BIJOU-REVIEW: Boulder Canyon – Pumpkin Pie Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We started this Thanksgiving meal out with some delicious Turkey & Gravy flavored potato chips, and now we’re finishing up with these Pumpkin Pie flavored ones!

Once again we are wishing that we could find the Cranberry, and the Stuffing flavored chips as well, so we could round this Thanksgiving meal out; but alas, as far as we can tell Boulder has opted to stick Turkey and Pumpkin Pie.

Believe it or not, Boulder Canyon’s chips are not the first pumpkin pie flavored potato chips that we have come across.  A few years ago Pringles released their own Pumpkin Pie Spice Potato Crisps.  We didn’t love those, and quite frankly we don’t love these either.  They are better than the Pringles variation, but that is only due to the quality of the kettle cooked potato chips themselves.

Plain and simply, pumpkin pie flavors were not meant to be sprinkled onto fried potato slices!!  Chips are a savory snack, not a crispy dessert!  Sure there can be a mingling of sweet and salty flavors some times, but we do not embrace a chip that is all sweet, with no salt – which is what these are!

That being said, they do evoke an awful lot of pumpkin pie thoughts.  Sugar, and traditional spices like nutmeg and cinnamon, and believe it or not, some sort of real pumpkin are all utilized to flavors these chips.  We can’t argue their accuracy, but we will never embrace their flavor!!

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

Chips discovered at World Market; Oak Brook, Illinois

Boulder Canyon Foods Official Website

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REVIEW: Manomasa – Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper Tortilla Chips

Rating: ©©©©-3/4 chips  (lip-smacking)

RECIPE No. 34 The Sixer (did it take 6 attempts to nail down this recipe, or what?)

SHAPE: a HEXAGON – the shorter sturdy sides help hold the seeds in place (huh? – don’t quite understand that theory, but we can crunch with it)

TEXTURE: a strong yellow corn masa packed with six types of seed rolled out to a medium thickness, rested awhile then toasted carefully before tumbling through sunflower oil for the crispiest chip! (oh, now we get what ‘The Sixer’ is…six types of seeds – clever!)

TASTE: a subtle taste of onion and garlic, along with a pinch of salt and a smattering of black pepper lets the seeds shine through – pops of flavor come from the poppy, sunflower, pumpkin and golden linseed along with distinctive warmth of caraway.

Other than our few comments in italics above, the rest of the descriptive verbiage is taken straight from the Manomasa bag, which is pretty darn impressive, don’t you think?  Honestly, there’s not much more that we can say, or even really need to.  Thanks Manomasa for making our difficult job of eating and reviewing your chips – easy (we kid)!

Just in case you were looking for a little more feedback from us here then we would just tell you that we really, really, really enjoyed these chips!  There was just something about them that sat well with us.  Maybe it was their unique variation of the classic salt and pepper combination?  Not simply relying on plain old salt and pepper to season the chips but adding other flavors like onion and garlic to the mix.  Or, maybe it was their recipe of untypical seeds that provided complex layers of flavor and texture that slowly materialized with the more chips we ate?  Imagine salt and peppery everything (bagel) flavored tortilla chips.  On the tail end of the flavor ride there was even a prominent “heat” from the black pepper that lingered on the backs of our tongues – fantastic!!

One thing that we would like to mention, as we’re fairly certain that our first review of Manomasa’s Green Lemon & Pink Peppercorn Tortilla Chips never touched on this, is how beautiful Manomasa’s packaging is.  Seriously, each bag is like a piece of artwork, or not like a piece of artwork, it is artwork.  Vivid paintings of the chips’ ingredients surround the chip itself, while the Manomasa brand name boldly pops from the red banner it rests on.  We’re sure a lot of time and effort went into this design and it deserves to be recognized and praised!

Best looking chip bags ever!!  To go along with some of the best tasting Salt & Pepper flavored chips we’ve ever tried as well!

Once again we have to give thanks to Josh from Crisp Nation for making us aware of these fantastic chips!  Now we just need someone in the U.S.A. to start carrying them.

As always we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree.  Let us know.

Chips provided to Chip Review by Manomasa for review

MANoMASA Official Website

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RATING: 479° – Chipotle Caramel & Pumpkin Seeds

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

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REVIEW: Gaslamp Popcorn Co. – Pumpkin Spice Pie Popcorn

Rating: ©©-3/4 chips (tolerable)

Pumpkin Spice Pie?  Does that sound oddly worded to anyone else?  Did they actually mean Pumpkin Pie Spice?  And, why not just Pumpkin Pie flavored?  It’s not as if we would actually expect the popcorn to taste like pie right?  So, we would simply be expecting those traditional pumpkin pie spices all the same.  Of course we’re nitpicking here, but either way you slice it (get it?), we just don’t think Pumpkin Spice Pie sounds right!

A couple of months ago we reviewed Gaslamp Popcorn Co.’s other holiday inspired flavor Apple Crumble Pie.  Very similar to that flavor, the Pumpkin Spice Pie flavor releases an oddly familiar scent of those traditional holiday spices combined with a savory, slightly oily, and something like creamy buttermilk essence.

So what does the unmistakeable pumpkin pie spice blend typically consist of?  Correct us if we are wrong, but we are pretty sure that it is ground nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and all spice. In other words, an aromatic wonderful of scents!  And, wouldn’t you know it, Gaslamp’s popcorn did smell and taste of all of these spices.  However, when combined with the sort of rich and tangy and oily notes of the popcorn, the seasoning did not jive very well with us.  We definitely could have used some more salt.  What this flavor really lacked that the Apple Crumble Pie delivered on was some depth of flavor.  With that flavor Gaslamp included a slight acidic touch to represent the apple part of the combo, and while we didn’t love the flavor by any means, we were very impressed.  With this flavor, we get none of that, and are really left with a, four spice, one note flavor!

Once again, in the end, we must give high marks to Gaslamp Popcorn Co. for originality, and some rather crispy and fluffy bright white popcorn kernels.  However, we can’t imagine that anyone would ever grab a bag of this stuff, and simply sit down and enjoy the whole thing!  No, this is the stuff you set out at your holiday party and watch people’s reactions.  More conversation piece than delectable treat.  We’ll stick to Pumpkin Spice Pie in pumpkin pie form please!

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 Gaslamp Popcorn Co. for review.

Gaslamp Popcorn Co. Official Website

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REVIEW: Simply Sprouted Way Better Snacks – Oh, My Sweet Punkin Cranberry Tortilla Chips

Rating: ©©©© chips  (lip-smacking)

Believe it or not, these are not the first cranberry flavored chips that we have crossed paths with.  That being said, they most definitely are the best tasting ones!!  A deliciously sweet, and sour, and fruity, cranberry combination!

We just love it when we stumble upon one of those rare surprises that make us smile with enjoyment after just one chip!!  Not necessarily because we’ve just tasted the greatest chips, or even something revolutionary, but simply because when we weren’t really expecting to enjoy then, let alone like them very much!  A little special something, what more can we ask for?!?

Immediately upon crunching down on Way Better Snacks rustic tortilla chips, a bright, tangy-sour cranberry essence reveals itself.  The “punkin” aspect was definitely present in the orange hued color of the chips, along with providing a subtle, complimentary, background pumpkin essence.  To round it all out, the chips were salted very, very well!

Probably the most surprising aspect of these chips (even more unusual than the unique cranberry and pumpkin combo), was the fact that the chips were not very sweet at all.  We weren’t necessarily thinking that the chips were going to be so sweet to be called dessert chips, but we were thinking that they were going to have an underlying sweetness.  Great flavor.  The chips deliver on a fresh, cranberry, fruity essence.  In fact, there was so much fruity essence that we suspected that there may be other fruits involved, and wouldn’t you know it, one quick glance to the ingredients list showed that there was raspberries included in the recipe!  Definitely the first chips we’ve tried with raspberries among the ingredients.

As for the chips themselves, what the heck are sprouted grains?  According to Way Better Snacks website: “…seeds, grains and beans play an important role in a healthy diet, but their nutrients can be increased multifold through the process of germination. Germination releases enzymes specifically designed to start the seed on its way to becoming a plant, which in turn consolidate nutrients. Sprouted foods are high in fiber, helps neutralize and remove waste from the body, and some (like our Broccoli and Diakon Radish Seeds) even contain anticancer substances.”  Sounds good to us.

These multigrain tortilla chips are definitely some of the most uniquely textural chips we can think of, and we’ve encountered quite a few.  They remind us of some other chips with unique textures, such as Lundberg’s Mojave Jalapeno Multigrain Chips, Wild Riceworks Sea Salt and Black Sesame Gourmet Wildrice Crisps, and Real McCoy’s Sweet & Spicy Rice Chips. They have a great, seedy-rustic mouth-feel and crunch to them.  We love how we can see the seeds and grains scattered throughout the body of the chips, and we love the unique shape to these ones – it sort of reminds us of a swaying flag.

The chips are probably not for everyone, even among our group there were some detractors, but if you are looking for some fresh and original chips, then these would be for you!

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

Chips discovered at TJMaxx; Chicago, Illinois

Simply Sprouted Official Website

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REVIEW: Mother’s Farms – Pumpkin Seed Tortilla Chips

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Comments:

You too may be destined to review salty snacks one day if:

1) You like salty snacks, it just helps

2) During the holiday season you look more forward to the salted & roasted pumpkin seeds, than any form of pumpkin dessert.  That includes the iconic pumpkin pie!

and 3) While growing up you were more often referred to as a ‘savory’ kid, than a ‘sweet’ kid.  Something along the lines of, “that Adelyn, she is such a savory, savory child!”

Mother’s Farms Pumpkin Seed Tortilla Chips do a fine job of straddling the line between a sweet and savory chip.  Very similar to some other pumpkin tortilla chips (Food Should Taste Good) that we reviewed last year, only with an even more subtle hand with the spices, resulting in slightly more savory tortilla chips.  Unfortunately, neither Mother’s Farms, nor Food Should Taste Good, could come anywhere close to the delicious complexity of Laurel Hill’s Pumkin Seed Tortilla Chips.

The tortilla chips have a light tan colored hue, and a medium thickness to them.  Their crunch is sufficiently sturdy, while still not too substantial.  The chips exude a light sweetness from the inclusion of honey granules, a sufficient scattering of salt, and a savory nuttiness from the usage of pumpkin, and the inclusion of cross sections of pumpkin seeds.

In the end, we would describe the chips as tortilla chips first, but with a hint of nutty pumpkin flavors.  They could easily be substituted for a bowl of traditional corn tortilla chips, or they could provide a slight variation if you were looking to highlight something a little different.  Either way, they make another fine addition to Mother’s Farms’ line-up.

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

Chips provided to Chip Review by Mother’s Forms for review

Mother’s Farms Official Website

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REVIEW: Food Should Taste Good – Limited Edition Harvest Pumpkin Tortilla Chips

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Comments:

Tis’ the season for holiday chips!  We plan to serve these chips right after Thanksgiving dinner to those guests that shy away from sweets.

Food Should Taste Good’s Harvest Pumpkin Tortilla Chips are hearty, rustic, stoneground with a Autumnal burnt orange hue!  The crispy chips have a strong hearty crunch, and a more than adequate salt level.  We expected them to be a bit sweet, but they are most definitely savory first and foremost!  The all natural tortilla chips trigger thoughts of pumpkin pie, emphasized through the usage of those aromatic spices, so commonly used with pumpkin anything – nutmeg and cinnamon.  Which made us question – do the chips actually taste like pumpkin?  Or, do our brains simply associate their color and aroma with pumpkin?!?  Either way, pumpkin thoughts evoked!

Food Should Taste Good’s Harvest Pumpkin Tortilla Chips fall somewhere between the two other pumpkin flavored chips we have tried.  Certainly better than Pringles Pumpkin Pie Spice attempt, but no where near as complex as Laurel Hill’s Pumkin Seed Tortilla Chips.

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

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