Gluten Free

Chip Review of the day…..

/ duthow / 1 Comment

Rocky Mountain Popcorn – Cinnamon Sugar

Rating: ©©-1/4 chips  (tolerable)

Rocky

Comments:

Wait, this popcorn tastes eerily familiar…. Have we tasted and reviewed this popcorn before?  Our records indicate that we have not ever tried Rocky Mountain’s Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn before.  However, after some further reflection, and investigation, we are fairly certain that what we were thinking of was Smartfood’s (much better version of) Cinnamon & Brown Sugar Popcorn!

Sorry, Rocky Mountain Popcorn, but your cinnamon and sugar popcorn, doesn’t hold a kernel to Smartfood’s version.  In fact, we are very close to simply describing Rocky Mountain’s popcorn as the antithesis of Smartfood’s popcorn, except that there are a few low-lights that should be addressed.  First, the popcorn kernels are very small and soft.  They just do not exude any of that full, light and crispy kernel-ness that everyone wants from their popcorn.  Secondly, who at Rocky Mountain Popcorn has the unbelievably heavy hand with the all too fine sugar?!  The cinnamon is present, but both it, and the popcorn, are practically lost under the mounds of super fine sugar that annoyingly stuck to our fingers while trying to pinch the tiny kernels.

Note to Rocky Mountain Popcorn: when producing a sweet version of  a traditionally salty and savory snack, the seasoning should not sway too far from the savory end of the spectrum.  There is a reason why certain snacks are iconic = because they work!!  In other words, do not forget to include at least some of that savoriness, and most importantly: SALT!!

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

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

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©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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REVIEW: Salveo – Tomato Basil Baked Potato Crisps

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Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Salveo - Tomato Basil Baked Potato Chips

Comments:

Salveo’s Baked Potato Crisps may be brought to us “In Good Health”, but in the end, what really matters to most of us is if they were brought to us “In Good Taste”?  Well, we are happy to relay to you all, that these crisps are both healthy and tasty.  In fact, we have been more than pleased with the large majority of Salveo’s snacks.

So, when we come across some baked potato crisps that happen to be a bit tastier than your average fried potato chips, we are quite thrilled.  Salveo’s Potato Crisps, remind us quite a bit of Lay’s Baked! Potato Crisps, except that Salveo’s crisps are thicker.  Salveo has even opted to mimic Lay’s Baked! hexagonal crisp shape.

The Tomato Basil crisps smell exactly like the cup of marinara sauce that comes with your friendly Italian joint’s bread sticks, or pizza pie.  You know the type we’re talking about, that over seasoned, extra garlicky, and definitely most sweet cup of chunky, reduced down tomato sauce.  Luckily, the crisps do not taste nearly as sweet as they smell.  Rather, we were surprised with loads of powerful, tomato essence, and a punch of garlic.  Followed by lots of oregano, and even a nice, unexpected touch of heat in the background (might that be red pepper flake? We think so).  But, where is the basil??  We aren’t really finding any basil present here at all.

Still, overall the flavor is well balanced, light, fresh and very….dare we say “Summery”.  Although we may not call these crisps very authentic, they are definitely edible, and the crisps are a perfect vehicle for these flavors.

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 Barrel O’Fun for review

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

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©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

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Chip Review of the day…..

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Popcorners – Twisted Salt Popped Whole Grain Chips

Rating: ©©©© chips  (lip-smacking)

Popcorners - Twisted Salt

Comments:

“The New Shape of Popcorn Whole Grain”

What exactly was the old shape of Whole Grain?

Maybe to answer that question, we must first understand what whole grain represents in this case.  According to the ingredients list on the back of PopCorner’s bag, the whole grains in this instance are none other then the infamous sorghum grain?  That’s right, sorghum; and we’re not talking about what you get from eating too much beef jerky.  According to Wikipedia: sorghum “is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants, either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide.”  As far as we know, these are the first chips that we have ever tasted made from a species of grass….

PopCorners have been a consistent player in the popped chip market for a good while now.  Up until now their original line of popped chips have consisted of popcorn chips (which is a grain we are much more familiar with than sorghum).  However, being the professionals that we are, we did not hesitate for one second to give these grass/grain popped chips a taste.

First impression – the chips consist of a unique monotone mixture of colors, that includes hues of light greys and steely blues in some spots.  Their mouth feel is light and crispy, without being too hard and dense.  They work quite adequately as crunchy flavor delivering devices.

What really set these chips apart for us was their flavor name (and taste).  We just love the name Twisted Salt.  The best part, we didn’t quite know what to assume we were about to taste?  Would the salt include a twist of lime?  Or, might it be spicy??  Well, as it turns out, Twisted Salt appears to be PopCorners variation of a seasoned salt, or salt with a flavorful supporting cast.  Either way you shake it, these chips are not lacking in flavor one bit.  Each chip was liberally coated with plenty of salt, as well as, onion, garlic and some unnamed spices (one of which we are fairly certain was rosemary).

In conclusion, let us just tell you that the Twisted Salt flavor pairs very well with the crunchy whole grains, even when those grains are really actually grass chips in disguise.

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 from PopCorners for review

Chip Ratings Scale:

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REVIEW: Deep River Snacks – Rosemary & Olive Oil Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

/ duthow / 2 Comments

Rating: ©©©© chips  (lip-smacking)

**Updated 06/09/2013

Comments:

Here at Chip Review we remember tasting these particular Deep River potato chips a few years back, and thoroughly enjoying the rosemary and olive oil combination.  We never took the time to put our thoughts down on paper at that time….and since then, we have tasted a few different variations, or should we more accurately say, levels of quality from this Deep River flavor of chip.  Luckily, the ones we most recently tasted were quite delicious, and they warranted an update in the chips’ rating, and review.

These are some very flavorful chips, and to simply call them rosemary and olive oil is a bit misleading; not to say that those two flavors aren’t present, because they are, it’s just that they actually play second fiddle to the more prominent flavors of garlic and onion.  The sweet, pungent, pine-y combination jives extremely well with Deep River’s hearty, full-bodied potato chips.  Deep River Snacks definitely have some of the industry’s most sturdy, thick-cut, crunchy, and potato-ful kettle cooked potato chips.

Do yourselves a favor, if you haven’t yet tried these chips, give them a shot. Deep River Snacks makes great kettle cooked potato chips, and these are some of their best!

Our original review from a couple of expired bags provided to us by the manufacturer; just goes to show how much one bag of chips can differ from another:

This time around, with both bags we tasted, the chips were extremely lacking in that good pine-y rosemary “taste” we were expecting.  Which, is bad thing in our opinion because – 1) the flavor is called Rosemary & Olive Oil, and 2) because, rosemary is probably our favorite herb of all-time.  We were extremely surprised to find such little rosemary flavor, and on the majority of these chips, we predominantly tasted onion and garlic seasoning, which were good, but not what we expected.  To make things worse, the chips were not as crunchy as we’ve come to expect from Deep River’s kettle cooked potato chips.

Wouldn’t you know it, it just so happens that the bags we (were sent) tried had expired weeks prior….  So, we’re pretty certain that this could be the reason as to lack of rosemary flavoring (does rosemary extract flavor diminish over time?), and most certainly the staleness to the chips.

Although some people may argue that it is not fair to judge, review and rate a chip based on a sample that is past its expiration date, we at Chip Review feel that if we are able to get our hands on the product, then we are going to review it the way it is.  So, take this review as you wish, but as far as we can tell you, these are some stale chips that do not taste like rosemary.

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

Chips provided to Chip Review by Deep River Snacks for review

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

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©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

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