Snack #204- Jack ‘n Jill Vcut Potato Chips Spicy Barbecue Flavor

Jack ‘n Jill Vcut Potato Chips Spicy Barbecue Flavor

These are the final spicy snack I found on my trip to Mongolia.  The flavor is called ‘spicy barbecue’ but they don’t really taste like any BBQ sauce I’ve ever had.  The flavor is pretty mild and the flavor of the oil that the chips were fried in comes through pretty strong.  They are slightly sweet and have a little bit of heat but the light flavoring actually works pretty well for them.  They also have the benefit of being well cut and fried chips that are nicely crunchy.  So although they don’t really have much barbecue or spicy flavor going on they are pretty tasty and make a good snack.

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

Bottom Line: Lightly sweet and spicy ‘BBQ’-style chips.

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 # 187 - Annie Chun's Roasted Seaweed Snacks Wasabi Flavor

These are pretty weird. After biting into what feels like crunchy tissue paper, these super thin pieces of roasted seaweed quickly dissolved into a gelatin like substance. Before they did though, I got a blast of wasabi flavor, and the nutty, ocean-y taste of the seaweed. These seaweed pieces (not really sure what to call them, they're definitely not chips...) are also really good for you! Tons of vitamin A and D and virtually no calories. I'm not sure that I'll be buying these again, but I like seaweed, and they were fun to try. I just can''t get over the weird texture.

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

Bottom Line: if you like seaweed, definitely worth a try

Buy them here: Annie Chun's Seaweed Snacks, Roasted Wasabi, 0.35-Ounce Packages (Pack of 12)

Snack #183- Hi Tempura Spicy Flavor Tempura Seaweed

Hi Tempura Spicy Flavor Tempura Seaweed

Tempura Seaweed was not my ideal choice in spicy snack but when we were looking in the Asian supermarket and saw this specialty from Thai we knew we had to try it.  I only ate half of one because I really don’t like seaweed flavor on it’s own but they were all heavily battered and pretty crispy for being stored in a foil bag (although there was a silica gel packet in the bag- yum!).  The flavor was pretty mild and the spices were the standard onion, garlic, and chili powders.   

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

Bottom Line: For seaweed lovers only.

Snack #182- Maxi Taro Chips Hot & Spicy

Maxi Taro Chips Hot & Spicy 

These snacks are not produced internationally but the label touts ancient uses of Taro in Southeast Asia so I guess that’s why they are being sold in the Super 88 Asian grocery store.  They are mainly flavored with onion, garlic, and chili powder but the onion powder is definitely the overwhelming seasoning and it’s hard to taste the chili powder at all.  The taro creates a super light and flaky chip which isn’t as crunchy as some potato chips but definitely tastes like a lighter and possibly healthier choice.  They just fail from over seasoning and lack of heat. 

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

Bottom Line: Light and flaky but not very well seasoned.

Snack #181- KSK Boy Bawang Cornick Hot Garlic Flavor Fried Corn

KSK Boy Bawang Cornick Hot Garlic Flavor Fried Corn

This Filipino snack is puffed fried corn kernels coated with garlic powder and chili powder.  They are basically like corn nuts but lighter and fluffier.  They do still have good crunch though without being as hard as a typical corn nut.  The flavor is mostly garlic powder and only very minimal chili flavor so these snacks are way more savory than spicy but overall they are pretty tasty.  The flavors are subtle enough that you can taste the actual flavor of the corn kernel too which is nice.  Not spicy at all but overall a pretty good international snack.

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

Bottom Line: Garlicky puffed corn kernels.

Available online: Hot Garlic Flavor Cornick (Corn Snacks) - Four 3.54 oz. bags.

Snack #180- Huang Fei Hong Spicy Peanut

Huang Fei Hong Spicy Peanut

These peanuts were purchased at a local Asian foods store and are Chinese in origin.  The peanuts are mixed with whole dried chilies and some spice that tastes like possibly a clove.  The peanuts themselves are not very spicy but do have a nice savory flavor and a little heat from the chilies.  The chilies themselves are hotter, naturally, so all together this snack is pretty good.  The peanuts are smooth and salty and the chilis are hot.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 3/10 (chilies: 6/10)

Bottom Line: Salty peanuts with spicy dried chilies.

Buy them here: HuangFeiHong Spicy Snack Peanuts - 2x 7.5 Oz - with Hot Chili Pepper & Szechuan Peppercorns - Tingling, Spicy & Crunchy!

Snack #165- Hot Mate Assorted Rice Crackers

Hot Mate Assorted Rice Crackers

These rice crackers are a spicy take on the standard mix comprising ridged and smooth rice crackers, seaweed covered rice crackers, and wasabi peas.  Surprisingly, the spiciest snack in the bunch is the seaweed coated rice cracker; either something in the seaweed or underneath is has a strong kick of horseradish.  The wasabi peas are understandably also pretty sharp in horseradish seasoning.  The rest of the rice crackers have some spicy chili seasoning which coats the tongue but isn’t particularly burny in the rest of the mouth.  Overall these snacks are crunchy, salty, and tasty though the spice quotient could be higher.  They are definitely the winner out of our haul from the Asian variety store and certainly worth snacking on.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 5/10 (averaged across all snacks in the mix)

Bottom Line: Moderately spicy but very tasty rice cracker mix.

Buy them here:

Shirakiku - Hot Mate Assorted Rice Crackers 16 Oz.

Snack #164- Calbee Hot & Spicy Potato Chips

Calbee Hot & Spicy Potato Chips

We were wary after tasting the last Asian snack and when we first tried this snack one of the raters got a very soggy, mushy potato chip and we almost threw in the towel right there.  But the rest of the bag seems to be light and moderately crispy though I think the heavy amount of seasoning definitely soaked into the chips and killed some of the original crunch over time.  The flavoring mix tasted a lot like a pretty standard barbeque seasoning but was really muddled with the number of spices added to the mix and the addition of soy sauce on top of everything.  Seasoned with curry powder, paprika, cayenne, black pepper, nutmeg, and soy sauce?  It was overkill and didn’t create a delicious chip.  It also did not create a spicy chip- these were just basically a poorly conceived Asian twist on a barbeque chip. 

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

Bottom Line: Boring barbeque flavors.

Buy them here: 

Calbee Potato Chips Hot & Spicy, 2.8-Ounce Units (Pack of 12)

Snack #163- Orion Ball Hot Flavored

Orion Ball Hot Flavored

We almost couldn’t eat these because the bag smells so much like fish when opened.  The ingredients include sliced cuttlefish and shrimp so we were expecting some fishy notes but the smell almost prevented us from even trying them.  We did each manage to try one ball but that was enough.  They don’t taste overtly fishy upon chewing; instead you get a mushy, sweet peanut flavor with an actual peanut in the center.  Then as you are chewing the peanut the spice flavors and fish flavors come through.  The fish flavor isn’t rancid but it isn’t particularly pleasant either though I know many Asian cultures enjoy fish flavored snacks.  Our American palates just don’t seem to appreciate a dried fish snack in the same way though so we were not big fans of this snack.  Also in my opinion the salty fish flavor and the sweet peanut flavor clashed.  The spice flavor was pretty tame and got lost in all the other flavors but was a pretty standard hot sauce flavor and not very spicy.  Overall the squishiness of the snack and the overdone mix of flavors made this snack pretty gross.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 2.5/10

Bottom Line: Squishy peanut ball with real fish added!

Snack #157- Samyang Topokki Red Pepper Paste Dipped Snack Korean Hot & Spicy Flavor

Samyang Topokki Red Pepper Paste Dipped Snack Korean Hot & Spicy Flavor

So apparently ‘topokki’ is a Korean street food snack made of sliced rice cake and beef in red sauce.  What comes in this bag looks a lot more like pasta with a very shiny coating so it’s hard to know what this snack actually is supposed to represent.  They are really sweet and almost taste like they should be a dessert type snack with a sugar coating.  We really couldn’t taste the red pepper paste or really anything savory.  The only hint of spicy snack in these is a smoky heat that spikes in the throat briefly after the snack is swallowed but is dull and just tastes weird after eating the overly sweet snack.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 0.5/10

Bottom Line: These would be better suited for a sweet snack blog.