Tayto Mighty Munch Hot & Spicy (Republic of Ireland)

Goodness gracious! What terrifying creatures we create to convince the children to eat crispy snacks. As if we need to. Mighty Munch, made to scare the mightiest of appetites, these hot and spicy flavour snacks will stomp all over your taste buds. As a mighty muncher, you don’t scare easily. You’re not afraid of what goes bump in the night or crunch in the dark. Boo.. see, you didn’t even flinch!

Very similar to the U.K.’s much loved but terrifying-tasting Monster Munch, this maize based snack is amazingly tasty. Mmmn... yum yum! Obviously they gum themselves to your teeth just like every other maize based snack but that is only to be expected.

 I’m not sure what they actually taste of (I mean, you know, spice extract? What is that exactly? Which spices? Who knows?) but I’m not sure it really matters. And apparently these crispy snacks have been dunked in a volcano for maximum tastiness. Do they have volcanoes in Ireland?

If you’re looking for a full frontal bonkersly tasty snack this could be the one for you. I got mine posted to Switzerland by a friend (amazing!) but perhaps you could visit Ireland for a holiday one day? Or get yourself some Irish friends.

And if you haven’t seen one of those TV programmes about the making of crispy snacks and can find an online video of a machine extruding maize snacks, it’s definitely worth taking a look. Unfortunately I am writing this in a country where none of the videos I’m thinking of is available so I can’t choose a good one one for you. But I know they’re out there. It’s a very exciting process!

The Chef wasn’t quite prepared to admit to enjoying his Mighty Munch; but he did say it’s a very moreish snack and if you have a bowl of them set right in front of you, you won’t be able to stop yourself. And he did eat quite a lot.

Suitable for vegetarians.

Tayto Wheelies Bacon (Republic of Ireland)

 

Wheelies says the packaging, that crispy bacon flavour that makes you want to do a few heel clickers before free styling down the hill, hoping that your brakes still work. Or crazier still, attempt your new superman seat grab. Man that’s extreme snacking!

Well, that all sounds very exciting but, being the world’s most unlikely motorcyclist (reluctant taste testers are you surprised?) I have no idea what it’s about. Of course this is a dirt bike or trail bike or something, designed for bouncing around hillsides in mud. Which doesn’t make it any more attractive to me. A failed ex-boyfriend thought it a good plan to make me ride a motor scooter down a Spanish cliff with no edges. Guess what? Not a good idea. It was absolutely terrifying. He said I was cowardly, I said I was being sensible. I would far rather walk than plunge to my doom because I had never ridden a scooter on the flat let alone down a cliff.

Anyway, I am quite a fan of crispy bacon, and very partial to a maize based snack. So when an exciting parcel of crispy snacks arrived from Cliffs of Moher Taste Tester and her mum in Ireland (Hello!) I picked this to try first.

Right, step one: don’t sniff the packet. This snack smells disgusting! But I poured them all, not very many because it’s only a 20g bag, into a bowl and put them on the window cill to rest. And? Actually they taste pretty good. There’s that strange granular texture you get with maize based shapes, and obviously they stick to your teeth as though they’ll be there forever and get the better of your dental hygienist, but the taste is savoury and quite a bit bacony (albeit suitable for vegetarians) and the Chef and I had no difficulty in snacking down these wheel-shaped snacks.

Plus! There’s a little guy throwing his rubbish away responsibly. We haven’t had one of them for a while have we?

Tesco Bunny Bites

Here's a crispy snack aimed squarely at little children, possibly girls rather than boys.

Made of potato, maize and tapioca starch these cheerful little bunny shapes (face only) reminded us strongly of Pom Bears. And none the worse for that.

Tasting of nothing at all, but in a very yummy way. The reluctant taste testers liked these a lot.

And very many thanks to Noble Friend for donating them to the cause. She thought we might not have tried them, and she was right. But now we have.

U Mat & Lou Snacks Diablos Goût Jambon-Fromage

I'm not entirely sure who Mat & Lou are, but they may be the two blue creatures on the packet trying to disguise themselves with these devil masks.

Yes, devil mask shaped crispysnacks aimed (I imagine) at children. It’s a weird idea isn’t it?

Well, yes, but then the devil masks aren’t so different from various ghost and bat shaped (actually if you click on the link you’ll see why that’s a very bad example - not ghost or bat shaped at all!) or even scorpion shaped snacks the reluctant taste testers and I have tried over the past 5 years and I’m not sure I ever questioned whether or not they were suitable for children.

So anyway, here we have another Pom Bear style snack. Light and bubbly and with lovely light crunch.

Cliffs of Moher taste tester and I bumped into each other several times at the bowl of snacks. Very nice, we thought. Tall taste tester was also spotted snacking enthusiastically.

I wouldn’t describe the flavour as ham and cheese (Jambon-Fromage)  but I would say it’s a savoury taste and very moreish. I think we'd recommend this crispy crunchy snack from France.

Quite tasty opined the Chef, and he liked the cheerful devil faces too.

Chio Minions Maisstangen/Sticks de Maïs Gesalzen/Salés

This interestingly vegan crispy snack has Universal Studios' minions (or should that be Minions?) on the packet. And Minions, as you see, is the name of the snack. Considering how loud and shouty the Minions are (I’ve only seen clips not whole films) it is a bit odd how subtle the packaging design is. I can’t help feeling if this were a UK snack the packaging would be a whole lot gaudier.

I haven’t seen this crispy snack from Chio before so I don’t know if they’ve always produced a snack like this but called something else. It’s quite a common style, and the reluctant taste testers and I have seen a number of different versions, as I dare say you have too although usually cheesy, so you’d think they might have. Although having said that, this is not as orange as most crispy snacks of this type usually are. In fact they are downright colour free.

And fairly taste free too. Not even particularly salty (and of course the flavour is salt). That sounds like a really bad thing but maybe not.  All the taste testers said this snack tastes of nothing much... but couldn’t stop eating it. Almost all this huge packet got eaten with no trouble at all: always a sign of a successful crispy snack.

I feel there is a slight design problem here; this snack looks more like a packaging material than a snack. The reluctant taste testers fully agreed with that. But again, it didn’t stop them snacking enthusiastically.

A surprisingly successful snack.

Chio is owned by Intersnack Switzerland so it’s anybody’s guess why it’s made in Austria. Ours not to question why. Well done Intersnack because the plastic packet is recyclable, but less well done because the snack is cooked in palm oil.

Ich einfach unverbesserlich or Moi moche et mechant which I’m guessing is German and French for Despicable Me.

Bobby's Big Snack Onion Rings

Following the amazing success of Bobby's Curry Sauce Potato Snax, what could be a better snack to tempt the reluctant taste testers than another offering from Bobby's? Bobby's.... best taste around! says the packet. And this is a pretty tasty onion flavour snack.

Obviously not much could rival the Curry Sauce Snax but this was reasonably popular. The rings are quite big and fairly orange... but that's OK. The aroma and taste are properly oniony but I thought the texture a bit dry.

Noble Friend said she's had better onion rings and I think she's probably not wrong. But if this is all you can find don't turn up your nose. Give these onion rings a try.

Tesco Cheese Puffs

The reluctant taste testers and I have tried several versions of this popular cheesy snack now, and I was interested to see how Tesco managed it. 

We've tried Essential Waitrose Cheese Puffs which it seems I rather liked. But do beware. For some reason this product contains wheat flour so not suitable for anyone avoiding gluten or (of course) wheat. We've also tried the Marks & Spencer version Full on Flavour Cheese Tasters which are superb. 

And then, of course, there's the original Cheesy Wotsits. Only they aren't original any more. It really isn't the same when a snack you used to love changed from fried to baked. Sigh. Healthier perhaps, but nothing like so tasty as I remember. Sigh again. I'm not even going to think about Cheetos.

But we mustn't forget the fabulous Kims Ostepops brought back from Scandinavia by the late lamented History Graduate taste tester, No, he's not dead (phew!), just moved on to a different job with a well-known film production company.

So what did we think of these Cheese Puffs? Quite nice I thought. Good texture, good lot of flavour dust. Discerning Architectural taste tester told me she didn't like this style of snack because she doesn't like the orange flavour dust on her fingers; Slightly Red Haired Bristolian was astonished. That's the best bit, she said, the ones at the bottom of the packet have more flavour dust and are the best... and then there's the licking of the finger and poking it into the corner of the packet. Fancy not liking that! And what's more Tall Elegant taste tester agreed.

The flavour here is a little bit "dairy" I thought. A bit buttery. But OK none the worse for that really, and after a couple of puffs the flavour is pretty good. Quite tasty altogether. But there are many good contenders in this crispy snack section. If possible I think I would go for the M&S version or the Ostepops if I could. But don't think I'm turning up my nose at the Tesco version.

I brought some home and the Chef seems to have enjoyed them.

Vico Curly Donuts Cacahuète Caramélisée Sucrée-Salée

Nouveau screams the packet on a bright blue swoosh. Yes, and I wonder if this crispy snack isn't a little bit too nouveau for its own good.

The "donuts" are crispy maize puffs; somewhat bigger than I was expecting, not as big as you might suppose from the picture on the packet, but the bowl I put them in is quite large. It's a bit odd, pairing the maize puffs with the sweet & salty peanut flavour (even though obviously I do remember Sugar Puffs which were as sweet as sweet as can be) I thought, and Slightly Red-Haired Bristolian agreed, that this crispy snack is crying out for the bright orange flavour dust of a Cheesy Wotsit or a Cheeto.

Not that the peanut flavour isn't tasty. It is tasty but in a slightly complicated sweet and salty way. It's only that I'm not sure the combination of the taste and the texture works as well as it might. The reluctant taste testers agreed and didn't scoff the lot before lunchtime.

Un biscuit soufflé a la forme fun & gourmande de donut enrobé de veritables cacahuètes caramelisées concassées pour un plaisir sucré-salé inédit.... On n'en fait qu'une bouchée!
You might not know that fun is a well known French word, and it seems donut may be too.

You can find curly.fr on YouTube. Tu as l'internet? Bonne nouvelle, connecte-toi et viens nous retrouver sur: curly.fr.

In case you had not grasped; cacahuète means peanut. So peanut, caramel and sweet & salty flavours all at once. A little bit mad but not as mad as I was expecting.

Herr's Buffalo Blue Cheese

Oven baked with real CHEESE screams the packet, and you can certainly taste the blue cheese in this spicy, bright orange crispy maize-based snack. Very crispy, very orange and very strong tasting. Nothing subtle here. I don't really pick the buffalo flavour; presumably that's chicken wing flavour in its weird American disguise. I'm sorry, I can't help finding it weird that chicken wings are called buffalo wings and hence simply buffalo.

History Graduate taste tester, who has family in California, was excited to see this flavour. Apparently he had blue cheese fries the other day. Which means nothing to me: obviously I have led a very sheltered life and only ever eaten "normal" fries. But maybe I should take steps to try blue cheese fries if they taste anything like as good as this crispy snack.

A lovely light crunch, and a great big snack, so not many in this little 28g packet. I've only tried 2 flavours from Herr's but I really like both of them and would likely buy far to many if I had access to a ready supply.