REVIEW: Popcorners – Memphis BBQ Popped Whole Grain Chips

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

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 officially the first line of chips that we have ever tasted made from a species of grass….

The rustic whole grain chips consist of a unique monotone mixture of colors, that somehow includes hues of light greys and steely blues in certain spots.  Their mouth feel is light and crispy, without being very hard or dense.  They work pretty well as crunchy flavor delivering devices.

Luckily for us, the Memphis BBQ seasoning compliments the popped whole grain chips rather nicely.  The chips are evenly coated with a slightly sweet and tangy seasoning blend that is properly salty, but has no smoky notes what so ever.  We are not quite sure what defines Memphis BBQ (anyone?), but all we know is that it is a tasty blend, and we can say straight off that we are fans.

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

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Chip Rating…..

Lay’s Air Pops – Sour Cream & Onion

Rating: ©©-1/2 chips  (tolerable)

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REVIEW: Lay’s Air Pops – Barbecue

Rating: ©©© chips  (notable)

Comments:

Well, as the saying goes, “if you can’t beat’em, then you should probably join’em.”  And, on that simple note, may we introduce to you, the latest addition to the becoming-oh-so-mega-popular popped chip industry: Lay’s Air Pops. That’s right, we said Lay’s, which can only mean one thing – there’s money to be made in those popped potato fields!!

Up until now, the popped chip market had primarily been controlled by the ‘little guys’ – we’re talking PopCorners, Salveo, Poptillas, and of course the originators of the popped phenomenon Popchips.  Well, you little guys better watch your backs because Frito Lay is coming full speed ahead.  In fact, we wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Doritos version of Air Pops doesn’t come popping (see what we did there) up on store shelves everywhere in the very near future!

As for the Barbecue Air Pops themselves, well, they are exactly as you probably imagine – light as air, on the thinner side, very crispy, with a subtle potato crisp flavor.  We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again, if you’ve tried one popped chip, you’ve just about tried them all.  However, the slight highlight of these particular popped chips happens to be in their seasoning.  Lay’s Air Pops’ barbecue seasoning blend exudes BBQ-ness.  As soon as we ripped open the bag, every taster mentioned having strong notions of BBQ, specifically thoughts of juicy ribs.  The seasoning was balanced between sweet, savory and smoky, with subtle hints of meatiness.  Overall, it was a decent BBQ flavor, on an OK potato chip.

Alright Chip Review fans we want you to be honest with us.  How many of you out there actually prefer popped potato, or tortilla, chips over the traditionally fried potato and tortilla chips??  Crickets……?  That’s what we thought.  Sure we get that they’re trendy, they’re different, and they are a healthier option for crunchy-salty snacks, but when we are looking for real satisfyingly tasty chips, the popped versions just aren’t going to cut it!

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

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REVIEW: Popcorners – Sweet Cinnamon Popped Whole Grain Chips

Rating: ©©©-1/4 chips  (notable)

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 officially the first line of chips that we have ever tasted made from a species of grass….

For the most part we are huge fans of the cinnamon and sugar combination.  The perfect harmony of the sweet, salty and earthy aromatic notes come together with supreme balance.  Personally, we always loved the combination best when it also included a fatty element, such as butter with our toast, or butter with our cinnamon roll, or melted butter with our Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal….(JK)?!?  However, these snack companies are messing with our minds a little bit. They are taking iconic flavors from our youth (knowing we associate them with happy memories), and combining them with savory snacks that we associate with our salty youths.  Either way you sprinkle it the combination seems like it just can’t lose.

The rustic whole grain chips consist of a unique monotone mixture of colors, that somehow includes hues of light greys and steely blues in certain spots.  Their mouth feel is light and crispy, without being very hard or dense.  They work perfectly adequate as crunchy flavor delivering devices, but in the end do not deliver the type of crunch, texture and richness that we like to get from our chips.

The cinnamon and sugar flavor combination seems to work just fine with these chips.  The two aren’t quite as natural of a fit as pretzels with cinnamon and sugar, but do seem more natural than potato chips dusted with cinnamon and sugar.  From the very second these hit our tongues, it was undeniable what flavor they were.  We are guessing that 9 out of 10 tasters would identify this combination in a blind taste test.  So, the prerequisite cinnamon and sugar are present, but as tasty as they always are on their own, we really wish there was a lot more salt to cut through the sweetness, and balance out the combo (while reminding us that we are also eating a chip).

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

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Salsa Chips – Tell us what you think

Chip Review’s Top 5 Salsa Flavored Chips:

1. Doritos – Salsa Verde!

2. Doritos – Salsa

3. Kettle Brand – Salsa With Mesquite Potato Chips

4. Sun Chips – Garden Salsa

5. Tim’s Cascade – Limon con Salsa Thick & Crunchy Potato Chips

REVIEW: Popchips – Salsa Tortilla Chips

Rating: ©©©-1/4 chips  (notable)

Comments:

Some of us at Chip Review have rather enjoyed Pop Chips venture into the corn tortilla game, but others still prefer their original popped potato chips.  However, all of us have to admit that the bright, bold, and flashy packaging of these newer popped tortilla chips is definitely better than the original old potato chips.

The same cannot be said for the appearance of the tortilla chips themselves.  In fact, the chips are actually fairly ugly, and do not have any of that classic visually rustic corn tortilla character.  Rather they look preformed, or actually more stamped out from a giant popped corn tortilla chip sheet.  The chips themselves have a certain dryness to them, and they lack a lot of that fried, fatty richness that corn tortilla chips usually absorb.

Luckily, the tortilla chips’ flavor slightly makes up for what it deprives us of in the texture and appearance aspects.  First, and foremost, the corn masa flavor definitely shines above everything else.  The chips are evenly coated with a light scattering of simple and tasty ingredients.  The seasoning blend is relatively simple for a salsa flavor; in fact, we would actually describe it more like a pico de gallo (which technically is a salsa, so…).  Each flavor of this salsa mixture was rather easy to pinpoint.  First, we tasted a little tomato, along with onion, and then lots of garlic, and finished with a touch of chile pepper.  In fact, the seasoning was not very shy with the heat, and our throats definitely were feeling the burn once the bag was empty.

Overall, the salsa chips ranked somewhere among the middle of the Popchips that we have tasted so far.  We neither loved, nor hated them.  However, they definitely do not rank anywhere near the the best salsa flavored chips that we have ever tried.  In fact, stay tuned for our Top 5 Salsa flavored chips list coming very soon!!

For another opinion on Popchips venture into popped tortilla unknown, check out Junk Food Guy’s take on the chip line.

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

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RATING: Popchips – Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips

Rating: ©©-3/4 chips  (tolerable)

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