Jacob’s Mini Cheddars Nibblies Double Gloucester & Chive

It’s surprisingly difficult to find who actually owns Jacob’s, the company who own Cheddars and Mini Cheddars, or used to. Jacob’s used to be owned by United Biscuits who have a rubbish website that looks as though it was designed in 1975, but it seems they were bought by a Turkish company called Yildiz Holdings or more likely pladis Global (happiness with every bite). Look, I could have tried harder and spent more time investigating but life it too short.

And why is there almost no information about Mini Cheddars Nibblies online? I was really puzzled. There must be a website I failed to find. They look just exactly the same as any old ordinary Mini Cheddar so…. well, apparently it’s just that they have 30% less fat than other baked Mini Cheddars (which are all baked these days anyway) while looking exactly the same as regular Mini Cheddars. And the text on the packaging telling you this important fact is quite small: perhaps they don’t want you to realise your crispy snack is healthier than you thought? Who knows. 

To be honest, I would prefer my unhealthy crispy snacks to be fried like in the olden days. If you are going to eat unhealthy you want the full fat experience (but make sure you don’t eat too much of it).

Kids! Don’t take my advice on food and nutrition. I am just expressing a personal preference. When I was young we were allowed to eat all sorts and lots of it was bad for us.

Anyway, here we have the healthier Nibblies Mini Cheddar option in Double Gloucester & Chive. Hmmm. I can’t tell that this is the extra healthy option which is a good thing. Same size, same shape, same colour, same texture. Excellent. But honestly, I am not sure this little snack actually tastes of Double Gloucester (would you be able to pick that cheese?), or Chives either. They smell good when you open the packet but what you get to eat doesn’t quite taste like that. What a pity.

Not nasty at all. Just not quite as nice as I would have liked. I will finish the packet and another packet too. You might like the taste better than I do and the Chef thought they were fine but I wonder if they do a cheese version.

Jacob’s Mini Cheddars Nacho Cheese & Jalapeño

 

As you know if you have been following this blog for a while, my iPad knows how to spell jalapeño correctly. And I have learned to appreciate the taste. Mostly from crispy snacks.

My family was a bit slow on the uptake when it came to modern cuisine: my grandfather absolutely refused to eat garlic and only ever ate rice or pasta as a pudding. I honestly don’t know how he managed this because he was brought up in South West France but he was a very determined man. And my grandmother even disapproved of feeding bananas to children. I can’t imagine what they would have thought of Nacho Cheese & Jalapeño flavour Mini Cheddars.

Obviously my mother didn’t get much of a start in life when it came to interesting foods. I think the most exotic thing she ever cooked was Vesta Chow Mein and that came in a cardboard box. I’m not sure she would have been any more enthusiastic about this crispy snack than her parents.

However, when I picked up a multi pack of Mini Cheddars last year it seemed perfect normal to find such a spicy flavour. How things have changed. 

Anyway, rather stupidly I tidied them away and thus forgot to try them. So, slightly out of date, this Nacho Cheese & Jalapeño flavour crunchy little biscuit is rather good. The cheese seems incidental, the chilli packs quite a punch. Very nice.

Walkers Quavers Salt & Vinegar

Quavers, a light curly potato snack, are usually flavoured with cheese. And I like them very much. I love the texture, I like the taste. 

But earlier this week, stopping off at a motorway service station in Kent, the Chef and I came across Salt & Vinegar flavour Quavers. It’s possible they’ve been available for ages but, for whatever reason, we haven’t come across them before.

And the verdict? Delicious. Really very good indeed. Although I wouldn’t recommend them if you don’t generally like salt & vinegar as a flavour. 

Highly recommended for everyone else. 

The Chef doesn’t really go for salt & vinegar, but he was pleased to admit they weren’t too bad.

I notice that grab bags have got a lot smaller since I last looked.

Peter’s Yard Suffolk Cyder Vinegar & Sea Salt Sourdough Bites

Here’s another little bag of sourdough bites chosen by the Ski Instructor and the Farmer’s Daughter. 24 grams and 105 calories. And mysteriously flavoured with “cyder” vinegar and sea salt.

Waah!! These are sharp. And once again the sourdough taste is bursting through. That’s a bit of a pity.

No palm oil: good. 

Baked not fried: not always a good thing. Yes I know it’s probably miles healthier if your snack isn’t fried, but but does it taste as good as it should? Not always.

Less fat than a crisps: again, this should be a good thing. But so often the healthier option doesn’t taste as nice. I think we should be focusing on eating fewer snacks in the first place. There’s no point buying a snack you don’t really like just because you know it’s the healthy option.

Sorry guys.

Peter's Yard West Country Sour Cream & Chive Sourdough Bites

 

So the (now ex) Ski Instructor taste tester and the Farmer's Daughter visited somewhere or other in the West Country (which for those of you who don't live in the UK can mean Gloucestershire or Wiltshire or Somerset. or maybe Devon or Cornwall, sometimes Dorset), and very sweetly picked up some packets of crisps as a birthday present for me.

it is a little unfortunate that all three packets are sourdough bites rather than potato crisps, but don't lets look a gift horse in the mouth. 

I thought this flavour a little thin. The sour cream and chive is pleasant enough, but not nearly enough to  battle past the somewhat thuggish nature of the sourdough base. That's a pity.  And the bite is rather dull for my taste. I really would have liked a a crisper snap.

Not nasty, not horrible. But not really my thing.

Still, two more flavours to try.

Made in Shropshire, which although it is in the west of England is not the West Country. And not quite far enough north to qualify as the North West. Perhaps you'd call Shropshire 'The Welsh Marches'? which somehow doesn't sound like a good marketing ploy. 

Well, anyway, you might like these sourdough bites. Everyone has a different idea of delicious. I think the Chef liked them better than I did but I know he prefers his crisps to be made of potatoes.

 

Jacob’s Mini Cheddars Classic Cheese Pizza Flavour

Why do crispy snack manufacturers keep producing “pizza” flavour snacks? I suppose they always hope their new pizza flavour will work, but 9 times out of 10 it doesn’t. And in this case I really think it hasn’t.

The reluctant taste testers always used to say that pizza flavour crispy snacks taste of the cheapest possible frozen pizza from the shop on the corner that you only buy in an emergency. And although I didn’t have the reluctant taste testers around to ask for their opinions, I do agree with what they had to say.  What a pity.

I think this Mini Cheddar flavour is supposed to be a flavour celebrating cheese. OK, well, maybe. But I am not convinced. Seriously, why mess with the perfectly good cheese flavour that you get with original (or classic) Mini Cheddars?

Jacob’s Mini Cheddars Crunchlets Cheddar & Caramelised Onion Flavour

 

I saw these new(ish) Mini Cheddars Crunchlets online ages before I ever found a packet in real life. I wasn’t sure that I would like them because Mini Cheddars are very good just as they are, and sometimes changes aren’t a good thing.

The little supermarket down the road has a somewhat random selection of crisps and crispy snacks, and the other day I found this packet. And… I have to say that this new fancy puffed up little crunchy biscuitty snack is rather good. I like the crispy crunch. I like the texture. I like the lavish sprinkling of flavour dust on each individual Crunchlet.

However, I am not mad keen on the flavour. I think I would be happier with a bit less onion. It says caramelised onion, but although initially the level of onion seems fine, it turns almost strong enough to be pickled onion. I don’t really want that much aftertaste. But if I can find a different flavour I will certainly try it.

The Chef reports he has no problem with the flavour. And he really likes the crunch.

Tesco’s Finest Christmas Pudding Flavour Limited Edition Hand Cooked Crisps

 

Wow! Christmas Pudding flavour crisps? What the…?

So what would you expect? I think I was expecting something horrible. But although this crisp flavour is horribly wrong, it isn’t horrible.

I actually quite liked the flavour. It reminded me of raisins and sultanas in a Christmassy sort of a way. Quite a nice sort of a flavour for a biscuit. In fact, a bit like a squashed fly (Garibaldi) biscuit. But if you ask me… oh dear no; not in a crisp. And I was quite surprised that the crispy flavour of potato, which you wouldn’t normally think to be too strong, was in fact punchy enough to fight back against the fruit.

Cliffs of Moher taste tester came round for a drink and on one tasting decided this crisp flavour was totally wrong. And refused to try another. She said she thought the flavour would be good for a scented candle. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not. She likes scented candles. I don’t.

The Chef thinks they are weird. 

As ever with Tesco Finest the crisps are on the large size with a good crunch, and rather darker than your average crisp. I don’t know how this flavour was created because the ingredients list only says ‘spices’.

The Chef tried again. He still thinks these crisps are too weird. And I am sorry to say that we couldn’t bring ourselves to finish the packet. That doesn’t happen very often.

Bought from a giant branch of Tesco where I also had a new passport photo taken.

Jacob’s Mini Cheddars Bangin’ Cheese Burger Flavour

Oh deary me. I was hoping that this Mini Cheddars flavour was going to be a banging (or bangin’ - which I really would prefer not to say) cheeseburger flavour. But I think it’s more about the cheese than the burger. Hmmm. They’ve created a range that celebrates foods that would be nothing without cheese. Which is not how I think about a cheeseburger. 

And on reading the list of ingredients it looks as though this crispy snack ought to be vegetarian, but I can’t find anything on the packaging to tell me if that’s the case. It does say that “no burgers have been flipped in the making of this product” and “flavouring only” but even though I can’t find any meat products in the list, I still can’t find any veggie label on the packaging. Odd.

The usual small round biscuits, crunchy and tasting of cheese… and smoky (possibly flame grilled?) flavour.

Unfortunately this crispy snack absolutely does not taste of cheeseburgers. You can only imagine how disappointing that is for me.

I couldn’t find this snack on the Jacob’s website so perhaps it is no longer available in actual shops. So thanks to a well known online purveyor of practically everything.

Lay’s Balenciaga flavour clutch bag

Many thanks to Beth Eats Chips on Instagram for alerting me to the fabulous Lay’s Chips x Balenciaga colab (or vice versa), if that’s what it is, recently featured at Paris Fashion Week.

I have looked at the Balenciaga website and I can’t see any signs that you can actually buy these fabulous crisp-bag bags yet - but here’s what you need to know. Because don’t we all have $1,500 to spare. But what a gorgeous design. Something to lust after. And then buy a packet of crisps instead.

Maybe Lay’s could bring out a Balenciaga flavour crisp? Smelling of leather? Hmmn. For real people like me who can’t even contemplate paying that much for a bag, let’s pick up a bag of crisps.