Lay's Pickles

Another Dutch crisp bought by Noble Friend on her recent visit to Amsterdam.

I was pretty sure Noble Friend would like this crisp because she is a massive fan of joopje sauce crisps and pickles is not unlike that very Dutch flavour. But I was pleased it was different enough for me to enjoy (I don’t really like joopje sauce). Tech taste tester compared this to a Monster Munch flavour... although without the furry child-friendly shape and texture and I think he liked it too.

Lay's crisps have quite a light crunch, so yes, not very like Monster Munch at all.

In French (on the back of the packet) this flavour is called Moutarde Pickles and in Dutch Aardappelchips met Piccalillysmaak. Which slightly begs the question: where does Pickles come from? Interesting.

Mnnn.... good said Cliffs of Moher taste tester as she crunched past me on the way out of the kitchen. I think we can say this was a success.

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.