Snack #133- Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili Flavored Tortilla Chips

Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili Flavored Tortilla Chips

So these Doritos are weird because there is NO nacho cheese involved in them. They are sweet but I think that the sweet flavoring kind of clashes with the tortilla chip- or maybe with the corn base it’s all just too sweet. I think a spicy sweet chili potato chip might be more successful. These aren’t bad, but I just don’t find them to be very successful. They also aren’t spicy and don’t really taste that much like sweet chili sauce, which is usually really yummy. They mostly taste like a tortilla chip dipped in soy sauce and sugar with a little heat in the aftertaste.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 1/10

Bottom Line: Soy sauce flavored tortilla chips.

Buy them here:

Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili flavored tortilla chips

Snack #132- T.G.I. Friday’s Jalapeño Cheddar Potato Skins Snack Chips

T.G.I. Friday’s Jalapeño Cheddar Potato Skins Snack Chips

Ew. So these are actually supposed to look like dehydrated potato skins- meaning somehow the backside is a darker shade of brown to mimic the potato skin and the other side is the lighter potato mush. The packaging says it is made from real potatoes and real potato skins and the best way I can interpret that is that two bubbling pots of potato and potato skin mush were spread out Pringle-style and slapped together. These snacks taste like the worst Pringles ever and the flavoring doesn’t really help. The powdery cheddar flavor and weak jalapeño flavor aren’t appealing enough to make me want to eat these.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 2/10

Bottom Line: Worst texture ever with artificial flavors.

Buy them here:

TGI Fridays Jalapeno Ched Skin 3 oz. (Pack of 6)

Snack #131- 7 Select Kettle Style Potato Chips Spicy Jalapeño

7 Select Kettle Style Potato Chips Spicy Jalapeño

These potato chips are pretty crunchy but not as salty as a typical potato chip. They have a lot of sweetness to them which is a little overwhelming. The dehydrated onion is a powerful flavor and really the main flavor you get when you eat these. They have pretty decent heat though they aren’t super spicy, but for a snack they are the kind of thing you can sit down and eat a bag of without burning your tastebuds out. They should just be a little more salty and maybe hold back on the onion a little bit. Overall a tasty snack though and definitely has some heat but not lasting heat.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 4/10

Bottom Line: Really sweet onion flavor.

Snack #130 - Terra Crinkles Jalapeño Chili

Spotted a brand new chip from the good people at Terra - Jalapeño Chili - described as having the "zing of jalapeño and chili peppers." These were some tasty chips, but for our spicy snack purposes, really brought more of a hint of jalapeño and chili peppers than a real ZING. The taste was predominantly chili powder, with some nice garlic and onion flavor. The chips themselves, thick cut blue potatoes (has anyone ever seen a BLUE potato? outside of these chips?), had some flavor of their own (the bag describes it as "nutty," but that wouldn't really be my adjective of choice, more just a robust potato flavor). I only wish that the chips had been fried a little longer. Maybe I've just gotten used to the intense crunch of the kettle cooked chips that are popping up everywhere, but these weren't quite crunchy enough for my taste.

On a somewhat related side note, I wish it was not the case that the more you spend on a bag of chips, generally, the less chips that bag will contain. Clocking in at $3.99 at your neighborhood Wholefoods, these Terra chips were barely 1/3 full.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 2/10

Bottom Line: no ZING but plenty of good flavor

Snack #129 - Popchips Jalapeño Potato

A new flavor from Popchips! I was pretty excited when I stumbled across this today. Generally I really enjoy Popchips - they're light and crunchy and vaguely healthier than regular chips since they are "popped" (whatever that means...) rather than fried. Compared to the other Popchips flavors, these were a pretty big disappointment. When I opened the bag, a vaguely Indian scent wafted out, which was unexpected but not altogether unwelcome. However, the flavor was overwhelmingly tomato-y. "Tomato?" you ask, "But these are jalapeño flavored!" Indeed they are, but I learned today that according to Popchips, the first ingredient in its "jalapeño seasoning" is tomato powder. Now, I don't really know what tomato powder is, but I do know that it tastes pretty gross, and not at all spicy [Disclaimer: I HATE tomatoes]. Maybe if you like tomatoes, you will really enjoy this chip, but regardless of whether or not I like tomatoes, when I open a bag of jalapeño flavored chips, I would like to taste some jalapeño, not tomato sauce with a kick. As far as spiciness goes, there was a little heat that never really built up in intensity, but lingered on the palate for a while.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 3/10

Bottom Line: A decent tomato chip if you're into that sort of thing

Buy them here:
Popchips Jalapeno Potato, 3- Ounce Boxes (Pack of 12)

Snack #128- Deep River Snacks Jalapeño & Cheddar Baked Fries

Deep River Snacks Jalapeño & Cheddar Baked Fries

This is a unique idea for a snack; instead of a standard chip, a fluffy French fry shape. Unfortunately, the texture of these ends up a little too much like packing peanuts for my liking. They are similar to a cheese curl but a little bit firmer and crunchier. They are made of corn and potatoes and are completely gluten-free, which is also a plus for any wheat free diets, and the base ingredients can’t really be tasted through the flavorings on these snacks anyway. The flavor of these is fairly indistinct. They have a good bit of heat to them but not really a specific jalapeño flavor. They taste more like onion powder with a lot of salt and a little spice powder added. The cheese flavor is also pretty unappetizing; it’s way more like a fake cheese powder flavor than any natural cheddar flavor. The fries are all natural so I guess they have real cheese but it’s one of those really sweet nacho cheese flavors. I generally really enjoy jalapeño flavored potato snacks so I was pretty bummed that these tasted so artificial.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 4/10

Bottom Line: Unsuccessful attempt at natural cheese puffs.

Buy them here:

Deep River Snacks Baked Fries Jalapeno & Cheddar