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MY FAVORITES FROM THE SNACK TASTING AREA
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After I first sampled from the snack tasting area, I tended to gravitate back to certain varieties over the next two days. I tended to favor the plain potato chip variety. None of the flavored varieties knocked me out. Here are my favorites:
After I first sampled from the snack tasting area, I tended to gravitate back to certain varieties over the next two days. I tended to favor the plain potato chip variety. None of the flavored varieties knocked me out. Here are my favorites:
• Potato Snack, by de Debo Snacks, Kikas. If the Uncle Sam cartoon doesn't knock you out, the taste of the snack will. They come in a can (sort of like Pringles, but not so uniformly molded into shape), only the snacks are smaller. They have the consistency of Baked Lays, and the flavoring on the Original is outstanding. It's hard to place the taste exactly, it's kind of buttery, but man are these chips good. They reminded me of a chip I used to taste as a child, called Chipos. Very good, these chips truly do "kick ass".
• Shearer's Caramel Corn Puffs. I'm a caramel corn junkie, and these snacks were excellent. They remove the husks, so that tiny pieces don't get stuck in your teeth as often. Very addicting snack, I kept taking more handfuls of these from the table.
• Shearer's Grandpa's Choice Hand-cooked potato chips. They reminded me of Gibble's brand chips, a brand that may or may not still be around. One of the best kettle-cooked chips I've tasted since we started this Web site (though it still doesn't top Tim's Cascade, it's close).
• Snyder of Berlin Original. Another kettle-cooked chip, these were excellent, but not as good as Grandpa's.
• Jays E-Z Dippings, mini-pretzels and mustard. The mustard alone was outstanding, I thought it was a neat idea to include mini pretzels.
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Our Nirvana: The snack-tasting area
By Keith Shaw
Senior Reviews Editor, Taquitos.net
ORLANDO — Hidden in the back of the exhibit floor at the Snack Food Association's Snaxpo convention was the nirvana that we were searching for — the snack-tasting area.
Set up on a long row of tables were numerous bags of snacks, mostly from the members of the Snack Food Association.
We quickly sampled many of these chips, and I had my favorites (see left). Here's a list of the snacks, along with comments on some:
• Crunch Master Veggie Chips, by Unified Products: Skipped these, I'm not a big fan of veggie chips
• El Riquisimo Wheat Snacks, by Unified Products, con chile y Limon flavor: Pellet-based snack, these were kind of spicy.
• Baked Soy Chips (by Unified Products). Included onion & garlic, BBQ, cheese and original flavors. These looked like communion wafers, they didn't taste much better.
• Crunch Master Corn Crackers, both cheddar cheese and original flavor, by Unified Products: Light snack, not greasy at all, tastes like a taco shell. Would be great with dip.
• Crunch Master Multigrain Twirls, Cinnamon Sugar flvor (by Unified Products): MMMMM, these reminded me of a dessert that Taco Bell used to serve. Good taste, crunchy, light and sweet.
• California Nuggets, Roasted Gourmet Corn. Not as heavy as corn nuts, these had a nice crunch. On display were the Mesquite BBQ, Roasted Salted (yum!), Romano Ranch and Spicy Cajun flavors.
• Utz Salt & Pepper. A new flavor from Utz, these were one of our favorite chips.
• Utz Cheddar Cheese Pretzels. They reminded me of cheddar thins or cheez-its, only on a pretzel.
• Minigrid chips, Mafin PA: A pellet-style chip, these weren't that tasty.
• Mister Bee Potato Chip Co.'s Ketchup Chips. Not bad, but I think ketchup chips are an acquired taste.
• Lance LLC brand crackers. These were sandwitch crackers, they had S'Mores on Nekout, Smoke House Cheddar and Grilled Cheese on Captain's Wafer flavors. The S'mores snack was pretty good, it reminded me of a fudge cookie.
• Mike-Sells' Reduced Fat potato chips, and groovy cheddar and sour cream. The cheddar and sour cream chip tasted really good, the attendant who had the cool job of refilling the baskets as attendees sampled the snacks said this flavor was pretty popular. I didn't try the reduced fat variety.
• Shearer's brand snacks: These included Grandma's Choice Thin Cut, Grandpa's Choice Mesquite BBQ, Grandpa's Choice Handcooked, Caramel Corn Puffs and Cheezy Nachos. Two of these brands make my top 5 list. The Grandpa's Choice Handcooked variety are an OUTSTANDING kettle-cooked variety. They remind me of Gibble's brand chips from my youth (see message board for more). Also, the Caramel Corn Puffs are EXTREMELY addicting. They've removed the husks from the caramel corn, which seem to prevent pieces from getting stuck in your teeth. Quite tasty if you're into caramel corn.
• Snyder of Berlin. Another multi-snack entrant, they had Steak and Onion, Extra Crunchy Hot & Spicy Jalapeno, Original, Bar-b-Q Mesquite and Parmesan & Garlic potato chips. The Steak & Onion topped Melissa's list; I preferred their original. They were all kettle-cooked variety, again, very tasty. A little disclaimer on the back of each bag read, "In no way affiliated with Snyder of Hanover."
• Jay's Kettle Cooked Old-fashioned — pretty good chip.
• Ketchup Grid Leng D'or Espana — A ketchup, potato stick kind of chip.
• Potato Snack De Debo Snacks, Kikas (Barcelona, Spain): Both original and natural flavors. The Original chips were my absolute flavor. See sidebar for more.
• Michel Food Co.'s snack pellets, bacon, potato and wheat flavors. I tried the bacon variety, it reminded me of a pork rind. Had to drink water after this one to cleanse the palette.
• Bull's Big Beef Steak Stick, both hickory and teriyaki. Didn't try, not really into jerky. Melissa said these were pretty good.
• Wise Boliatas de Queso (cheese balls), and Smokin' Grill Burger N' Fixins. The cheese balls were OK.
• Wise Nacho Espiranes (corn chip spirals). Corn chip in spiral form, with nacho cheese. Not bad.
• Rolet's Real Cotton Candy — Mmmm, very fun to eat.
• Rolet's Bacon Rinds. Ewww, not fun to eat.
• Potato Mania! Potato Stix (from Rolet), both natural and barbecue. Didn't taste.
• Jay's Open Pit Barbecue (ridged). Not bad
• Jay's Hot Stuff potato chips. Didn't try (not into hot chips).
• Jay's Curly Dippettes (wavy). Tasted like Wavy Lays.
• Jay's Cheezelets. Don't remember the taste.
• Jay's E-Z Dippins — These were chip/dip combo sets. They had Tortilla and nacho cheese, tortilla chips and salsa, and low-fat mini-pretzels and mustard. The pretzels and mustard (a sweet mustard) were outstanding.
• Jay's Festido's Tortilla Chips. Didn't try.
• Jay's Restaurant style Salsa. Try with the chips. Didn't taste.
• Jay's Butter pretzel twirls. Pretty good.
• Troyer Farms Low fat potato chips, in regular, BBQ and crinkle cut varieties. Didn't try.
After we sampled from the snack tasting area, we definitely needed some protein. We went back to our hotel and ordered large steaks and chocolate milk.
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