Snack #69- Buenachos Salsapeño flavored Tortilla Chips

Buenachos Salsapeño flavored Tortilla Chips

Salsapeño is a clever play on words that I'm surprised has never been used in the States before. These Dorito-type snacks have a very strong corn flavor which hits you immediately when you start eating them. The flavor itself is very bland and hard to distinguish from the tortilla chip itself. Surprisingly though, these chips do pack a punch. The jalapeño flavor comes through fairly stong after the corn flavor subsides and leaves a sort of bitter heat in the mouth. It's not actually a very pleasant flavor, although less artificial than many of the sweeter jalapeño flavors in many chips. The heat is mostly in the aftertaste and builds up over time. I'm actually impressed, these are the spiciest chips I've managed to find in all of Costa Rica, apart from imported American brands. Maybe there is hope after all for continuing this blog for an entire year.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 3.5/10
Bottom Line: Spicy chips! (well, in Costa Rican terms)

Snack #68- Quesi Trix (Con Salsa Picante) Corn Crunchies

Quesi Trix (Con Salsa Picante) Corn Crunchies

After a dry spell, where I thought I had tried every possible spicy chip in Costa Rica, I found a hidden bakery with new snacks to test! These snacks look like Cheetos and have the same texture as them. The flavor is vaguely cheesy with a hint of jalapeno flavoring. They are nice and crunchy and a tasty snack but they are not very spicy. I wasn't expecting them to be spicy for any reason, but including hot sauce in the description of the snack would indicate some sort of peppery flavoring. When a few are eaten in succession a little heat is felt in the back of the throat, but they definitely don't deliver flavor like the pot of burning jalapenos on the bag would suggest. But they also weren't the most disappointing bag of 'spicy' snacks I've opened while in Costa Rica. I tasted these with a diehard Cheetos fanatic and she thinks they are totally delicious although she agreed they were not as spicy as they could have been. They do have a nice pepper flavoring, fairly natural and authentic, though they don't deliver on the heat.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 2/10
Bottom Line: Delicious Costa Rican Cheetos

Snack #67 - Wise New York Deli Kettle Cooked Potato Chips, Jalapeno

After experiencing the XXX throwdown on my taste buds that was Blair's Death Rain Habanero, I feel like I could handle anything the spicy chip gods throw my way. These jalapeno flavored chips, while tasty, were nothing but a tingle comparatively. They tasted less like jalapeno and more like a spicy sour cream and onion chip, which as it turns out is really delicious. Lots of onion and garlic flavor as the ingredients indicate while the jalapeno's only contribution is a nice gradual heat. My one complaint is that the chip did not live up to the crunchiness standard I have come to expect (and enjoy) in a kettle cooked chip.


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

Bottom Line: Sour Cream and Onion with a kick

Snack #66 - Blair's Death Rain Cajun Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

Perhaps I shouldn't have tried these chips so close on the heels of the previous review... I admit my taste buds may be a little (permanently) fried, but these chips are pretty hot too. Not the XXX heat I previously endured, but definitely a quick and powerful heat build-up. They have a nice Cajun flavor, whatever that means. Through the heat I got some tomato, garlic, and maybe chili powder flavor. These were pretty tasty and just hot enough to let you know who's boss. They definitely have lingering heat, your tongue will be tingling for quite some time.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 8/10

Bottom Line: Hot and Cajun-y

Snack #65 - Blair's Death Habanero Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

Holy Sh*t!! These are without a doubt the hottest chips I have ever tasted. The unassuming smell upon open the bag had me fooled, but the second one of those bad boys hit my tongue it was game over. Stupidly, I tried a few more, thinking I needed to figure out the "flavor." The flavor is fire. The bag says XXX Hot, which apparently means cough-inducing, sinus-clearing, eye-watering hot. I literally drank an entire bottle of water and ate several pieces of cheese in a futile attempt to put out the fire. I worry I will never taste again.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 11/10

Bottom Line: for masochists only, and even then, have some milk handy


** I just tried these chips again (Why, I don't know...I'm just so dedicated to the cause) and just before I ran to the fridge for more dairy I got a hint of smokey flavor, lending further credence to the phrase "where there's smoke, there's fire."

Snack #64- Chicharrón Picante (Spicy Pork Rinds)

Chicharrón Picante (Spicy Pork Rinds)

These pork rinds are a little intimidating because I generally prefer my snack foods to be vegetarian. Something about fried pig skin doesn’t sound very appealing but they do say picante so they must be tasted. They taste more like bacon than I ever expected, but with a spicy edge. The spice is like hot barbeque sauce, not a bad flavor but the whole puffy fried bacon in a bag deal threw me off. They are super crunchy, probably because they are deep fried fat. But true to form, the snacks from Panama are spicier than the ones from Costa Rica. If you like pork rinds, then these might be a salty, delectable barbeque snack choice.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 2.5/10
Bottom Line: Extra crispy bacon, bbq style

Snack #63- Doritos Spicy Nacho flavored Tortilla Chips

Doritos Spicy Nacho flavored Tortilla Chips

Initially, these chips are not very spicy, but they do have somewhat of a hot aftertaste. The heat comes on slower than with many other chips that we have tested. The flavor is also artificially cheesy, like the Ranchitas chips, but possibly with less cheese flavor. They don’t have a whole lot of flavor overall, the taste of the corn chip underneath is detectable and masks the flavor on top somewhat. Being American made, we were expecting more spice and flavor, but the raters were surprised to enjoy the local Costa Rican cheese and jalapeño combination tortilla chips more. Overall, these chips were somewhat of a letdown given our expectations of spiciness. It is possible that because these were packaged for export the flavor could have been altered; I haven’t rated this particular flavor in the States before.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 2/10 (probably actually less, but my taste has been distorted by bland Costa Rican chips)
Bottom Line: Somewhat cheesy fake-nacho flavor