Bret's Les Aromatiseés Moutarde Pickles

To be absolutely honest, I bought this packet of crisps thinking that moutarde pickles would be the most disgusting flavour in the history of crisps.

And how wrong I was.

Moutarde is of course French for mustard. Which I don't really like much. Pickles is not French for pickles at all. According to the back of a Lay's packet (they also do a moutarde pickles crisp), French for pickles is condiments. But in any case, pickles could be absolutely anything that has been pickled.

The ingredients list has mustard (a good start), pepper, turmeric, onion, garlic, sugar, carrot, cauliflower and cucumber. And salt of course. There are acidity regulators, acidifiers and citric acid too. And all suitable for vegetarians.

And the flavour? Somehow it's amazing.

Apart from one of them, the reluctant taste testers at work thought this was a really good crisp. They finished most of the 125g packet in no time at all. I took the rest of the bag home for the Chef to try. The one person who didn't really enjoy these called the taste "alarming' but she has a conservative taste in crisps so I'd trust the opinion of the rest of them. Some of them thought the taste was very mustardy, and some of them thought it was very pickley. But they all seemed happy to tuck in.

As usual with Bret's the crisps have a fine crinkle and a light crunch. There's not too much loose flavour dust but the taste.... it's really astonishing. Wow. Not for every day perhaps but certainly one to try if you spot a bag on your way through France.

Check out the Bret's website for more flavours.

Just for fun, here's a rose from my garden.

Corkers Pork Sausage and English Mustard

Road trip!

We went to Cambridge yesterday where we saw a beautiful albizzia tree in full flower, a fabulous C18th clock sitting on the back of a rhinoceros, and the Batmobile being driven past on a car carrier. And we found these crisps, new to us, in the Courtyard Cafe at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Wow! These sausage flavour crisps really seem to be made with genuine sausage flavour. Although the ingredients list is not specific it does say natural flavourings. Also spices, herbs and onion. And of course, mustard which you can also taste. However, they are suitable for vegetarians so no actual sausage.

It's odd. Some crisps have a wonderful aroma and a less good taste. These just smell of crisps but taste amazing. Personally I could manage with a little less mustard in the mix but I have never been a fan of mustard.

These crisps are made near Ely in Cambridgeshire from East Anglian spuds; a variety called Naturolo. They have no artificial flavourings or MSG and are hand cooked in sunflower oil. This is a Natural British Crunch.

A lovely crunch, nice dark golden brown colour, lots of tasty flavour dust. A genuinely good crisp. And in a 40g packet which as you know I always find a plus.

I never heard of the Corkers crisp company before but it seems to be run by two guys called Rod Garnham and Ross Taylor who have themselves photographed wearing black tie and red wellies. And they have also redesigned the little guy who disposes responsibly of his crisp packet. This little guy is wearing a suit and tie and has just taken off his bowler hat. Very British.

The Corkers Crisps website is a little slow to open but very very British in theme.  Lots of fun photos. Clearly these East Anglian chaps are very keen on their crisps. And cricket.

Also spotted in Cambridge; this E-Type Jaguar parked in Trumpington Street just near the museum. Every single man who walked past just had to stop and admire it. I was lucky to get this man-free shot. Man-free, woman-free, bicycle-free, traffic-free: Cambridge is very busy on a Saturday in July. It's a shame I couldn't fit the tops of the gables in too but I didn't have time to get a better angle.