Tesco Finest Feature Flavour Smoky Braised Ribs & Ancho Chilli

Well, there's certainly a lot of flavour dust on these crisps. Unfortunately it is not entirely clear to me, nor to the reluctant taste testers, what the flavour dust actually tastes of.

As so often with Tesco crisps these are quite large, nicely cooked and with a great crunch. But aside from the smoky flavour and the chilli heat I think that none of us was able to identify a taste of braised ribs. Or any kind of ribs.

Actually I am somewhat at a disadvantage because I've never eaten ribs so I don't know what they taste of. But let's take a stab in the dark and imagine probably vaguely meaty?

The aroma is mostly barbecue and the ingredients include West Country beef extract; maybe that explains the marmite/bovril taste. And then there's carob flour. Now carob is a chocolate substitute so what is it doing here?

Not sure we could identify the meatiness. Not sure I would really recommend them.

Is it just me over-thinking things or is there a hint of desperation in the flavour development departments these days? I get it when they bring out a fancy version of, say, cheese & onion with a named cheese and red onions or chives (it'll be leeks next I dare say) and I get it when I try a crisp flavoured with tomato ketchup or actual marmite. I don't really get it when the crisp flavour seems like a whole dinner. Or, as I'm sure I have said before, like something on a menu in a restaurant. 

Tesco Finest Goats Cheese & Sticky Chilli Jam Crisps

I was pleased to find this "feature flavour" because I've been wanting to try goat's cheese flavour crisps. I know you can get them in Belgium (although these were described as simply chevre which I suppose could mean goat rather than goat's cheese... no, not really) and France but I've yet to see any to buy. I hope if I do come across them they will be better than these crisps.

The secondary description is creamy goats' cheese from Devon with sweet and sticky jam for a spicy kick. Well, yes..... sort of.

These are great big crisps. Some of them as large as the palm of my hand. A very good crunch and quite a lot of dark orange flavour dust. But the flavour. Oh dear. What a disappointment.

I can hardly detect the goat's cheese. There's a sort of faint breath of what is probably the cheese, a little like some of the sour cream flavours. And the chilli is almost entirely overtaken by the extreme sweetness of the jam. Which is very very sweet. I wasn't mad keen on the Spiced Bramley Apple flavour crisps which you can read about here. And I'm not much struck by these either.

It's an interesting time to launch a goat's cheese crisp. Both the Telegraph and The Guardian have published articles recently about the great goat's cheese shortage of 2014; read the Guardian article here. But perhaps "feature flavour" indicates a limited edition crisp? Possibly more limited than Mr Tesco was anticipating.

There is nothing at all the matter with these crisps except that I don't like the flavour. Call me picky but I don't get this thing for sweet crisps at all.

This packaging detail is charming though and I very much like the idea of a field called Angus. Is the next door field called Richard I wonder?