19 October 2013

Simba – Ghost Pops (Tesco) [By @SpectreUK]


These are the Original flavoured Ghost Pops maize snack. I wasn’t sure what flavour the original flavour would be, as “Original flavour” in England generally means Ready Salted. These maize pops were manufactured by Simba in South Africa, whose Original flavour is more likely to be “burn your head off chilli!” Served in a 100g bag, these maize pops were 537 calories, with 1.8g of sugar and 13.9g of fat. Their ingredients included maize, vegetable oil, salt, sugar, spices, fruit powder, onion, garlic, soya, yeast, and sodium saccharin amongst other things. There was a warning that stated on the packet that these maize pops could contain genetically modified ingredients, which is probably a lean to all the “E” Numbers I haven’t bothered to list in the ingredients above. So you may not turn into a ghost by eating these Ghost Pops, but you may turn into a werewolf or the Swamp Thing instead!

The back of the packet mentioned a “mouth quivering experience” and “the snack that gives you a thrill each time”. Although I wasn’t sure if this meant a thrill eating each maize pop or a thrill each time you open a different bag of Ghost Pops. In fact I was completely unsure how much of a thrill I would get out of one 100g packet of these Ghost Pops. Before opening the packet I started to weigh the risks in my mind. Would it be too much of a thrill? I know its Halloween time, which in itself can be pretty thrilling. So the risk of having too much a thrill whilst eating these Ghost Pops crossed my mind. I mean, I’m getting on a bit now, if you know what I mean? A thrill from one bag of crisps and a thrill from Halloween would be sufficient to thrill me doubly, but a thrill per Ghost Pop, which could literally be hundreds of thrills in one 100g packet plus the additional thrill of it being Halloween could just be too thrilling even for me and tip me over the edge and right through the gates of Thrill City. A place I’d never been particularly keen on visiting in my younger years, let alone in my greying overweight later, some may say “prime” years. Before opening this bag, I pledged that a good rest after eating these Ghost Pops would probably be necessary and declared the rest of the day off.

On opening the packet these Ghost Pops smelt like spicy tomato flavour. So this was Simba’s Original Flavour? The maize pops had the fairly rare smell that some foods have that made me want to immediately dive into the packet and consume as many Ghost Pops as possible. The maize pops where in the shape of red fluffy ghosts and tasted like roasted maize coated in tomato mixed with spices, herbs and onions. This flavour was extremely moreish, just as I managed to put the packet down for a moment’s rest I caught another whiff of them and had to eat another mouthful. I must admit I was thrilled by the packet as a whole and more than a little thrilled at each mouthful of red ghosts I chomped down with hungry glee. Perhaps I need to get out more? Anyway, I would have these Ghost Pops again and not just around Halloween for their novelty. However, I’ve had too many thrills for one day and I guess it’s time for that nap! Hope no Ghosts go bump in the night or certainly not pop! Have a good  Halloween! :-)
By Spectre

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