Chili / Chile / Hot Pepper

REVIEW: Pringles – Exclusive Flavor Sweet Chili Tango

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Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Pringles - Sweet Chili TangoWe’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, we simply can’t seem to keep up with Pringles and their many, many flavor variations.

Sweet Chili Tango huh?  We probably understand what Pringles is trying to do here with this new flavor name, but it’s a little silly don’t you think?  What’s next –  Sour Cream & Onion Waltz?  Fiery Habanero Foxtrot?  Mac’n Cheese Macarena?  And then, correct us if we are wrong, but does it not look like there are actually potato crisp judges beneath the chandelier in the background of the dancing duo on the bright pink canister.  That’s just plain old silly!!

Apparently these are not new – Junk Food Guy review them months back.  Which can only mean one thing, we do not shop at Walgreen’s very often, which is true.  However, this eye catching canister was not hard to spot once we did finally make a voyage to the popular drug store, and we made sure to snatch the ‘Exclusive Flavor’ up quicker than Psy’s dance moves in his Gangnam Style video.

Alright, time to try these – let’s tango!  First and foremost, lots and lots of sweet.  Probably verging on overly sweet for some people’s pallets.  Luckily that sweetness is combated and complimented by a good amount of tangy notes probably from some vinegar, and the inclusion of tomato.  Also prominent in the flavor mix was garlic, and of course some chili, each adding a nice bold, background essence.  However, funnily enough, we couldn’t find more than the slightest hint of heat anywhere amongst the light scattering of orange-ish-red seasoning!

Overall, the dancing potato crisps were a very eatable flavor, and blended well with the salty potato crisps.  No real big complaints were had by anyone, but then again at the same time, no one was lauding their amazingness either.  Let’s put it this way, if we found ourselves on the far side of the gym, standing alone, watching all of the other couples move to some classic Boys to Men, and Sweet Chili Tango came up to us and asked us to dance.  Then we’d definitely tango with these crisps again.

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Discovered exclusively at Walgreens; Hillside, Illinois

Pringles Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Pop! Gourmet Popcorn & Huy Fong Foods – The Original Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce Popcorn

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Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips  (lip-smacking)

Pop! Gourmet Popcorn - Huy Fong's SrirachaPop! Gourmet and Huy Fong Productions present to you – The One, The Only, The Original-trailblazer – Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce Popcorn!!

By now, we have to assume that you are familiar with this uber popular, green capped, chili sauce. Let’s be honest, Huy Fong’s Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce is anywhere and everywhere!! In fact, we’re fairly certain that most people can’t even separate Huy Fong’s bright red, green capped, rooster gracing, bottle from Thailand’s Sriracha chili sauce.  Although companies other than Huy Fong do actually make sriracaha chili sauce, it seems as though the two are forever synonymous with one another.  Sort of like the way Kleenex is how many of us refer to facial tissue these days.  Huy Fong cornered the sriracha market, and capitalized on the deliciously red, Thai chili sauce – forever catapulting it into hot sauce stardom!!

All that being said, it wasn’t until relatively recently (and by that we mean about a year) that the trend of Sriracha flavored snacks really took off!  To date, we have tasted six different sriracha flavored snacks including these. And, for the most part we have really enjoyed the majority of them. Amazingly enough, this popcorn is the very first one to officially team up with Huy Fong’s famous green capped Sriracha Sauce (even though it is sort of obvious that J&D’s Sriracha Popcorn is not so subtly utilizing Huy Fong’s unmistakable bottle on their bag).

One final example of how engrained Huy Fong’s Sriracha Chili Sauce is in, at least our lives, would be the simple fact that we nearly walked right passed this popcorn in the grocery store today. Not because we didn’t notice it, but just because we saw the bright red bag, white rooster, green top and, said “oh, Sriracha?”  Luckily we did a double take and noticed that this was Huy Fong’s venture into popcornland with the help of Pop! Gourmet Popcorn.

This popcorn is really delicious!  D-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s, delicious; but with a surprisingly subtle seasoning when compared directly against the real hot sauce.  Rather than actually tasting like popcorn coated with hot chili sauce, the seasoning tasted more like a sweetened, dehydrated, and more timid variation of those classic Sriracha flavors!  In fact, we would have liked a bit more of the funky chili pepper, and tart vinegar notes to mingle with the sweet, heat and garlic punch.  But, other than that, the flavors do a decent job of mimicking Sriracha.  A good level of red chili heat, plenty of potent garlic, lots and lots of sugar, decent salt level, with just a little bit of the actual chili pepper flavor, and vinegar.  The popcorn itself was fresh, crispy, not necessarily light, but more toothsome, and with a decently rich level of satisfyingly delicious oil.  Plain and simple, everyone was really happy with this popcorn. The same way everyone seems to always be always happy with Huy Fong’s Sriracha Hot Sauce.

P.S. – Raise of hands, how many of you out there knew that Sriracha was pronounced nothing like it is spelled?  That’s right, “I” before “R” except after “S” apparently…  Say it with us “SI-racha,” not “SREE-racha.”  According to Wikipedia, “It is named after the coastal city of Si Racha, in the Chonburi Prvince of Eastern Thailand.”  Which makes total sense, but why the additional ‘R”??  It makes no sense!  We like pronouncing Sriracha correctly, about as much as we like the pronunciation of a certain retired Green Bay Packer QB!!  Sorry Brett Favre, it is FAV-RE, not FARVE!!

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Discovered at Pete’s Fresh Market; Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois

Huy Fong Official Website

Pop! Gourmet Popcorn Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list

REVIEW: Crave Canyon – Aged White Cheddar & Hatch Green Chile Popcorn

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Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Crave Canyon - Aged White Cheddar & Green Hatch ChileChef G. began the love affair of this flavor in Hatch, New Mexico, widely known as the Chile Capital of the World. How do you romance a world famous green chile? Luck would have it that Chef G. was spelunking in the Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, England and happened upon the birthplace of the most famous cheese of them all, Cheddar. With the rich, melt-in-your-mouth flavor of Cheddar, there’s no doubt that Hatch Has Met Its Match!

Now, who the heck is Chef G you ask?!?  First of all, he is the genius behind the uniquely delicious kettle corn combinations known as, the sophisticated Cane Juice & Sea Salt Kissed With Anise, along with, the fiery Wasabi Ginger.  And, according to Crave Canyon’s website he is also:

“THE MYTH, THE LEGEND, THE MAN BEHIND THE FLAVOR

We don’t think Chef G. is an elusive man by nature, it’s that he’s just too busy to be in one place for very long. But because of this, we at Crave Canyon don’t know that much about him.

From what we can gather, he’s had a culinary passion since a young age and as an adult started to travel the world to broaden his palate. He has been moving on to the next flavor adventure ever since.

We started our partnership with Chef G. when he approached us one day, eager to try his hand at creating unique popcorn flavors. Of course we readily agreed, his reputation preceding him. What resulted were the wonderful flavors we offer today. Who knows how many more he will come up with; like the man, it still remains a mystery.”

For one reason or another there just aren’t very many Hatch Chile flavored snacks out there.  Might it be because the chile is so regional?  Our research shows that the Hatch Chile is native to the state of New Mexico (we didn’t know that there was actually a city called Hatch, New Mexico – makes sense though), in fact, the chile is so popular in NM that they use it in just about everything.  Crave Canyon’s Hatch chile popcorn has a good amount of kick, but won’t knock your socks off.  The spicy vegetal flavor provided a solid base for the flavor profile, but really the star of this combo is the cheese, and the hatch only plays second fiddle!

Loads and loads of salty, and slightly aged-funky, cheddar cheese.  Chef G has not simply dusted his popcorn kernels with this seasoning, but really made sure that they are covered with a heavy cheese powder blanket.  The cheese has some depth too, likely be due to the use of a delicious blend of aged cheddar, sharp white cheddar and bleu cheeses.

The popcorn itself is not very rich, or filled with much fatty depth, but does have a toothsome, and crispy bite.  The popcorn kernels are definitely on the smaller side, but have plenty of real popcorn flavor.  Decent popcorn, but not as great as some of Crave Canyon’s other flavors.

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Popcorn provided to Chip Review by Crave Canyon for review

Crave Canyon Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list