Kettle Chips Limited Edition Chorizo Feta & Olive

I have a feeling this limited edition crisp will remain a limited edition. Somehow this flavour doesn't really work very well. It doesn't seem to taste of chorizo or feta, or olive either.

There's a huge long list of ingredients including chorizo, feta and olive, along with raw cane sugar, chilli, oregano, lemon juice, coriander, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg, but I don't think you would be able to say exactly what this crisp tastes of.

The actual crisps are large, richly coloured and have a great crunch. And a strong flavour. Which was OK. But none of the reluctant taste testers were convinced by this flavour.

Sorry Kettle Chips. We really didn't feel this combination of flavours worked well for us.

Plus and I think you can see it on the scan if you peer closely, the packaging has a pattern like Victorian floor tiles... but also gives the effect that you get when your crisp packet gets a bit old and it starts to leak oil. Or whatever it is that crisp packets do. If you keep them for any length of time you'll have seen this weird effect.

Not a total success we felt. But look: the crisps are wonderful.

Beigel & Beigel Onion Flavour Snack

Here we go with post number 601! Amazing. How did this happen? How did the reluctant taste testers and I manage to try quite so many crispy snacks?

Anyway, I'm pleased to be able to tell you that, apart from Tall Elegant taste tester (who doesn't like onion) and Architectural taste tester (who has discerning tastes and is not really a fan of crispy snacks), apart from those two all the taste testers loved this lightly onion fragranced crispy snack.

Including me.

Lovely light flower-shaped puffs, lovely light onion flavour. Lovely crispy snack.

Chairman taste tester asked me if this snack is wheat or potato based? Of course I had to tell him I don't read Hebrew. So I don't know. Because there's not a lot of English writing on the packet.

What I can tell you is that Beigel & Beigel mazon (1985) Ltd is based at 1 Chocolate Road, Safed 13110, Israel. Chocolate Road eh? What a great address. I wonder what other roads in the area are called?

We enjoyed this oniony snack very much.

Ha'emek Snacks Bugsy BBQ Wheat Snack

A second weird crispy snack in a tiny packet from Ha'emek Snacks about which I can find nothing helpful online beyond a few blog posts.

And this time Bugsy, (I assume it is Bugsy leaping about the packet) looks not so much like Buddy Holly as Chris Evans. This is not enticing for me. And truly I find crispy snacks with cartoon characters on the packet are quite off-putting. But it's a product aimed at children so I should stop moaning and get on with the taste testing.

Well, I never could bring myself to fancy Wheat Crunchies but I know lots of people enjoy them. So if you are one of those people, I think these little BBQ flavour wheat snacks will probably please you too.

Not very BBQ-y, and quite a lot of breakages in this tiny packet - which wasn't very impressive. People, even the reluctant taste testers, are reluctant to eat broken bits where the shape is an important part of the snack. I thought the mouth-feel was slightly greasy.

Not really for me, but that has never stopped anyone else!

M&S Lightly Salted Habas Fritas

Oh dear! I hated this not very crispy snack from M&S. I didn't like the look of it on the shelf in the shop so I didn't buy a packet. But Tall Elegant taste tester did. Buy a packet, that is.

And it turns out that I am alone in disliking this Spanish snack. Just me. I found that somehow I couldn't get the bits of bean out of my mouth. I don't know why. They seemed to last there forever just like I can't get rid of desiccated coconut (yuk!). I didn't enjoy the sensation very much. And I was so bothered about the bits of bean in my mouth I couldn't pay any attention to what it tasted like. I only tried one.

But all the other reluctant taste testers said, quite unreluctantly:
"I like this a lot"
"these are delicious... what are they?"
"I can't stop eating these"
"where did this come from?" and
"oh yes, I've always enjoyed habas fritters"

So, just me not enjoying this very very moreish Spanish snack of perfectly roasted broad beans then. And quite likely you might join the taste testers and enjoy a lightly salted broad been snack more than I did.

7Days Bake Rolls Mushrooms & Cream

A new flavour for the reluctant taste testers from the ever popular Bulgarian manufacturer of crispy snacks 7Days. We rather like Bake Rolls and were pleased to try this mushroom & cream flavour. Although the Senior taste tester has once more registered his displeasure because this is not a crisp. No! It's a crispy snack. And none the worse for that.

Tall taste tester found this packet in his corner shop which used to sell fish and reptiles. And pet food. And he said he really liked this flavour and recommended it to us.

Well, it seems that most of the taste testers rather enjoyed this flavour. Mushrooms on toast suggested Dutch taste tester. She says she likes the taste of mushrooms but not always the texture (I know what she means; they can be a bit flabby or slimy sometimes) but this crunchy mushroom flavour gives you the taste without the flab.

Even Senior Archive taste tester, an occasional visitor, was pleased to approve this crispy snack which she had never seen before. A convert perhaps?

For myself, I couldn't work out why I wasn't so keen as everyone else. And then I read the list of ingredients. Celery. And once I knew there was celery in the flavour I could taste it and smell it. And you know I cannot tolerate celery. But that's just me.

So you might really enjoy this flavour. Bake Rolls generally are very good with a great crunch. A top quality product.

Once again, who knew Bulgaria produced such tasty crispy snacks? Mind you, perhaps the Bulgarians feel the same about the British.

M&S Red Pepper Pitta Chips

So somebody or other bought a packet of M&S Red Pepper Pitta Chips and left it in the kitchen at work. This was about 3 weeks ago. I asked everyone who owned the packet - not because I wanted to try (because I really dislike red peppers) but because I am nosy. And no-one admitted ownership.

However, this morning Tall taste tester said it might have been him. Sometimes he does his shopping, puts most of it into the fridge until home time, but leaves his crispy snacks (if any) on the side because let's be honest; you don't file your crispy snacks in a fridge.

Anyway, we thought we'd open the packet and apologise to the real owner should they ever come forward. Seriously, it's a small office: I think everyone has had the chance to claim ownership if they wanted to.

Here's the interesting thing: I really don't like pitta chips, and I actively dislike red peppers, but I really rather enjoyed this crispy snack. They almost qualify for a yum!

My photograph somehow fails to show just exactly how fabulously red these pitta chips are, and I don't think the pack shot does them justice either. A hard crunch as always with pitta chips, and a very tasty covering of red pepper flavour dust.

A lot better than I expected so (given my prejudices) you might enjoy them a lot.

Ha'emek Snacks Bugsy Falafel Wheat Snack

What a tiny packet of crispy snacks! It's about 4.5" square! And only 20g. In fact, it's so tiny I wonder if this packet wasn't created specially to go in children's party bags. And I hope I have the name correct as I do not have the assistance of Giraffe Fan taste tester just now. If you know better; let me know.

The Graffiti Artist (who happens to be staying this week) really likes the design of this packet; he thinks it's great, but wants to know why it's called Bugsy.... not Buddy. Because don't you think this little guy in glasses looks a lot like Buddy Holly?

Anyhow, these weird little worm-style crispy snacks taste a lot like falafels. Which is great because that's what they're supposed to taste like. They really have quite a hard crunch but are weirdly moreish. The Tall taste tester was quite taken with them.

Do you suppose worm-style is a technical term? I wonder what crisp technicians call this sort of snack?

Golden Fluff Potato Flutes Onion Garlic Flavour

Ooh this is a tiny packet of crisps. 14g is a lot less than you might think, but I always reckon a small packet is good to try if you can. No point in trying a massive packet and hating it. Although we have tried Golden Fluff Ketchup flavour with was pretty good so I had high hopes for this flavour.

A gentle oniony/garlicky flavour and a nice crunch. This is a very pleasant crispy snack. I've got to say, you really don't get many of these potato flutes for your 14g, but pretty good though!

Burton's Daily Fish'n'Chips Brown Sauce

Noble Friend spotted this little packet of crispy fish and chip shaped snacks and thought.... hmm,, I don't think we're tried this flavour. And she was right. We haven't.

And, erm, well..... well I'm not quite sure what to say. These little biscuitty snacks are always rather sweet. The biscuits are sweet before you add any flavour. Or so it seems. And the Brown Sauce flavour is sweet and fruity and vinegary. What you end up with smells irresistibly of mince pies. And pretty much taste of mince pies too.

For those not in the know you make a little pie crust and fill it with mincemeat and eat it at Christmas. It's a traditional Christmas delicacy in the UK. In the olden days mince pies were made with meat: hence mincemeat. I guess as Christmas is in the middle of winter all the spices and fruits like cinnamon and raisins and grated apples were a way of disguising the taste of the meat which probably wasn't very fresh. Now of course we have freezers, and can feed more livestock through the winter, so we have access to fresh meat at any time of year.... and although a proper mince pie recipe should include suet, you can also find vegetarian versions.

Never had a mince pie? Not had the chance to try this crispy snack? Let me help you to a mince pie recipe. This is a vegetarian recipe for mince pies from Mary Berry, but here's one that's more traditional from BBC Good Food.

So to me, this crispy snack tasted and smelled so much of a mince pie I could hardly credit it. Interesting. But I should point out I have never tried Brown Sauce. So I don't know what it tastes of, but here's a Wiki page to help me out.

From the packet it looks as though Burton's have pitted the Brown Sauce flavour against a Red Sauce flavour. Perhaps. Because I can't find anything about this on the Burton's website. However, if I ever looked at Twitter....

Beigel & Beigel Falafel Flavour Snack

The other day Noble Friend went to one of the local kosher supermarkets in search of smoked salmon. And in said kosher supermarket she discovered a whole wall of exciting kosher and Israeli crispy snacks the reluctant taste testers and I have yet to try. Amazing!

And nobly Noble Friend took me by the hand on a thrilling excursion to the kosher supermarket. A journey of exploration. It's only 10 minutes walk from work but, well, it's a whole nother experience from the supermarkets I usually shop at.

Wow! Well worth battling the mystery labels in Hebrew lettering. I came away with a bagful of crispy purchases, and here's the first one we have tried. 

I had to ask Giraffe Fan taste tester to help me out here as I neither speak nor read Hebrew. And it turns out that she knows more than she admits to. I took her rough translations to google translate and translated them back and forth between English and Hebrew. And lo! it turns out that we were trying falafel flavour snacks. OK, that was written in English, but the name of the maker wasn't.

Really falafelly. I liked the taste a lot, as did a number of the reluctant taste testers. And I love the shape. These little puffed flower shapes are like nothing I have seen before. What a handsome design for a crispy snack. And we have at least 3 more flavours to try.

If you fancy trying a mystery kosher snack, check out your local kosher supermarket. You never know what exciting treats you may discover.