Snack #86 - Fritos Brand McGraw's Spicy Jalapeño

Fritos Brand McGraw's Spicy Jalapeño

Tim McGraw has a flavor??? And apparently he thinks he's pretty spicy. As a less-than-avid country music fan (read: I hate country music), I'm not sure if it's a common occurrence to have country music singers brand their own flavor of chips, but I thought it was pretty weird. Either way, the man can make a Frito. His sense of spiciness may be a little off though. These had the nice corn taste of a Frito with a sour cream and onion-type flavor. There was just the faintest bit of heat if I really concentrated, but mostly just sour cream and onion.

Also, I realized that this is one of many "jalapeño" flavored chips that winds up as a sour cream and onion knock-off...what gives? Let me know if you have any idea, because I missed the memo where sour cream and onion became synonymous with spicy.

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

Bottom Line: Tim McGraw: hot music (??), mild chips.

Snack #85- Señorial Quesifritos Chilteado Expandido Frito de Maíz (spicy corn crunchies)

Señorial Quesifritos Chilteado Expandido Frito de Maíz (spicy corn crunchies)

I have no idea what Chilteado means but the packaging on these Guatemalan snacks looked spicy so I had to test them out. They look like Cheetos and taste strongly of smoke flavoring and spice. They also have sweet undertones that taste somehow like artificial tomato flavoring. The smoky flavor is overwhelming and fake but the bitter heat that comes through is fairly powerful. There is a surprising complexity to the flavor of these snacks but in my opinion they are not very delicious. Guatemala does seem to trump Costa Rica in levels of heat, however.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 4/10
Bottom Line: Spicy and smoky.

Snack #84- Taco del Rancho Tortillas Fritas de Maíz Picante (spicy corn chips)

Taco del Rancho Tortillas Fritas de Maíz Picante

These Guatemalan version of Fritos (yes, there are many varieties of corn chips here) are actually successful where the others fail- the spice can be tasted. It may have something to do with the relatively short list of ingredients; skipping all the weird chemicals, these chips are made of corn, oil, and chile. The pepper flavor really stands out and tastes natural. It is not a strong heat, but compared to most Central American claims, they are one of the spicier snacks I’ve tested. Success!

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 3/10
Bottom Line: A Central American snack with real heat!

Snack #83- Cronchy Chips Trocitos de Maíz Salsa Roja (red salsa corn chips)

Cronchy Chips Trocitos de Maíz Salsa Roja (red salsa corn chips)

Apparently the word ‘trocito’ is difficult to translate into English- basically these also looks like Fritos. They have an ugly artificial orange coating that would indicate a spicy, chili-flavored coating but it the flavor doesn’t come through. They taste extremely artificial, almost like the corn flavor itself is fake on the chip. Maybe it is a fake cheese flavor but it just tastes pretty horrible. And they are not spicy at all, despite having jalapeño powder in the ingredient list. They are not very crunchy either, although I may have gotten a slightly stale bag.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 0/10
Bottom Line: Gross.

Snack #82- TorTrix Picante Frituras de Maíz (spicy corn fritters)

TorTrix Picante Frituras de Maíz (spicy corn fritters)

These Guatemalan treats have the texture and taste of Fritos and basically taste like a normal Frito without any extra spice. They are a nice snack; light and crispy and fairly flavorful, just not spicy. The ingredients claim they include chile but overall it is not noticeable. They are a little sweet and a little salty- overall and nice snack but not deserving of the flavor ‘picante’.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 0/10
Bottom Line: Crispy but no spice.

Snack #81 - Doritos Late Night Last Call Jalapeno Poppers

A friend of mine was so kind as to pick these up thinking of me. I had never seen the "late night" variety of Doritos and after eating a few was convinced he had found a bag that had been lying around since 1980. I know something can't "taste" stale, but these really did. They were fresh and crunchy, but something about them just tasted old. Basically they tasted like old spicy Doritos, but worse. The good people at Doritos somehow managed to make their cheese flavor taste more fake. And to this they added a little heat - the jalapeno part, I suppose. Since jalapeno poppers are just deep fried cheese-stuffed jalapenos, I guess they got the flavor right. It was just a really yucky rendition of the bar staple.

Also, sorry for the lack of picture. They look like regular Doritos.


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

Bottom Line: don't eat these, even late night

Snack #80 - Corn Nutz Chile Picante

From deep within the southern Midwest comes this rather weird corn nut variety. The bag says chile picante, but it tastes more like smoked paprika and lemon juice. And corn - the corn part of the nut really is a pretty dominant flavor once whatever flavor they sprinkle on it wears off. Unfortunately the flavor never gets very "picante" at all, and that weird lemony flavor persisted (I say weird because there is nothing in the ingredients that remotely looks like lemon or citric acid...). As far as texture goes, the nut(z?) are nice and crunchy, like accidentally crack a filling crunchy.

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

Bottom Line: a corn-nutty snack