Snyder's of Hanover Hot Buffalo Wing Pretzel Pieces

Yes... I honestly wasn't sure what to expect of Pretzel Pieces.  But you know, what you get is pieces of pretzel. Trouble is I'm wondering do Snyder's make a bunch of pretzels and then hit them with a hammer or something?

A thousand years ago when the world was young you used to be able to buy biscuits by the pound, or half pound from the local grocer. Biscuits didn't come in packets. And if you had a bit less money you would buy broken biscuits. Which tasted exactly the same but (you've guessed) were all broken bits. Only in this case it does seem that the "whole pretzels" never exist. All you can get is the broken bits. Weird.

So this flavour of Pretzel Pieces is Hot Buffalo Wing. Which means chicken wings. Well, we all tried really hard but none of us could detect any trace of chicken in this flavour. And do you know, I have two (2) friends who tell me that the wing of the chicken is the tastiest bit. Now that is weird.

Anyway, ignoring that weird fact, we move on the the taste of this quite dark orange crispy snack.

Despite themselves I think the reluctant taste testers rather enjoyed this snack. Some of the bits  (sorry: pieces) have a sort of shiny pretzel skin which holds the flavour dust a lot less well than the inner bits of pretzel which are well impregnated with lots and lots of flavour and are very very flavoursome.

Which is great. We just weren't quite sure what they taste of. Since there's no sign of a chickeny taste, perhaps the taste is simply "hot". Whatever it is, it's really very tasty. The reluctant taste testers and I surprised ourselves by eating quite a lot of these strange broken bits of pretzel.

Tesco Mini Snackers Pigs in Blankets

You know, the packaging on these two Mini Snackers packets, Turkey & Stuffing (see forthcoming post) and Pigs in Blankets reminds me of old fashioned American Christmas cards. My parents knew a lot of American Navy families from the old days when we were based in Dunoon (Scotland) and we always got a load of Christmas cards which were totally different from English cards. They featured pine branches, dark panelled rooms, tartan armchairs and sometimes old fashioned globes.

I don't really know why, but the packaging here really says American greetings card to me. Although I have to say that recently the cards I have received from the USA have been quite different. I guess we have all moved on since the 1960s.

Anyway, I though that the reluctant taste testers and I should try this just after the Pringles version of Pigs in Blankets. Which I rather liked.

Compare and contrast you know.

"Quite biscuity" said Noble Friend (she's learned the taste testing jargon hasn't she?), yes, quite biscuity and a bit dry. But nonetheless they proved quite popular with the taste testers. More popular with them than with me. I don't know. I wasn't massively fetched. Quite tasty, but nothing like as good a version of Pigs in Blankets as the Pringles version. Not nasty just not... terribly exciting.

You get quite a lot in the packet, so if you enjoy these, you're in luck.

Pringles Pigs in Blankets

🎄Merry Pringles🎄says the tube. I couldn't find a holly symbol so I used the Christmas tree instead. It's not the same I know, but we have to work with what we've got.

And Pigs in Blankets as a flavour for Pringles? Well, apparently, yes. And the Pringle on the tube is shown wearing a Christmas bobble hat, skiing on actual pigs in blankets (that's mini sausages wrapped around with bacon for those of you not in the know), and with a string of Christmas lights wrapped around its neck. It must be hard to ski with no arms or legs.... and no head either. Life is so tough when you're a Pringle.

Slightly oddly the tube also says Immagini a scopo dimostrativo (for illustrative purposes only - so they don't actually expect you to believe in a skiing Pringle). Which is Italian. Also Snack Salé au Goût Chipolata et Bacon. Which is French. I've got used to the fact that Bacon is apparently a French word, but Chipolata? Very strange.

I have the say the Chef is a bit horrified. "I thought it was real pigs in blankets" he said sadly. He doesn't like Pringles.

So let's find out what the reluctant taste testers have to say.

"Delicious".
"Lovely".
"Just like crackling".
"I could taste the bacon".
"These are really good". They said.
Except Tall taste tester who said, "Well, they just taste like Pringles don't they?" He doesn't really like Pringles either.

A success then. Not unqualified, but definitely a success.

M&S Christmas All Butter Rosemary & Sea Salt Straws

This rosemary flavoured (not very strongly flavoured - but in a good way) cheese straw from Marks & Spencer is kind of like a really rich shortbread. It is so extremely buttery that I felt I could only eat about half a straw at a time. They are rather large so you get quite a bit of buttery rosemariness with each straw.

Want to follow the serving suggestion? Take a white table cloth and scatter it liberally with golden glitter (can you imagine? glitter gets just everywhere), then strew the table with bits of yew, with red berries if possible,  and place your plateful of crispy snacks on the glittery cloth. Making sure, obviously, that there is a string of fairy lights in the background (actually not a problem this house because the Chef and I rather like to light the place with fairy lights).

Very tasty, but extremely rich. So you may feel like me that you can only manage about a half of one of these at a time.

Golden Fluff Potato Flutes Honey Barbecue Flavor

Another kosher snack for the reluctant taste testers to try. Another tiny 14g packet containing only 60 calories and 3g of fat.

We had already tried the Ketchup flavour, and enjoyed that, and the Onion Garlic flavour, which wasn't bad either. But I'm not sure that the reluctant taste testers and I were massively impressed with this Honey Barbecue flavour.

Yes, the whole bag was eaten up in no time at all, but you don't get many potato flutes in the average 14g packet. I mean, check out the photograph. That's all you get.

The flavour was a bit nothing. Which is a pity. But there you go. I guess not all your crispy snacks can be as good as the one you like best. Which so far, for me, is the ketchup flavour. 

Shufra Peanut Butter-Filled Pretzel Nuggets

The Nosher's Choice

This packet of snacks was another choice from the extremely kosher local deli which I revisited the other day with Noble Friend (it's a bit scary to go on my own!). And Noble Friend was keen to try. So...

Er... well I thought this crispy gloopy snack was incredibly weird. I mean, seriously weird.

I would have been happy with the pillow-shaped pretzel casing which is crunchy and tasty. I never realised until recently that pretzel flavour (and texture) is rather to my taste. But this gloopy inside was not what I was expecting and I didn't like it at all.

However, those of us who enjoy peanut butter, which includes the Chef, liked it quite a bit. So this whole 226.8 (8oz) packet got eaten up. Peanut butter filled snacks are heavy.

Peanut butter lovers rejoice! says the packet. Because these little treats pack a big surprise inside (hmmn...). One crunch and you will know that Shufra Peanut Butter Filled Nuggets are anything but ordinary. Enjoy real creamy peanut butter inside every crunchy bite-sized nugget!

OK, so not exactly aimed at me then.

Tall taste tester said he found this crispy snack weirdly strange, but somehow he really liked them. And he loved the packaging. Even the strange spoon full of gloop.

Walkers Sausage & Brown Sauce

Ooh dear. This was not a popular flavour with the Reluctant Taste Testers.

Dutch Taste Tester told me recently that she had tried this crisp and quite enjoyed it. I think I can safely say she was the only one of us (not sure if the Vinyl Collector enjoyed them; history doesn't relate).

I couldn't really say what this crisp tasted of except it was very fruity. Kind of like a mince pie suggested Slightly Red Haired Bristolian Taste Tester. I suspect she meant this not in a good way.

And Noble Friend almost spat out her crisp. What kind of brown sauce is this she asked? It can't be Daddy's, it must be OK.... Or perhaps she said it can't be OK it must be Daddy's. In fact, it's HP Sauce. Who knew there were so many brown sauces? Not me.

My mother thought that brown sauce was for people who watched Coronation Street (we never did) or lived in the North (we'd lived in Scotland of course, but that's not the same thing) so naturally she didn't buy it.  My mother was brought up in a household where food tasted of as little as possible (sad but true) so she was not a natural taste tester and we never had brown sauce at home. Until my brother went to work on a building site one summer and learned to drink tea and eat fry ups with brown sauce. And even when the larder did feature brown sauce I never fancied it (too brown!) so I never discovered how weirdly fruity it is.

For someone not brought up on the strange concoction that is brown sauce this is not a sandwich filling that I ever even considered. I would go with sausage and ketchup. Or mayo perhaps. Anyway, it seems that this weirdly fruity taste did not please the reluctant taste testers. And we did not finish even the small 25g packet. Pity.

Golden Fluff Potato Zagz Original

This little bag contains only 60 calories! This little bag contains only 3g of fat. Huzzah! Sounds awfully healthy doesn't it?

This little bag contains only 14g of extruded potato snacks. Of which 3g is fat. Not so healthy then. And less than 1g of fibre. Again, not so healthy. It rather sounds as though the healthiest thing about this little bag of crispy snacks is that it's very small indeed.

This little bag contains a rather boring not very crispy, not very tasty snack. I'm disappointed and the reluctant taste testers were too. Golden Fluff can definitely do better than this. The bite is a bit heavy, the texture's not right and frankly we've tried a dozen tastier lightly salted snacks. Perhaps this natural flavour is supposed to have no salt at all? In which case it fails: 125mg or 6% of your daily recommended allowance.

Just stop what you're doing and grab a zag or two! Crispy, crunchy, crinkly, rippling with fresh potato flavour. Guaranteed - two won't do! says the packet. Hmmn.

Well I don't know. I think I'd sooner have something a little bit less "healthy".

I read online that an orange (fruit chosen at random) contains about 60 calories (maybe - different websites give different answers but let's run with this), and 0.1g of fat. The orange contains no salt and 2g or so of fibre. Of course it also has 9g of sugar. But think of the calories you use battling your way in through the skin.

If you haven't yet read it, you might like to take a look at my recent post on "healthy snacks". Which mostly really aren't.

M&S Christmas All Butter Mini Goats Cheese Straws with Chilli & Roasted Onion Chutney

What a mile long name for a crispy snack. What a terrifically tasty crispy snack!

Yum!!

I think if you asked them you'd find that all the reluctant taste testers liked this mini cheese straw concoction very much indeed. I thought they were very good but we all liked them; Senior taste tester, Tech taste tester, Giraffe Fan.... even those of us who don't like goats cheese (Tall Elegant taste tester "but I don't like goats cheese") enjoyed this extremely good and terrifically tasty crispy snack.

Lovely texture, nice bite, the sort of streusel cheesy topping was cheesy and crunchy, nice heat from the chilli aftertaste and the onion chutney adds to the rounded taste: altogether a tremendous snack. 10/10 for general deliciousness.

Grab some while you can because this is probably a limited edition for Christmas only. And grab them now because Tall taste tester is going to buy up the entire supply to give to his family for Christmas.

Probably not madly healthy. Because you will eat more than you meant to.

KP Oven Baked Italian Herb Peanuts & Cashews

I really am not at all sure about these nuts. The Chef seems to quite like them but I'm not sure.

The packet shows the nuts all glossy and golden and brown and covered in herby goodness. The nuts in real life are a bit matte and more grey than golden brown. Which is not exactly a great look. But they do have some herbs on.

And the flavour? Er... well to be brutally honest I felt the taste was more sick than Italian herbs. Not nice. After 2 or 3 nuts they start to taste OK, a fairly tasty herbiness. But honestly I thought the initial taste was very unpleasant.

The Chef, however, didn't seem to know what I was talking about. He said they were tasty. And that was that.

I'm really not sure I want my nuts oven baked to lock in flavour. Which apparently is how they cook nuts these days. I have no clue how they used to cook nuts (presumably in a thoroughly unhealthy fashion) but whatever they did it was pretty tasty (and did not include Italian herbs), and I think I really liked it.

Why can't we all learn to eat less of the full fat version? Because the healthier oven baked or whatever is never as nice. And I feel sure that people are encouraged to eat more of the "healthy" version because it is labeled healthy even though the healthy aspect is quite limited.

Seriously, and I do mean seriously, I would far prefer to eat something full fat and bad for me - but carefully, thoughtfully eat less than I I'd really like - than eat more of a so-called healthy version which isn't anything like so nice.

In this case less really is more. And don't let anyone try to persuade you otherwise.