Woo! Crispmas is on its way!

2 days until I get my tree and i'm starting to feel the festive vibe.. and so are Tyrell's apparently!

Here's their special winter edition, sour cream and garlic. We're liking these here at Crisp Nation HQ.

Now they're of course not date food (unless you're going to the garlic bar) as the garlic content is high.. but it's a nice sweet garlic taste, and the sour cream is a great touch. They've also put a fair amount of salt in it, but it really works with the other ingredients and benefits from this.

Crisp is as standard with Tyrell's, a great crunch with skins left on.

8.5/10

mmmm that's a good sweet bbq with a little subtle kick of spice.

Can't say better things about Pop chips. Everyone needs to check them out. You'll find them in most supermarkets nowadays.

They're light, but still give good crunch and the flavour is lick your fingers good.

8/10

I can see why Tyrell's held back on sending me these after seeing my kettle chips review.

But they are a good crisp, obviously lurching in the background is the Doritos Cool Original flavour that we all know and love and will now judge these against that. 

But these crisps have highlighted that 'cool original' is actually in fact sour cream. Tortyrell's sour cream have a more dense, full flavour and a very different crunch than Doritos - again a dense crunch.

This is basically a classier version of doritos.

I like them. great for dipping.


8/10

Super good crunch in this pack.

These are very cheesy. A real deep mature cheddar, just how I like it. Quite salty, but it works in favour of the flavour (yes i'm a bonafide gangsta rapper nowadays)


Another classic done well.


7/10

Last week I was invited to Brown Bag Crisps HQ in Shepperton Studios to have a little chat about crisps - and give theirs a try. Here I am with Chloe, a crisp lover who is pretty passionate about the crisps they make.

I also met Phil, of Phil & Viv who created brown bag. Both were really nice people who know their crisps so I was in good company.

The interview they did with me will be up shortly on their blog:  
http://www.brownbagcrisps.co.uk/brown-bag-blog/


Before the invitation, i'd heard very little about brown bag crisps - they have a limited amount of stockists, but among them are Harrods - which is a good representation of what brown bag are all about. They are crisps for the crisp connoisseur, I found that to be extremely clear when in conversation with Phil, who's passion in his quest for the best crisp flavours are extremely critical and well educated. I learnt many things about the crisp industry and what actually goes into making a good crisp, some of which I'll share in this brief write-up.

First up are Lightly Salted, and immediately i'm struck by the real difference in brown bag crisps. They are the only crisp in the UK to be cooked in Olive Oil (which is why they have the price tag that they do.) This really makes a difference, the flavour of the potato is brought out and it's a smooth, full & rich flavour that you don't get from crisps cooked in sunflower oil. The crisps are curly, but Phil tells me the reason behind this as it's not the usual shape of a brown bag crisp. This year has been very very bad for potato crops as Phil frustratingly explains, every crop is different and you have to adjust your method accordingly. Mostly - it's about perfecting the amount of time that the crisp is in the oil for, they have to experiment on every new crop to get the best out of the potato that they can. This year has been bad, so they've left them in oil for longer - meaning the crisps are a lot more curly.

As you may have noticed on my blog, the classics (Salt, Cheese & Onion, Salt & Vinegar) will never get over a 7/10. For fear of not spoiling that regime too much - Lightly Salted get a 7.5/10. The amount of salt is perfect, but it's the smooth flavour of the olive oil that makes this crisp as good as it is.

Next up are Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar, I open up the pack and take a mouthful of salt, wince and look up to see Phil's horrified face. As he probably well knows from my site, I give very very honest reviews and for someone who strives to make the best flavours above the rest and has won awards for his salt & vinegar, he was pretty horrified to see i'd found myself an unfortunate odd bag that had been over-seasoned. He quickly rushed to find me another pack, which was very different - and since taking some home I can say that it was just an odd pack so am willing to let it slide, as brown bag have won great taste awards two years running for this flavour alone. Which for a classic - I believe is a big achievement, people have tasted salt & vinegar thousands of times before...so why are these so good?

Well the underlying olive oil potato is still quite clear, the crunch of the crisp is almighty and satisfying and the seasonings are perfectly distributed. the vinegar has the right amount of sweet and sourness to it and the salt has a very full flavour to it. Which is a strange thing to say about salt but after noticing this, Phil tells me why there's a difference... Crisp makers in the UK get their salt from the sea and dry them in big oven in the UK. Brown bag have sourced their salt from the continent - meaning that it's not been oven dried - but dried in actual sunshine before it's brought over here. This makes a difference and is one of the reasons Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar has done so well. It's a great 7.5/10 from me.

So i'm halfway through their range and am pretty happy. The one thing I was scared of the most was meeting really nice people and then having to slag off their crisps. Luckily brown bag are such crisp lovers & connoisseurs themselves.

Now here is the real shock for me. Cheese & Onion has been done and overdone. This classic is the most favourite walkers (and so favourite crisp) in the world. So how can it ever been bettered? 

The word that hit me from the packet was 'Manchego' - one of the best cheeses you could ever come across. I don't think I can include these in the cheese & onion category. They are simply much much more than that.
The cheddar and onion is still there and good on its own, but the manchego shines through here and blows this flavour into one of my personal favourites.

A lot of crisp companies like to put their names to farms (e.g Piper's Lye Cross Cheddar & Onion).
Which Phil tells me, is something he will never do. He says that just like the potatoes, the cheese quality varies throughout the year. So he is constantly tasting the cheeses to make sure he is still getting the best flavour out of it. This is a great method that I implore. 

9/10 for Mature Cheddar, Manchego & Onion

So now to the finale, the very last crisp from brown bag. Oak Smoked Chilli.

And it's another success. What's been oak smoked here is actually the sugar. Most crisps have sugar in them to even out the flavour, but none of them have played with it in such a way as this. The sweetness to these crisps are addictive, the chilli kick is powerful and full (which hits you after 5 seconds) but it's nicely set off by the sweetness that really makes these crisps work.

9/10

So brown bag give a massive big sign off from me, they tell me they have a smoked bacon flavour on its way using real bacon (Phil wouldn't have it any other way) which I look forward to. Let's hope they get a lot more stockists in the future. I will be spreading the brown bag crisps word for sure.

Well that's more like it. None of this American Chilli heart stoppers - a good old fashioned English nostril burner!

These crisps are rather jolly if I do say so myself. The honey is that of a sweet bee swarm of excellence, it reminds me of the runny honey that I used to poor over my porridge as a child. The mustard is surely that of our old favourite Colman's that would be lavishly pasted across roast beef on a cold sunday, but it says not in the ingredients.

The Mustard gives that familiar burn we are so used to in our lives, so for many that know English mustard is not for them, this is not for them.

But for a true English mustard lover, it's a great addition to ones day, and the honey's sweetness sets it off just right.

8/10

This is another classic done well. (you wouldn't believe how easy it is to ruin a classic)

Vinegar is sour but not in an overdone way, salt is the right amount and potato has a great flavour. The crisp is curly and the crunch is great.


7/10

Yes Yes YES. Pop Chips ace it again. Totally blown away by this brand.

I've spoken before about the amazingness of the actual crisp here.

But Salt & Pepper is my first foray into their flavourings. A really strong & Intense pepper, the pop chips has a nice visible sprinkling of cracked black pepper on it and the right amount of salt. Really moreish.. these packets i've been sent are definitely not going to last long.

For a strong pepper taste that is more tangy than spicy, and a great different crunch, get your lips around these.

8/10

Damn. Pop Chips are gooooood!

A healthy crisp that tastes this good is a rare thing to find, but pop chips have really pulled it off.

I'm just munching through my third pack of original (not sure how that happened?!) & I can't get enough. It's just a plain salted crisp, it shouldn't have so much flavour to it... but it does.

There's no oil involved when cooking these babies, they squash potato down into tiny little kernels, and pop them just like popcorn. It reminds of the fascinating addiction I realise I have when I'm in an indian restaurant and just can. not. put. down. the. poppadoms.
Which is essentially what these are, a potato poppadom. Without any oil you get a good idea of what the potato tastes like, and it's good. These aren't over seasoned and the crunch is a really satisfying one. 

I'm usually pretty hesitant when approaching snacks that are made to be 'healthy' as healthy and flavoursome is not a common thing to go together in the snack world. Props to Pop Chips.


9/10

Parsnip, Orange Sweet Potato & Beetroot with Sea Salt.

These crisps are not overly offensive, the sweet potato is nice, the parsnip is a bit chewy & the beetroot is very sweet. Too sweet for my liking of a salty crisp... 

The underlying flavour that's left in your mouth (for quite a while) just isn't for me, I appreciate there is a healthier side to the market, but I think that it's something Leighton & Brown really thought about and made work, here I feel it was much less thought about. Couldn't finish the pack. Saying that - a healthier, vegetable crisp liker will probably still enjoy these (still they're salted and fried in oil so it's not like you're being much healthier here)


4/10