Tim's Cascade Style Jalapeno

Ahhh, the good ‘ol Jalapeno chip.  And kettle cooked, er, I mean, “Cascade Style” too.  First off, I don’t know why these are called “Cascade Style” and not kettle cooked.  As far as I can tell, they are kettle cooked. But hey, what do I know.

The chips have a decided crunch to them that is very enjoyable.  What good is a chip, without the crunch?   However, there are a few things that I did find lacking from the chips.  While being jalapeno chips, the actually jalapeno flavor is almost non-existant.  There is a nice flavor to the chips, but not a jalapeno taste.  And although the bag is listed as being “HOT!”, I found the heat to be very low on the chips.  There was a nice little bite to them, but not what I would really call hot.  Overall however, they are enjoyable chips to eat, and very pleasant, just not up to what I would expect in a “HOT!” jalapeno chip.

If you can’t find these at your local market, you can also buy them online at www.timschips.com.

Terra Sweet Potato

Another day, another left turn on what is normally considered to be a potato chip.  This, however, is definately a potato chip, just not the potato you were expecting.

Terra has made their reputation on making chips out of “unusual” potatoes and vegetables.  From sweet potato to parsnip, to taro chips, when it comes to unusual chips, they pretty much have the market cornered.

What I love about these chips, is that Terra replies on the natural flavor of the sweet potato.  The ingredients is short and sweet.  Sweet potato, canola oil and/or safflower oil and /or sunflower oil.  That’s it.  No more. No salt. No flavorings.  And the taste does not disappoint.  The flavor of the sweet potato comes through with every crunch, with just a hint of the sweetness from the sweet potato to keep you grabbing more.

The crunch itself is above what you would expect for your garden variety chips, but less than those of a kettle cooked chip.

Overall, these chips were a wonderful delight, and a must try for those that like to experiment with the exotic side of their chips.

You can find these great chips at www.terrachips.com.

Lays Baked Southwestern Ranch

I first happened on these “chips” at a Subway a couple weeks back.  Definately had a unique flavor to them, which I really enjoy.  But it wasn’t until I bought another bag for this review, that I realized something.  (slowly waves hand) These are not the chips you are looking for.  And by that, I mean that these are NOT potato chips, but potato crisps.  Now some of you might not understand the difference, so let me throw a quick little lesson here.

A potato chip is sliced potato.  Simple enough?  A potato crisp however is dehydrated potatoes.    Definately NOT the same thing.  The most common of this type is the Pringles and Stax.  Now that this little lesson is out of the way, on to the review.

The smell when opening the bag is of a sweet pepper smell, which just hints at the slight amount of bite that they offer.  However, once you actually taste them, you realize that slight southwestern bite actually overpowers any hint of the ranch flavor you might expect.  While still an enjoyable taste, it tends to miss the distinct ranch taste that I was anticipating.

Lays Baked Southwestern Ranch Chip CloseUp

On note with the flavoring, is the slightly “off” picture on the bag.  Now, I know that this is just advertising, but for a bag that advertises it’s “Baked-In Flavor” on the bag, I fail to see any of that flavor.  You can see for youself in the picture.

Being a baked crisp, there is very little in the form of greasiness on these, which is always a good thing in my books.  And they have the crunch of a thin tortilla chip.

While not what I was expecting when I bit into them, I was very impressed with the flavor of them.

Blairs Death Rain - Buffalo Wings

As soon as you open a pack of these babies you will immediately be able to smell the flavour.  Taking a whiff of the inside of the bag, you will realize even moreso, these will be very strong tasting chips.  I was already expecting a powerful taste when I ate my first chip, but this was amazing.  The chip does indeed taste like a buffalo wing and it has a nice crunch to it.  The heat is slightly higher on this flavour then the others.  Even though it is marked as Medium, I would place it a tad hotter.  Not in a bad way.  When I eat wings, I want them hot.  These chips follow the same mentality.  Wing sauce flavour “soaked” throughout every inch of each chip.  A perfect thickness and crunch.  I would even go as far as saying to pick up a 5oz bag, pour a big bowl of cool ranch dip, and you’ve got a perfect snack when you have a bunch of people over.  Same delicious wing taste with barely any mess.  Something else I have noticed about the entire line of Blairs: there is virtually no grease on the chips.  You can eat an entire bag and still have fairly clean hands.  I see that as a plus in my book.

You can pick these delicious crunchy potatoes here: Blair’s Death Rain – Buffalo Wing Chips

And don’t forget!  If you’ve tried these chips yourself, log in and rate how much you liked them below!

Blair's Death Rain - Parmesan Habanero

So, Reighvin sent me a big freakin’ box of Blair’s Death Rain chips to try so we can start getting some reviews of them up.  The first one I tried was Parmesean Habanero.  Its heat rating was Medium, so I wasn’t too worried about it, but it still had the word Habanero so there was still some apprehension in trying it.  But, I love chips, so I had to try it.  I opened the bag, and ate my first chip…

…It was delicious!  The heat from the chip is slightly dulled from the parmesan flavour.  If you leave the chip on your tongue, the parmesanny taste is very apparent.  It has a very satisfying *pop crunch* as you bite into the chip.  There isn’t much seasoning on each chip, as you can see in the picture.  This does not mean it is devoid of flavour, you can most certainly taste the cheesiness of the chip.  The heat is not terribly bad.  Unlike some of the other chips in Blair’s line (in my opinion), the heat will hit you right away instead of creeping up.

All in all, this may be my favourite taste from the Blair’s Death Rain line.  I suggest picking up a bag, or three, from their site direct, here: Blair’s Death Rain – Parmesan Habanero

Archer Farms Spinach & Artichoke Tortilla Chips

I picked the Archer Farms Spinach and Artichoke Tortilla Chips from Target the other day, as just something new to try.  For those of you that don’t know, Archer Farms is Target’s “house” brand.”

The first thing that I noticed was the smell.  There is a definate corn chip smell, with just a hint of the spinach & artichoke seasoning.  And I’m not saying that to be a bad thing.  It definately enhances the experience with the chips, and compliments the taste.  And that taste?  Fantastic.  These are not some over processed or over salted tortilla chip.  Here, you can actually taste the tortilla, and the spinach and artichoke flavor is very subtle as to not over power the flavor of the tortilla.

I love the flavor of these chips, from the spinach and artichoke seasoning, to the subtle taste of the torilla chips.  I was very surprised by the taste, and if you are looking for something a little different, then definately give these a try.

You can find these at your local Target store.

Blairs Death Rain - Chipotle

Ah, Blair’s potato chips.  So very yummy.  And so very spicy at the same time.  The chips they make, that I have seen, have two ratings for spicyness.  Medium, and xxx hot.  Chipotle was the flavor I chose to try tonight, and it was rated Medium.  It has a very sweet taste, which is complemented by the heat from the chip.  It’s not too powerful, either.  The chip is just hot enough to make you feel the burn, while allowing you to enjoy a good bit of the bag without needing that big glass of milk.  Remember, Blair’s chips are in a heat class of thier own, currently holding the world record for worlds hottest food.  So keep that in mind if you decide to pick up any of thier snacks!

All in all, I love Blair’s Chiptole.  A very nice snack if you’re craving something good.

You can pick them up direct, here: BlairsDeath Rain Chipotle Chips

Don’t forget, if you’ve tried these chips, you can put your personal rating below!