Sunday, August 29, 2010

Utz Onion and Garlic Flavored Potato Chips



Price:   $1.59

Weight:  3.5 oz.

Color / Appearance:   A light colored potato chip.  A few dark brown spots on some of the chips.  The flavoring powder is not obviously visible on the surface of the chips.

Crunch:   These chips are cut very thin.  But the crunch is there and adequate.

Flavor:   Great flavor!  I wouldn't say that it was necessarily an accurate onion and garlic flavor.  But I am not sure that I would want that anyway.  The amount of onion and garlic flavoring is in just the right place.  It is in the forefront of your first and last crunch.

Chip Quality:  Not many broken chips in the bag.  Maybe 25% at the most.  Also all of the chips in this bag are a good snacking size.  No giant chips here that wouldn't fit into your mouth.

Overall:   Love these chips!  I seriously polished off this bag in 15 minutes.  These are the type of chips that have you pouring the last of the crumbs into your mouth when the bag is done.  I guess that I would say the only downside to this bag of chips was the size.  I finished too quickly.  But.  No problem there they are available in the "Family Size" as well!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Doritos Blazin' Buffalo and Ranch



Price:   $3.99 for a 12 oz. bag

Color / Appearance:  Triangular cut tortilla chips.  Well coated with an orange flavoring powder.

Flavor:   No actual buffalo flavoring could be detected.  There was a heat that built up on your tongue after a few chips.  A slight aftertaste of ranch was barely there.  Have to note that after eating several chips my mouth developed a sort of paste like feeling at the back of my throat.

Chip Quality:   Excellent.  These chips were very uniform in size and crunch.

Overall:  These are not very good chips.  I feel like Doritos are heavily reliant on the flavoring that they put on their chips.  Their chips do not posses a stand alone quality.  So for them to put out a chip that offers heat and very little else.  Makes for a poor snacking experience.  One of the signs to me of a great chip.  Is how many of them I will eat before rolling up the bag and putting them in the cabinet.  Sometimes I will eat an entire bag.  If the chips are good.  This bag is already back in the cabinet.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Kettle Brand Krinkle Cut Potato Chips Cheddar & Sour Cream


Price:   $3.99

Weight:   9oz

Appearance:  A ridged potato chip cooked to a golden color.  The very outer edges of some chips are a much darker brown.  A very light orange flavoring powder is sprinkled on the chips.  But it blends well with the chip color and is not really coating the chip.

Crunch:   Good consistent crunch from chip to chip.

Flavor:   A light and accurate sour cream and cheddar taste to the first few crunches.  Not overpowering.  The aftertaste is of potato chip and not of flavoring.  A very light saltiness is there but also in the background.

Ingredients: A glance at the ingredients brought me a bit of a surprise. Besides potatos and oil. The ingredients were all names I recognized. No strange dyes. Or preservatives. Basically they used cheddar cheese and sour cream to flavor these chips. No wonder the have an authentic flavor.

Overall:   I was initially unhappy with these chips.  I was wondering.  Why make a flavored chip and go light on the flavoring?  But after crunching a few more chips I realized.  These people must be happy with the way their chips taste when the chips leave the oil.  They don't want to or need to overpower you with the sour cream and cheddar flavoring.  Why?  Because the product is good without it.  They are just attempting to enhance your experience a bit.  Those are your first few crunches.  But then take you back where they wanted you to be in the first place.  Which is tasting a good potato chip.

Check out their website at:  http://www.kettlefoods.com/

Friday, August 20, 2010

Cape Cod Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

So here is my first foray into the world of snack review.  I asked my wife to pick me up a bag of chips at the grocery store for me to review.  She came back with these.

Opening the Bag:  The bag used for containing these chips is just about right in the difficulty in opening department.  Just a good firm pull gets the bag open. 

Appearance:   The color and appearance of these chips is very consistent and appealing.  A perfect golden brown with just a hint of a darker brown on some of the edges.  There doesn't appear to be any burnt chips in the bag.  I should also point out that these are a consistently small potato chip.  The largest chip you will find in the bag will fit easily into your mouth.

Crunch:  These are some crunchy chips.  They definitely fall into the kettle cooked genre of chip.  The crunchiness is very consistent from chip to chip.

Flavor:   We found these chips to be very tasty. They are just the right amount of oil and salt.  The salt is a tad lighter than you will find in most salted potato chips.  But the amount of salt they use allows you to actually taste a hint of potato in the chips.

Chip Quality:   Excellent.  Very few broken chips.  Even the ones left at the bottom of the bag.  Perhaps this is because of the small chip diameter.  And the thick kettle cut style.

Ingredients:   Potatoes, canola oil and salt.

Final thoughts:   Love these chips.  Some of the best unflavored chips on the market today.  I really feel like Cape Cod Potato Chips are to potato chips what Samuel Adams is to beer.  A New England upstart.  That has elbowed its way to a prominent position in the snack food aisle of the grocery store.  Not with advertising money.  But with quality ingredients and a great final product. 

Check out their website at  www.capecodchips.com .