Co-op Naturaplan Bio Chips Ail des Ours

Here we are in Switzerland again, and it’s the season for wild garlic (ail des ours, bärlauch, aglio orsino). So we have tagliatelle flavoured with wild garlic, ravioli stuffed with mascarpone and wild garlic, and in a couple of months there will be cheese flavoured with wild garlic.

And for the first time we have found really delicious potato crisps flavoured with wild garlic. 

In the Swiss tradition these delicately flavoured crisps from the (Swiss) Co-op are very fine cut with a gentle crunch. And very nice too. We bought another 140g packet. Yum yum. Although I am quite disappointed to learn from the list of ingredients that most of the wild garlic flavour appears to come from actual garlic. Yup; disappointing. Ah well. Still very tasty.

Kambly Les Ficelles aux Tomates & Fines Herbes

Kambly make a lot of lovely Swiss biscuits and crispy snacks too. The reluctant taste testers and I tried this heart shaped snack in 2014 and now I see that Kambly are celebrating their 25th birthday, I thought it was time to try another (we also have Kambly biscuits quite regularly but that’s not we’re here for).

Les Ficelles, basically a Swiss version of cheese straws, come in 6 different flavours. I looked on the website, which a bit strangely is in English (the Swiss have 3 main languages to choose from, a couple of lesser used languages, and a whole array of patois associated with local valleys or individual cities. And then quite a lot of people speak English... but not the ones you'd expect like the waiters in the station buffet at Basle railway station for example). Anyway, lots of information on the website including other products and recipes. Kohlrabi soup anyone? I've never eaten kohlrabi but apparently it’s an ideal accompaniment if you fancy a cheese straw or two.

I’m not sure I am really convinced by this crispy snack. For a start, and we all know this shouldn’t make a difference (but it does) most of the cheesy twists were broken when we opened the packet. This could have happened on the flight home from Switzerland but I’m not sure.

Then the tomato and herb flavour isn’t the most tomatoey ever. It’s OK but... The worst thing is that this snack is very dry. It feels a bit mass produced; which of course it is. But I’m sure I’ve tasted
similar cheese straw style snacks which feel a lot more homemade, where you can taste the butter, and they’re less crunchy and more flaky.

Having said that, it’s not a bad snack and I don't want to be too nasty about it. I wouldn't be surprised if you find yourself eating more than you expected.