Bluebird Cheezels

“When your buds are crying out for a cheezy fix, only Cheezels the seriously cheezy cheeze snack will do!” Is this buds as in taste buds, or buds as in your (probably male) friends? Who can say.

Well, this cheese flavoured corn snack isn’t actually all that seriously cheezy. Sorry, cheesy.  I’m not criticising them for tasting very similar to every other extruded corn crispy snack from all around the world, because all these very similar snacks taste pretty good to me. They just don’t really taste of cheese, whatever the advertising tells us. Hardly any of them do. 

And yes, in case you were wondering, just like all the other extruded corn crispy snacks, they gum themselves to your teeth and are remarkably difficult to dislodge.

Unfortunately I ate this entire packet before I remembered I hadn’t taken a photograph of these rather large crispy rings. The picture on the packet gives a fairly accurate idea of what they look like. Except they definitely aren’t big enough for that mystery penguin to jump through the hoop.

I can report that it is possible to absent mindedly eat the entire packet at one sitting. So, you know, quite moreish.

Kurkure Masala Munch

This is a spicy crispy snack “bursting with a delicious fusion of authentic seasonings and fragrant herbs”. Kurkure (which means crunchy in Hindi and Urdu) was originally launched in India and then Pakistan, and is now a subsidiary of PepsiCo.

The snack itself is made with dal, corn and rice and seasoned with all sorts of actual spices like cumin and fenugreek. This makes a change from the usual vague “spices” or “flavouring”.

Nice and crunchy, this is a spicy snack, very slightly eggy due to the black rock salt.

A very nice change from the average snack available here in North London.

Jacob’s Tuc Sandwich Cream Cheese & Chive flavour

I was very pleased to find this packet of Cream Cheese & Chive flavour Tuc when I last made an online order from my favourite supermarket. 

I have tried Sour Cream & Onion flavour Tuc and enjoyed them immensely. In this case I found them in Switzerland, check my enthusiast review, but they are (were) also available in France. I never really thought this flavour would be available in England (or any other part of the UK come to that), but here we have a very similar looking flavour. But not similar enough.

And are these UK Tuc sandwiches as tasty as the French version? Am I as excited about this flavour? 

Oh dear. Sadly not. Oh, they are fine in their own way, and the Tuc biscuits themselves are as tasty as they always are, but I cannot detect a trace of chives in the creamy squidgy filling. I ate the entire packet. But I am disappointed. 

If you have not tried the continental version of this flavour, well after all, chives are a member of the onion family, you might enjoy this crispy snack.

Have you noticed the serving suggestion? Just pile one biscuit on top of another. Presumably on something green.

In other news, I am sorry to see that longstanding British company (but started in Ireland) Jacob’s, supplier of Cheddars and Twiglets to generations of crispy snack fans, and owned by United Biscuits, has been bought by some company called Pladis. In Britain at least. I think. Company ownership these days is so complicated I’m surprised anyone can keep track of who owns what. 

Griffin’s Munchos Spicy Tomato

 

This is a little bit different. It’s an extruded wheat based (wheat pellets apparently, which doesn’t sound particularly tasty but there we are) crispy snack that allegedly tastes of spicy tomato. 

Well, it doesn’t taste of tomato and it isn’t spicy. Do New Zealanders have a lower tolerance for spicy foods than some people? I can’t know, never having been there, but I can tell you that this crispy snack is definitely not spicy.

I’m not saying I didn’t like them. I do. When I opened the bag there was a strong smell of freshly fried chips (French fries people) together with what smelled like a hint of vinegar. A very alluring smell for a snack. 

On the packet it says Can’t Stop the Munchies. I was dubious but that’s absolutely right. I naughtily ate nearly the entire packet in one sitting. Delicious! But not behaviour I recommend. I’m not suggesting that this snack has suddenly become a huge favourite, but should I ever visit New Zealand I would certainly grab a bag off a supermarket shelf.

I returned to the packet a couple of days later. Just as good. A faint taste of salt and vinegar. Lovely light crunch. And an interesting texture. Almost like several layers of very tiny bubble wrap, and translucent. And each individual munchie you pick up leaves tasty little shard-like crumbs, almost like snowflakes, on your fingers. There’s lots of finger licking with this crispy snack. 

I really do rather like them and what a relief! I was beginning to wonder if I still enjoyed crispy snacks of any kind.

Bluebird Rashuns Cheesy Bacon Attack

So I have a great big 190g bag of Cheesy Bacon Attack (interesting name for a flavour) Rashuns. Rashuns is also a strange name for a kind of crispy snack. Unless you’re used to it of course. I really didn’t want a party bag but beggars can’t be choosers.

This is another product from beloved New Zealand brand Bluebird. Who oddly decorate their packaging with penguins not bluebirds.

This extruded corn snack is a very odd shape. I thought at first it might be penguin footprints, but now I’m not so sure. So let’s class this as an unidentified shape. And I bet you already guessed it’s one of those snacks that aggressively gums itself to your teeth, and there’s apparently nothing you can do about it.

And what does it taste of? It’s a smokey bacon flavour but I don’t really detect any cheesiness. 

Not bad. I ate most of the packet by myself. But that’s because I live on my own.

Cheetos Ketchup Flavoured

Here’s yet another example of a maize based crispy snack. These ones are shaped like quite chunky chips. But whatever the shape, this style of snack will always gum itself to the roof of your mouth and the sides of your teeth. It’s not an elegant snack, not recommended for a first date.

Now the flavour here is supposed to be ketchup which can be a brilliant flavour, but honestly it’s a little too fugitive in this case.

So it’s a pleasant crispy snack that doesn’t taste of very much. In a good way.

DJ&A Shitake Mushroom Crisps Gravy Flavour

Well, this is one of the weirder crispy snacks I have attempted. 

I am quite surprised.

Honestly, I am not exactly sure what I was expecting. But it wasn’t this.

I picked up this packet of shitake mushroom crisps on a whim. I walked past them in the shop, thought why not, and picked them up. For better or worse. And then I noticed the dread words “gravy flavour”.

Before I opened the packet I think I was expecting finely chopped mushrooms, as if they were crisps. And then I thought maybe there would be a gravy sauce. I don’t know why. And quite obviously I hadn’t bothered to look at the photograph on the front of the packet carefully enough.

I didn’t squidge the packet but if I had I would have realised the gravy sauce wasn’t going to happen and it basically turned out to be a lot of flavour dust. A lot of flavour dust. But seriously, what flavour even is gravy? 

And the mushrooms? Whole mushrooms apparently freeze dried into incredibly crispy crunchy crackly mushrooms. Have you ever tried Edinburgh rock? A bit like that. Or maybe a little like the consistency of chalk. Sort of. Too weird. A whole freeze dried mushroom is, as I said, not what I was expecting. Honestly, I’m not even sure I noticed any flavour.

I tried this weird snack with Cliffs of Moher Taste Tester and she didn’t really fancy it either.

Jacob’s Bites Mature Cheddar & Caramelised Onion Flavour

Well here we go. I thought these sounded good. On opening the silver baggie the initial aroma was rather good. The first taste was also rather good. But the more I tried it the more the taste wasn’t quite right for me. Too… oniony? Too much taste? Too much something. And the texture wasn’t quite right. Not to mention lots of ingredients (Sodium Metabisulphite anyone?) that I could do without.

I asked Cliffs of Moher Taste Tester what she thought. She wasn’t a fan. The taste wasn’t right and what’s more, the texture wasn’t right for her either. Her verdict was “No”.

However, Family Vegetarian rather liked them. Graffiti Artist Taste Tester wasn’t averse. But honestly I think Family Vegetarian would have finished the whole packet if dinner wasn’t going to be ready in 10 minutes. So, as ever, you have to try these things for yourself.

The Family Vegetarian was quite enthusiastic. She ate quite a few, and I’m sure she would have eaten more of these crispy snacks if she hadn’t known I was cooking a large dinner which was in the oven as we taste tested. I think even the Graffiti Artist liked this not very crispy snack more than I did.

This snack comes in a silver baggie inside a cardboard box. So at least part of the packaging is readily recyclable.

Jacob’s Mini Cheddars Frank’s Red Hot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce

Pay attention if you like spicy snacks. This is a limited edition offering from Jacob’s. Although, obviously I don’t know when the time limit began or when it will finish. 

Hot! A bit of a surprise to a regular Mini Cheddar fan.

Yes, these are basically the ordinary everyday Mini Cheddars that you know and love (always a good bet if you fancy a little biscuitty, crunchy, cheesy snack), but invigorated with the exciting addition of Frank’s Red Hot sauce (since 1920). 

Yum. Definitely yum. Not for you if you don’t like spicy, and honestly I didn’t used to, I really didn’t. But your palate evolves if you give it a chance, and perhaps you might like to start here.

But if you do fancy a red hot taste of cayenne pepper sauce, seek them out and try them while you can. I very much enjoyed this 150g packet and eked them out for a week, not wanting to snack them down too quickly.

Walkers Quavers Red Leicester

I,  and more than 4,000 other people, were extremely offended by an Instagram post recently where a family of Americans thundered round a UK supermarket and basically mocked everything in the shop for being “wrong”. Because everything was a UK product or a UK flavour… well, of course: they were in the UK. The family had much to say about Walkers having the wrong name (because they aren’t called Lay’s in the UK) and criticising the flavours for being wrong. Doh! Products in different countries have different names and different flavours. Imagine that.

So I hope if any readers visit an American (German/Icelandic/Peruvian/Korean) supermarket any time soon they will be polite enough to notice that the products are different, and not wrong.

And here’s a snack from Walkers who are, yes we admit it, owned by Lay’s: Quavers. A much loved snack in the UK. Yes, I think we are probably all prepared to admit that they are made of 100% expanded polystyrene (not actually), but basically the main ingredient, potato starch, has been manipulated into a crispy snack that pops on the tongue and might just as well be polystyrene (not really). So they’re definitely not a crisp. Or chip. Look, don’t @ me.

Although Quavers claims to be a cheesy snack, and does have a nice crunch, and a lovely pop, they really only taste of pretend ultra processed not really cheese. Not to worry, I like them very much despite this. And they’ve been going for quite some time so I guess a lot of other people like them too.

Anyway, I saw a packet of Red Leicester Quavers the other day, so I thought why not. A bit more cheesy than the original flavour I think. Rather tasty. 

I would definitely eat another packet of these.

NB Don’t forget Leicester is pronounced Lester.

Serious Pig Snacking Cheese

The packet says pure cheese baked to a crunch, but there is noticeable rosemary in the recipe.

I wasn’t sure about trying this crispy snack but it is quite tasty. Not just cheese, which can be quite overwhelming, but rosemary too. Although it’s still very rich, so don’t try to eat the whole packet at once, a few at a time are quite nice.

I probably wouldn’t buy another packet though. Not sure I am the biggest fan of this style of snack. Maybe the time has come to go back to potato crisps. 

Boundless Gut Happy Snacking Smoky Bacon Flavour

Well, this is a tasty crispy snack. 

To be honest, I am not usually mad keen on Smoky Bacon flavour which can often be a bit overpowering, but this crispy snack has a gentle flavour that I really appreciate. Very nice indeed. 

And, quite interesting, not at all what I was expecting, 46% of this crispy snack is made with sprouted sorghum. What even is sprouted sorghum? (Apparently it’s high in cyanide!) Other ingredients include pea flour and maize flour. But whatever this crispy snack is made from it’s definitely tasty and has a very nice texture.

I am not at all sure what makes this snack so good for my gut. Maybe the sorghum? I don’t know.

But yes, I would buy this again. It would be interesting to try another flavour from Boundless, and see how that works.

But where to buy it? I got this from the drinks trolley on my GWR train from Stroud to London and I have no clue where else it might be sold. If you can find it not on a train, I think you will enjoy it.

Vegan approved. And pretty packaging.

Red Leicester Cheesies

These tiny cubes of cheesy crispy snack are slightly larger than, say, a rice crispy. But with a rather different bite. They are very light so you don’t get many cubes in your 20g packet.

I must say I was a little surprised at the flavour. Many cheesy snacks are very sweet. And not actually all that cheesy. These Red Leicester Cheesies are not at all sweet, more sharp, and actually do taste of cheese. 

Perhaps this is because the only ingredient is cheese. The packet tells us there are no carbs, no sugar and no junk. And also they are carefully labelled high protein. Everything has to be full of protein these days, doesn’t it? Instagram is even full of people drinking protein coffee which I think I will manage without.

I’m not sure that I would want to eat more than 20g of these Cheesies at a time, but I might change my mind if I had a glass of nicely chilled white wine to hand. Or perhaps a dry sherry.

Not the most photogenic of snacks but you can see that I ate most of them before I thought to take a photograph.

By the way, I shouldn’t have to say this but I will: nothing that appears on this blog has anything to do with AI. I eat all my own snacks and write all my own words using my own brain. Scientists keep telling us that using our brains is a good thing so I will try to continue doing just that.

Pretzel Pete Cheese Pizza Flavour Pretzel Mix

What? Wait, Cheese Pizza flavoured pretzels? How can this be a thing?

OK, pay attention, it’s not just pretzels because there are chunky bits of biscuity bites and some little sticks too. But I actually prefer the pretzel shapes. They really seem to work quite well with this very strong cheesy pizza flavour. And there’s a lot of flavour going on.

To be honest, I think there’s a bit too much flavour here, and I’m not entirely sure it actually tastes of cheese pizza.

Not bad. But fairly sure I wouldn’t buy another packet.

Cambrook Hickory Smoke Seasoned Almond

 Oh dear. Don’t call me picky, but I really didn’t like these Hickory Smoke flavour almonds.

I’m not mad about almonds in the first place, but if they are fried in butter with a handful of salt chucked over them, I think they are fairly edible. My godmother’s Christmas Day recipe.

However, these almonds are flavoured with hickory smoke seasoning. And to be honest I really don’t like this.

And there we are.

See what you think if you come across them.

Butterkist Simply Salted Popcorn

 

This gently flavoured popcorn isn’t as exciting as the Sweet & Salty version of my previous post. It is lightly salted, and lightly buttery, which may not sound very gourmet. But the popcorn itself is tip top. Really good quality, very nice indeed. 

If you like subtle flavours then this is the popcorn for you. Very easy to eat and extremely moreish.

Butterkist Deliciously Sweet & Salty Popcorn

 

Absolutely delicious! Really nice quality popcorn and a lovely taste. 

What more could you want? Umm, yum, I think this is the best popcorn I have ever tasted. Honestly, so good!

I am not sure why this simple combination of sweet and salt is so extremely tasty, but it is. I’m not surprised it won a Great Taste Award in 2024.

Run to your nearest supplier and buy a packet for yourself because I’m not sharing. I got mine in the local Co-op.

Really good!

Waitrose All Butter Cheddar Cheese & Chilli Bi

 

This is a very tasty little cheesy bite, with a kick of chilli to liven it up. Very nice.

It has occurred to me that the British palate has changed enormously over the last 20 years. I can’t help feeling that not so long ago these cheese and chilli bites might have been considered very much too hot. These days I suspect they are acceptable to all the world and his grandmother. We are all eating a lot more chilli, and even the most conservative cook thinks nothing of throwing a pinch (minimum) of chilli flakes into the spaghetti bolognaise.

Lovely texture, very nice bite, good cheesy taste and that little kick of chilli. I really enjoyed these.

Interesting. In the past I think these cheesy bites might have been packaged in a silver plastic baggie inside the cardboard box. You can see that this baggie is clear. Maybe the clear bag biodegrades more quickly?

Lorenz Pomsticks Paprika flavour

Here’s another packet of crispy snacks that I found in our local Turkish shop. They have an amazing array of different brands that can’t always be found anywhere else.

PomSticks, or as we called them when I was a child, chipples, are a tasty way to eat finely chopped and deep fried potatoes. And if I remember correctly, my brother and I learned to eat chipples in Edinburgh, in about 1963. So this style of crispy snack has been around for quite a while.

And this packet of “chipples” is a very tasty example of finely chopped deep fried potatoes. Very nice indeed. 

It tastes nicely of something or other, I couldn’t work out what, but I wasn’t really bothered. But tasty.

If I had bothered to read the label (sorry, I didn’t) I would have known the taste was paprika. Really? I’m not sure I could taste paprika. They don’t seem to taste particularly paprika-y. Whatever it was tasted quite good, so we’ll stick with that.

Here’s another Lorenz crispy snack.

Jacob’s Cheddars Red Leicester

Oh dear. I have enjoyed Cheddars for a long time. Delicious. Although I am surprised to find that I don’t seem to have reviewed them. How odd.

I have also enjoyed many bags of Mini Cheddars in various flavours*. Mostly delicious but smaller. So I was interested to try full size Red Leicester Cheddars.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Red Leicester is a red coloured cheese originally made in Leicester. I believe it works very well in sandwiches. 

However, and I am very sorry to have to report this, Red Leicester Cheddars aren’t a good idea. Same size as your classic Cheddars, same packet of biscuits style packaging, very nearly the same ingredients I expect, but and it is a very big but, they don’t really taste of anything. 

They have just the right crunch and snap, and feel the same in my mouth, but the taste is very disappointing. I am disappointed. I feel there is no real discernible taste of cheese.

*that’s four different posts about Cheddars for your delectation and delight.

Well, just my opinion because there’s no one here to ask their opinion now.