a great crunch. Simply delicious.

What a great crisp. Well done Noble Friend for bringing back a fabulous crispy snack to the reluctant taste testers of North London.

Halen Môn Sea Salt is harvested from the sea waters around the Isle of Anglesey. PDO means Protected Designation of Origin. In other words, you can't use this name for just any old sea salt. It has to come from Anglesey.

In Wales we are famous for our castles, choirs, beautiful natural landscapes and...yes... more than fair share of Atlantic rain says the packaging. Okay, so we might have to don our raincoats quite often, but it also means that we can grow world class potatoes. And you can read all this in Welsh if you want.

The Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company Presents Captain Cat's Ship's Biscuits

Hum. Well. I've been to Wales once or twice, and to the Welsh seaside in at least four different places and I never saw a mermaid. But apparently these savoury fish-shaped crackers (with Welsh Cheddar cheese and our Captain Cat's Môr seasoning) are handcrafted by lovely Welsh mermaids.

Are they indeed? Call me credulous (or incredulous) but I find it tough to believe this!

However, as I really need varifocals (but they make me fall down stairs so I need to adjust my ordinary glasses, or even take them off, before I can read lots of things) I failed to read that before I bought this fish-shaped crispy snack. Which really is extremely fish-shaped. Nice cut-out on the packaging.

Actually the fish-shape was a little bit off-putting to some of the reluctant taste testers. They kind of look like an extremely superior cat treat. And several of the taste testers expected them to taste of fish.

But no! No, they taste of... well kind of cheesy.... and a lot of spices. This list of spices in the ingredients goes on forever: sea salt, smoked paprika, sweet paprika, lemon pepper, mace, ground pepper flakes, ground black pepper, allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, dried lemon peel, dried orange peel, laver (that's seaweed to you and me - I think), mustard powder, ginger, bay leaves, cloves, & celery powder. Wow. That's a lot of seasoning.

The packet says this is a warm nautical flavour and advises us to use it to shake up our seafood, treat our taste buds and bring the taste of the sea to our kitchen table.

I have to say we all thought the taste was a little bit weird. So we'll think about that. Maybe the taste grows on you. But of course taste testers don't get much opportunity to let things grown on them.

Kind of quite nice. Kind of a bit weird. Wonderful fishy shape.

The Real Crisp Co. Hand Cooked Sea Salt & Black Pepper

The crisp market can be very strange at times. If you read this blog regularly you may remember that last year much to my astonishment I found several packets of Scottish crisps at Sion railway station (Switzerland); just the other day I was in Globus in Bern (also Switzerland) where I picked up crisps from Spain and Belgium, although I could also have bought crisps from Britain or Ireland. And this packet from The Real Crisp Co, which was made in Wales, I found at Geneva airport. The Swiss, it seems, are interested in international crisps.

Anyhow, I found this little 35g packet at the gate while waiting for my flight home. Which was late.

I'm not sure about this slate grey packaging and the strange woman with two colours of nail varnish. Of course I'll buy all sorts of crisps, alluring packaging or no, but I have to say I'm really not crazy about this image. Still, I bought the packet anyway (you knew I would).

Nice lot of skin left on the potatoes, not a terrific aroma but a great crunch (perhaps a little harder than normal), slightly darker than the usual pale golden colour, and a very tasty salt and pepper taste. It's helped along by added onion powder, and there's also sugar, milk yeast powder and other "made in a factory" crisp ingredients including "spices" whatever that means.

Not an amazing crisp but very nice. And in a nice little bag. Ideal really if you're about to get on a plane.

These Welsh crisps are hand cooked in sunflower oil and suitable for vegetarians. The company that makes them is Sirhowy Valley Foods Ltd, otherwise known as The Real Crisp Co. Based in Crumlin near Newport in Gwent.