Ten Acre When Bombay Got Spicy

Another Ten Acre crisp flavour spotted by the tall elegant taste tester in one of the local kosher delis.

As you might expect from the name there are loads of spices on the menu; coriander, cumin, cayenne, paprika, turmeric, fennel, ginger, cinnamon, fenugreek, cardamom, nutmeg and clove. So, er.... extremely spicy then? And a pretty spicy colour for the packet too. But then Ten Acre are rather good at choosing unusual colours for their packets.

So what did we think of the crisp?

Not actually as spicy as you might think but definitely reminds you (me and the reluctant taste testers) of a proper Indian taste. Chicken tikka or korma or some such. OK, that's probably an Indian taste as defined by a UK audience. But tasty nonetheless.

Ten Acre Hand Cooked Crisps Pastrami in the Rye

Here's another packet of gluten free, dairy free, MSG free, vegan, hand cooked crisp company Ten Acre. Discovered in one of the local kosher delis by noble friend.

Hand cooked with love packed with crunch says the packaging. But what a disappointment.

Having tried a bunch of other flavours from Ten Acre we were expecting something rather good here. You know, a crisp that actually tastes of pastrami. But really they don't. And although I don't live in New York City which I take to be the spiritual home of the pastrami on rye sandwich, I do live in North London where there is plenty of pastrami available. And it doesn't taste much like this.

Oh, don't run away with the idea that these crisps are nasty. In fact they taste pretty good. There's lots of spicey flavour: paprika, nutmeg, coriander, black pepper, cayenne pepper - and once again the mysterious addition of carob to the list of ingredients. And then there's mustard.

Sorry Ten Acre. From my point of view there is far too much mustard involved.

If these crisps had been called Spicy rather than Pastrami in the Rye I think the reluctant taste testers would have been fairly happy with the flavour. But they do fail to taste like pastrami. And is there supposed to be a taste of rye bread here? I'm not sure I could detect it.

Ten Acre Ambrose Popperley's Wasabi Popcorn

Noble friend produced another packet of Ten Acre popcorn from the local kosher deli. She must be their best customer. She had said she would buy the Wasabi flavour - and so she did.

Ten Acre has many flavours and they all come in beautifully designed packaging. Look at this rich green. Wonderful eh? And quite unusual in the world of crispy snacks.

Although. I have to say I was not mad about this popcorn flavour. I kept spotting the tall taste tester going back for more, and I'm sure others were also snacking quite enthusiastically, but I couldn't fancy it myself. Which is a shame.

When I opened the packet, the waft of Wasabi that leapt out was really quite off-putting. I don't know why. We've tried a number of Wasabi flavours lately so why?

Well, it could be that this Wasabi flavour doesn't appear to feature any actual wasabi. We've tried Wasabi popcorn recently made with genuine wasabi and made with horseradish. This flavour seems to be made, amongst other things (like rice flour - and what does that taste of we ask? ), of mustard. And I really don't like mustard as a main flavour. Or it could just be that I didn't fancy it.

So there we are. Not for me, but everyone else in the taste testing team seemed happy to put in a little snacking time.

And once again I'm a little dissatisfied with the green of this scan. The packet is a much prettier richer green than this. So search out this flavour popcorn for yourself, and see if you think I'm wrong about the taste.

Ten Acre Cousin Maisie's Fennel & Lemon Popcorn

Another packet of popcorn chosen by noble friend. Fennel & Lemon.

Fennel?? What kind of a flavour for a popcorn is that? Well, really and truly we have no idea but fennel does feature a lot on restaurant menus these days. It's the height of fashion. I wish it wasn't; I really dislike fennel. I've even learned to say I won't eat in in French - for use in continental restaurants (surprisingly useful). But noble friend and I decided that however disgusting an idea it sounded, we really had to try this flavour popcorn.

Well, an internationally renowned food writer has a certain responsibility to try crispy snacks even if the flavour doesn't sound very appealing. So naturally the reluctant taste testers and I tried this popcorn. And you know what? It wasn't anything like as nasty as I was expecting.

The Dutch taste tester said she really liked this popcorn. But she likes the aniseedy taste of fennel. And licorice. The tall taste tester also likes fennel and he rather liked it too. But those of us who don't like fennel... you've guessed... we didn't care for this flavour.

Mind you. You have to give Ten Acre points for trying. It's just a shame from my point of view that one of the main flavours is one of my least favourite. The sweet and salty lemon part of the flavouring works well though. Cousin Maisie (a fennel fan I'm sure) must be proud of it. Very pretty packaging too.

And because I never got around to posting any pictures of the main site at Avebury when we visited in June, here are some now. The weather wasn't as good as it might have been but that did mean the place wasn't completely mobbed and our photographs showed, for the most part, just the stones and the landscape not hoards of visitors.

Ten Acre Captain Theodore's Lime & Sea Salt Popcorn

Noble friend announced that she'd spotted a new range of popcorn in the local kosher supermarket. When she went out to pick up some supplies for the office today, she took the time to buy a couple of the more unusual flavours.

So for our delectation and delight this morning the reluctant taste testers and I tried the amazing Lime & Sea Salt flavour from Captain Theodore. What an amazing flavour! Wow. We crunched in stunned... amazement at this limey, salty, sweet (in that order) tastiness.

And there's a pinch of parsley too. One of our five a day perhaps?

This popcorn really does have a great big flavour. Pretty much everyone really enjoyed this popcorn saving only tech taste tester, who doesn't like lime. Which is fair enough. I'm not really mad for lime myself; it tastes a bit blue for me and I don't like blue. But I do absolutely agree that the lime taste shines through in this Ten Acre popcorn.

Less than 80 calories per serving (probably a good thing but I'm never at all sure how big a serving should be), this 28g packet of popcorn is gluten free, dairy free, and MSG free. This tasty snack is HFA approved, suitable for vegetarians and vegans, and parev.

It all sounds a jolly good thing and suitable for everybody to enjoy but I do worry that this popcorn is very sweet and could contain a lot more sugar than you think. In fact, reading the back the packet tells me there are 2g of salt per 100g (reasonable considering the flavour is Lime & Sea Salt), but 27.8g of sugar. That really is sugary.

Oh, and the packaging tells me that a serving is 14g. Which is about ½ an ounce; a tiny amount. However, perhaps not a bad thing that we divided this bag between 9 taste testers.

Regular readers may remember that I've had a bit of a grump several times recently about crisps aimed solely at men. May I venture to suggest that this popcorn is aimed squarely at female shoppers?

Of course there is nothing whatever the prevent a man from rushing out and buying his favourite Lime & Sea Salt popcorn, but somehow this very pretty bright green packaging depicting a handsome "popcorn orchard" with fancy gold trim does appear to have been designed to appeal to women rather than men.

And now I know you are all asking who on earth is Captain Theodore? Well, it turns out that Ten Acre not only makes an interesting selection of popcorn, and we already know they make crisps, but they also have an online village where you can look at... drawings of houses in Ten Acre village in one of which Captain Theodore may live. Maybe. So that doesn't answer your question does it? Perhaps if I get my act together in order to follow Ten Acre on twitter I will learn more?

Incredibly tasty popcorn and really quite unusual.

Sadly I don't think the gold detailing in the packet shows up in the scan. It highlights all the popcorn and somehow creates a Japanese effect.

Ten Acre When the Chilli Got Sweet

It seems that every second bag of crisps I look at these days is Sweet Chilli flavour. OK, I'm sure I exaggerate but there do seem to be a lot of them about.

Ten Acre make nice little crisps, all kind of folded over (something to do with the hand cooking process perhaps?), a nice golden colour and with a satisfying crunch.

Some Sweet Chilli flavour crisps are much too sweet. You know, there will be a little bit of chilli heat but mostly quite a lot of sweet.

Not these crisps. Nothing spectacular, nothing fancy, these crisps have a nice hit of chilli which is slightly tempered by the sweetness; but not too much. A nice little 40g bag too. We quite liked these crisps.

Halal Food Authority Approved, Parev (certified by the Machzikei Hadass Synagogue in Salford (Manchester), and also suitable for Vegans; these crisps are ready for anyone. Unless of course you are religiously opposed to eating potatoes. Or allergic to them. How awful that would be.

Hand cooked with love, packed with crunch.

This scan isn't quite the right colour for some reason. The packet is really a lovely deep purplish pink with a lot of blue in it. I held the packet up against a Pantone colour chart on my computer screen, I took a photograph to see if the colour would be better and I scanned it more than once. How odd. What a shame because the packet is such a pretty colour.

And here's another blossom photo.

Ten Acre Hand Cooked Crisps The Day Sweet and Sour Became Friends

Another crisp stocked by the bakery down the road. Hand cooked with love, packed with crunch says the unusual pink packaging.

All the Ten Acre crisps have the same design on the packet but each flavour is a different colour.

Ten Acre obviously take pride in giving their crisps slightly unusual names, and these are no exception.

So what we have here is a slightly small crisp; hand cooked, often folded over; nice golden colour; slightly harder crunch than you might expect, and a good golden colour. Very nice crisps to pour out of a packet into your chosen serving bowl. Well - you don't get the full effect if you just eat them out of the packet do you?

The flavour is a not completely successful (in my view) sweet and sour. It's nice.... but I'm not really sure. I do like the way the crisps are often folded over though. It makes them seem a little bit home made.

I was looking for a new spot to photograph the bowlsful of crisps and the top of the laundry basket seemed a good place to try. What so you think?

Ten Acre Hand Cooked Crisps When Hickory Got BBQ'd

I hardly got any of these crisps; only about 2 out of the whole packet. I put out a bowl at work and before you could say Jack Robinson the reluctant taste testers had noshed them all down.

Which has got to be a good sign.

Barbecue (BBQ) is never my most favourite flavour but this is a gentle version, sweet rather than smoky, and very pleasant.

Lovely crisps. They have a nice hand made look to them. I think the flavour is OK too, but it's hard to tell when you only get 2.

Ten Acre Hand Cooked Crisps The Amazing Adventures of Salt and Vinegar

And another 40g bag of crisps found at the local bakery. Ten Acre give their flavours interesting names so this isn't merely a bag of salt & vinegar crisps. No. It's a bag of "The Amazing Adventures of Salt and Vinegar". Which you must admit makes a change from the norm.

I tried these hand cooked crisps on the reluctant taste testers at work and we rather enjoyed them.

It's light, delicate version of salt & vinegar with not too harsh a taste. We liked these.

Ten Acre Hand Cooked Crisps How Chicken Soup Saved the Day

So the tall taste tester was in the Market Place the other day and dropped by the local bakery to see what he could see. And what he could see was not the other side of the mountain (sadly we don't have any mountains because this is North London and we only have hills), but a whole range of crisps he had never heard of before and neither had I. I rushed round the next day and stocked up. And here's one.

Parev (suitable for people who keep kosher), HFA approved (suitable for moslems) and vegan (so suitable for both vegans and vegetarians). Gluten free and MSG free. My goodness, what more could you ask? Except this is a chicken soup flavour so sadly no chicken.

Ten Acre Crisps are hand cooked with love, and packed with crunch says the packaging. I must say that they do look hand cooked.

Made in Manchester by Yumsh Snacks Ltd. And with a rather fabulous and slightly crazy website; it's worth checking this out even if you never looked at any other crispy website (some of them are more fun than you might suppose).

Fine cut crisps, a light golden colour and a light crunch, lots of flavour dust. And the taste? Well, to be honest, not terribly chickeny. It reminds me a little of some instant chicken noodles I used to buy (vastly superior to those that come in a pot but still pretty instant) and enjoy some years ago.

Well, I guess the flavour is chicken soup and not chicken. And I do find them quite tasty. Just not quite what I was expecting.