Saturday, September 10, 2011

Snack #199- Jack ‘n Jill Vcut Potato Chips Sweet Chili Flavor




Jack ‘n Jill Vcut Potato Chips Sweet Chili Flavor


These snacks taste just like really sweet ketchup.  They are light and flaky and have the texture of a great ruffle potato chip but the flavor is lacking.  When you swallow you can taste the chili heat in your throat but it never hits your mouth during chewing.  They taste like the flavor should be tomato but the ingredients don’t have any tomato listed.  The sweetness of the tomato and the delay of the chili heat in the throat doesn’t help these Filipino snacks.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 4/10
Bottom Line: Tomato flavored chips with a chili aftertaste.

Snack #198- Globite Authentic Gourmet Asian Potato Chips Oriental Hot & Spicy




Globite Authentic Gourmet Asian Potato Chips Oriental Hot & Spicy

Finally!  A snack that is actually Mongolian in production.  These taste like a poor knockoff of Pringles and suffer because they are cut thicker than Pringles.  Pringles are mashed, dried potatoes smushed back into potato chip shape so you can imagine what happens when they are too thick to fry well.  Some reviewers thought they tasted like paper or fish sauce and the texture definitely hindered positive taste reviews.  They are spicier than the previous two that were rated in Mongolia and the heat hits you more in the lips and mouth than tongue.  They still weren’t very spicy though and the flavor was also pretty sweet without much other distinguishing flavor.  They tasted somewhat like a spicy oyster sauce or fish sauce which must be what makes them ‘oriental’ hot and spicy. 

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 3/10
Bottom Line: Too thick, fish sauce Pringles.

Snack #197- Cosmos Spicy Corn Chips



Cosmos Spicy Corn Chips

These snacks look like pork rinds but they are square and made out of corn.  They are pretty crispy and they have fairly sweet flavor but they do have a little kick of heat at the end.  They are Korean, not Mongolian, and they are actually relatively decent for an Asian snack.   They definitely taste like corn and are pretty sweet for a spicy snack but the slight heat helps them out a lot.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 2/10
Bottom Line: Sweet corn puffs with a slight kick.

Snack #196- Lorenz Crunchips Paprika Potato Chips



Lorenz Crunchips Paprika Potato Chips

This is the first snack I found while I was traveling in Mongolia.  These chips have a faint hint of barbeque and little bit of sweetness but no heat.  The flavor itself is not very good and they taste stale but that could be due to being imported from Europe to Mongolia.  They taste fairly nutty because they were probably fried in peanut oil and they are crispy like a standard potato chip. 

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 0/10
Bottom Line: Mildly BBQ but not very good.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Snack # 195 - Rhythm Superfoods Mango Habanero Kale Chips



Kale chips are great - super healthy and easy to make - just pop them in the oven with some olive oil and salt and you've got yourself a tasty snack loaded with vitamins and minerals. These kale chips, on the other hand, were disgusting. In the interest of bringing you the spiciest snack I could find, I chose the mango habanero flavor at the supermarket, knowing full well that the idea of kale and mango together sounded horrifying. And I was not wrong. The flavor was so overwhelmingly weird, I really don't know where to begin. I first tasted the sweetness of the mango, which as I suspected didn't really complement the green taste of the crunchy kale. And then heat - and it was HOT! That habanero flavor was no joke. After a few more bites I also tasted a cheese-like flavor, which might have been from the cashew butter in the ingredients given that this was a vegan snack.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 6/10

Bottom Line: make them yourself - without the mango

Buy them here: Rhythm Superfoods Mango Habanero Kale Chips but probably try a different flavor...