Pepper / Cracked Pepper

REVIEW: Simply 7 – Black Pepper Pomegranate Chips

/ duthow / Leave a comment

Rating: ©©©-1/4 chips  (notable)

Simply 7 - Black Pepper Pomegrante Chips

Comments:

A while back we sampled, and reviewed, Simply 7’s Sea Salted Pomegranate Chips, as well as, their White Cheddar Pomegranate Chips, and we definitely liked both of them well enough.  We were impressed with the sea salted chips’ simplicity, and sheer pomegranate essence.  We had our doubts towards the white cheddar chips, but for some bizarre reason the pomegranate and cheese flavor combination just worked for us.  Well, truth be told, we thought that we were actually saving the tastiest pomegranate chips for last, but as it turns out we were actually incorrect.

Alright, we know what you’re thinking, but before you jump to any conclusions, we agree that these chips may seem weird at first, but let us just warn you, don’t knock the pomegranate chips before you try them.  Plain and simple, like the components used in these “chips” (technically crisps in our books), these do in fact taste of pomegranate, and we found that aspect of their flavor very intriguing, and quite tasty.  By keeping the ingredients list so minimal, the pomegranate flavor was able to shine through.

However, the finely ground black pepper, did not compliment the fruity pomegranate flavor very well in our opinion.  In fact, the two seemed to be battling one another the whole time in our mouths.  The “spicy” black pepper would zap the fronts of our tongues, while the sweet and sour pomegranate flavor danced and tugged on the backs of our tongues – each one juxtaposing, rather than complimenting, the other.  The two just did not work for us.

We feel that it is also worth noting again that we weren’t necessarily huge fans of the texture, and mouth feel of the crisps.  We pretty much always prefer a traditional potato chip, but because these were so light, and crispy, we did eat a lot of them before even realizing it.

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 Simply 7 for review

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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REVIEW: Mackie’s of Scotland – Haggis & Cracked Black Pepper Potato Crisps

/ duthow / Leave a comment

Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips (lip-smacking)

Mackie's of Scotland - Haggis & Cracked Black Pepper

Comments:

Even before receiving these uniquely flavored crisps from Mackie’s of Scotland, we were well acquainted with the infamous haggis flavored chips from our friends across the pond.  Surprisingly enough, the vast majority of the reviews that we had read for these crisps were relatively, actually predominantly, positive.  We say surprisingly, because the majority of information we have gathered in regards to the actual Scottish dish, is that it can be a bit challenging to consume.

Josh at Crisp Nation is actually a fan of haggis, so his opinion should definitely bear some weight.  The crew over at Taquitos were fans of these crisps.  Junk Food Guy probably had the least enthusiastic review.

For those of you who are a bit unfamiliar (as we were) with what haggis is, according to Wikipedia, haggis is, “a traditional Scottish dish, considered the national dish of Scotland.  Haggis is a savoury pudding containing sheep’s pluck (heart, liver and lungs); minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally encased in the animal’s stomach and simmered for approximately three hours.” (Wikipedia)

So, lets see if we’ve got this right.  These crisps are one of the most interesting flavor combinations that we have ever heard of, and they are supposed to taste like sheep’s heart, liver, lungs and stomach, combined with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, salt, along with the addition of cracked black pepper.  Why do we want to even try these….?

We are happy to report that Haggis & Cracked Black Pepper are another wonderful addition to the Mackie’s of Scotland line-up, but it may not be for the reason you are thinking!  To be completely honest, we don’t get very much meat flavor from these crisps.  According to the ingredients list, these crisps do include natural pork flavoring, and perhaps if we strained our taste buds to their limits, we could recognize a bit of meat flavor; but compared to many other meat inspired flavors, especially our Top 5 Meat Flavored Chips, these ones don’t hold a meaty candle.  If you feel differently, make sure to let us know at our meat flavored chips poll.

What we do love about these crisps is everything else.  First and foremost, it must be said that Mackie’s potato crisps are really, really impressive.  Larger sized, medium thickness, skin-on, rustic and hearty potato crisps, that convey a tremendous amount of potato-forward flavor.  The potato crisps themselves are of amazing quality that ranks them squarely among the greats.

Cracked Black Pepper indeed.  In fact, if we didn’t know better, we would have simply thought that we were trying a very good, new version of salt and pepper chips.  These chips provided loads of spicy black pepper heat that lingers for a long time in the backs of our throats.  They also bore a subtle acidic bite, almost like they were splashed with some lime, or citrus, that compliments all of the spices and black pepper very well.

So, we can’t be sure if these chips bore any resemblance to the actual dish of haggis, but we can confirm that they most definitely included black pepper, and some other flavors that complimented that pepper very nicely.  To top it off, they were tasty and we must admit that they did pair rather nicely with a dram of great, peaty, single malt.

Before we go, we wanted to make sure and leave you with what we think is probably the most creative review we found for these crisps.  This video review just happens to be from renowned food writer, Chow.com Supertaster James Norton, who’s opinion we feel very highly of.

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

Crisps provided to Chip Review by Mackie’s of Scotland for review

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

©©©©© – “A” list