Sweet Potato Crisps with Smoked Chilli (Waitrose @Tyrrells) [By @SpectreUK]

I’m always looking for alternative snacks to crisps and nuts, although this is one of those occasions I may have overstepped my boundaries. These Tyrrell’s Veg Crisps were made from sweet potato. To be perfectly honest I’ve never liked sweet potato. Cinabar recently had sweet potato chips in a restaurant and I tried one then and still didn’t like them at all. “So why try sweet potato again (you fool)?” I hear you exclaim… well I do rather like smoked chilli, and I just can’t seem to find many other crisps flavours that have that flavour, besides, I’m always on the lookout for alternative snacks… Also you never know what you might like if you don’t give it a go, which is probably what this blog is all about. So without further ado I opened the packet to be treated by a rather lovely smoked chilli smell. The angry bright reddish coloured sweet potato crisps looked a little bit like they’d been frightened by the smoked chilli and some had curled up a little. They had a decent crunch as their skins had been left on during preparation. These Veg Crisps had a medium smoked chilli heat to them. They were very tasty and not really distracted by oodles of sweet potato flavour. In fact a sweet potato taste only surfaced in the aftertaste briefly and then was wildly fought off by the smoked chilli, which was leaving a pleasing burn in my mouth. Actually this sweet potato flavour strangely complemented the smoky chilli tang, making me truly like these Veg Crisps more and therefore proving the “you never know…”

Information on the packet;

40g packet per 100g has 493 calories with 31.8g of fat, 17.4g of sugar and 1.3g of salt. Ingredients see photograph.

By Spectre

Tyrrells Cotswold Brie & Bacon Crisps (Brown and Green, Trentham Gardens) [By @Cinabar]

We had another fab day looking around Trentham Gardens and retreated in the afternoon, when the rain started, to a fab grocery shop there: Green and Brown. This a lovely place to go hunting for Foodstuff Finds as it has such good selections of interesting items. We picked up several goodies and found varieties of products we hadn’t seen before, like these crisps. The Brie and Bacon Tyrrells don’t have a “New” label on them, but it isn’t a flavour I have come across before, so I couldn’t resist picking them up, I love meaty flavoured crisps.
When I opened up the packet of crisps there was a nice bacon smell which boded well. The texture of the crisps was quite firm and crunchy, which gives the impression of them being posh! They certainly felt satisfying to eat too. The taste was quite something, it was salty but the bacon shone through. The cheese was a nice creamy but rich aftertaste, and it had the distinct taste of Brie which was rather nice. It was a musty cheese taste, but it was nice that it did indeed taste of Brie rather than the usual generic “crisp cheese” flavour, although the specification of it being from the Cotswold was lost on me! :-D.
In all the flavour was quite strong, and the bacon would have been very slightly too salty for me if it was on its own. The cheese was there to bring balance, and made the difference in flavour, without it I wouldn’t have liked them nearly so much as I did.
Many things went in the grocery basket from that grocers in Trentham Gardens, so do keep your eyes open for the other goodies we picked up over the next week or so.

By Cinabar

Tyrrell's Ludlow Sausage & Mustard Crisps [By @SpectreUK]

Tyrrell's Court Farm is located in Leominster, which is a stone's throw from Ludlow. If you get a chance I'd recommend a visit to Ludlow Castle and the surrounding town for a good countryside trip. It stated on the packet that these crisps are; "Perfect with a pint of ale", so I couldn't resist having a good pint of Badger's Hopping Hare thrice hopped blonde beer to wash these crisps down with. I know it's a beer not an ale, but it makes for such a good pint! There was a nice meaty sausage smell on opening the bag, with a mild hint of mustard. The first crisp had a good meaty pork sausage flavour, properly seasoned with herbs and spices and a decent hit from the mustard. The crisps had the usual quality crunch we've come to expect from Tyrrell's. I started swigging the beer whilst eating the crisps. The citrusy bitter flavours from hops perfectly complemented the spicy herbiness in the sausage and added buzz from the mustard in the crisps. The more I swigged beer the more crisps I began to shovel into my mouth. The flavours in the beer and the crisps merged into a beery wet meaty potato magic. I'm now certain Tyrrell's were right when they said these crisps are perfect with ale, but they are also just as grand with a good pint of beer from the genius Badgers of Dorset. These crisps were made for shovelling vast quantities into one's mouth and downing beer after beer whilst watching your favourite game on the box or a good comedy or action movie. Go and buy a bigger bag or two to fill a bucket and a crate of your favourite brew and then stick the tele on!

Information on the packet;
The 40g bag has 180 calories with 0.8g of sugar and 9.2g of fat. For ingredients see photograph.

Tyrrells: Red, White and Blue Crisps [@Tyrrells] [By @Cinabar]

As we are in the middle of a lovely long Jubilee weekend, I couldn’t resist giving these rather special crisps from Tyrrells a try. The flavour may be ready salted, but it is the potatoes that make this bag so special, have you ever seen anything so pretty? There are no artificial colours, but the potatoes are a rather British red, white and blue. I just love the idea, and they are so attractive that they need pouring out to be fully appreciated.
The crisps tasted amazing too. The white ones tasted and looked like regular ready salted crisps, with a very traditional rich potato flavour. The blue crisps are deep in colour almost navy blue. These blue ones have a nice woody, almost earthy tone. They are by no means as strong as beetroot, but they are certainly distinct and have a similar but mild taste. The red ones are the brightest in the bag and look amazing. Their flavour was actually a little sweet, which worked nicely with the salt.
These crisps have a fab British touch, but also let you appreciate the different varieties of potato that are available, but seem to be a bit forgotten. These are well worth a purchase as it was nice to be able to pick out the different tastes of the potatoes, and really appreciate a thoroughly British product!

By Cinabar

Turkey Crisps (Tesco Finest Vs Tyrrells) (By @Cinabar)

As you are probably sitting down to the inevitable turkey sandwiches, what snack is more fitting to accompany them than turkey flavoured crisps. Disappointingly this year Walkers chose not release its annual turkey variety, but both Tyrrells and Tesco have put forward some crisps in the traditional Christmas flavour.


Turkey and Chestnut Stuffing [Tyrrells]
These crisps are fairly thickly cut and had a lovely herb smell when I poured them into a bowl. The flavour was a little milder than expected, but did have a good meaty taste, a hint of sage and a nutty aftertaste. I’ve not seen crisps seasoned with chestnut before, and it was nice that the taste of chestnut was distinguishable on the crisps, the nut flavour did make these feel quite substantial. The bag was thoroughly enjoyable, flavoursome but not strong enough to overpower any items that they might be served with.


Roast Norfolk Turkey and Stuffing with Onion Gravy [Tesco Finest]
This bag of crisps has a much stronger aroma, but still looked to be thickly cut with a good crunch. The flavour of these was very different to the other variety as these were so much stronger. There was a lovely meaty flavour that reminded me of roast chicken crisps. The other major ingredient was the seasoning with onion and sage, and there was plenty of it too representing the onion gravy and stuffing. I loved this taste, and felt all the herbs and onion they had packed in really made them. The crisps were a perfect meaty crisp, it was as if they’d been dipped in the gravy pot!

Out of the two varieties I preferred the Tesco ones as they were stronger and had a fuller flavour. I also felt that the heavy addition of the sage and onion really made them super tasty and moreish. Having said that the Tyrrells are still a great crisp, they just have a more delicate base flavour, but the addition of the chestnut made them something special too.

By Cinabar

Tyrrells: English Summer Barbecue [Crisps] (Waitrose)

I’m not sure what magic Tyrells have performed but on this packet but it states that their crisps help ‘coax out the sun’ and it seems to have worked! It’s been lovely weather here in the West Midlands for the series of bank holidays we’ve been having, and has very much put me in the barbecue mood.
This is Tyrrells Summer Special Edition of crisps, and they too are thinking about that great seasonal cooking treat. Being an omnivore, the idea of barbecue flavour crisps filled me with the thoughts of bacon, sausage and various other char-grilled goodies. Curiously though the crisp packet didn’t seem to mention any specific meats or foods and seemed to be a generic ‘barbecue’ flavour.
I’d like to start with the negatives about these crisps; they didn’t have a taste that I felt particularly represented the barbecue flavour. I suspected that they wouldn’t be very meaty, and this was true. There also wasn’t a char-grilled flavour, or smokiness, or even anything like a barbecue sauce.
Having said that I have to say I still really liked these crisps. The potato base was nice, thick and flavoursome. The have a firm crunch, and are perfect for a large sharing bowl. Despite not representing ‘barbecue’ to me, what they did have was a rich sweet paprika taste, and an aftertaste of chilli providing a gentle kick. The spicy flavours made them tasty and moreish and I will happily buy them again. I just think they are more appropriate to take to a barbecue rather than to represent the barbecue taste.

By Cinabar

Tyrrells’s - All Natural Beetroot Chips with Sea Salt (Waitrose) [By @SpectreUK]

On running out of oddly flavoured beer to torture me with, Cinabar has passed me these Beetroot chips to try. I’ve known Cinabar for twelve years now after she jumped on me at the end of our first date. I’ve known for much of that time her disdain for beetroot. I happen to like beetroot, in small doses, with a nice fresh salad or on a sandwich, but beetroot crisps didn’t sound quite right to me. On opening the packet I was surprisingly taken back by the purpled redness of the hard folded misshapen crisps. The inside of the packet looked a bit like you’d expect a cross between The Chainsaw Massacre and a helping of Kellogg’s Cornflakes. The crisps themselves have the same sort of crunch as cornflakes, quickly melting in your mouth with a sweetness to start with followed by the earthy sour taste that beetroot has. There was a hint of salt whilst eating these crisps, but mainly the flavour of cooked beetroot overpowered any other flavour. After eating one third of the packet I noticed that my fingers had started to stain red. I battled on, but began to feel increasingly sick after every sweet / sour bite. You have to REALLY like beetroot if you want to try this healthier sounding option to potato crisps. Otherwise just the one bag could put you off beetroot for life! I was left with the problem of repeating beetroot on my taste buds, so if your partner hates beetroot, you are unlikely to steal a kiss once you’ve finished the packet.

By Spectre

Tyrrell’s Sweet & Salty Proper Popcorn (Waitrose) [By @Cinabar]

When I go to the cinema I am very much in the sweet popcorn camp. I have tried salty popcorn, but never really seen the fascination with the stuff. I have also tried sweet and salty (i.e. both together) once before, when I tried Pret’s last year. Their attempt at the flavour wasn’t particularly special, and if anything I found it a little bit bland.
When I saw Tyrrells had ventured into the popcorn market I bought a bag for Foodstuff Finds purposes but wasn’t exactly excited about the same mixed concept of flavour. We were having a movie night in (watching The Men Who Stare at Goats) and it seemed appropriate to crack open the popcorn. We were all set up yummy George Clooney, yummy Ewan McGregor, yummy Spectre (he made me type that!) and hopefully yummy popcorn!
And it really was yummy popcorn too. I just can’t get over how totally clever the flavour was, it totally wowed me. Some pieces were saltier than sweet, and some were more sweet than salty, but the best bits were the ones lashings of both flavours! One thing is for sure, every piece was tasty and made you want to eat another.
The popcorn pieces were perfectly light and fluffy with a gentle crunch. In the entire bag there was only one unpopped kernel, and this looked like a minor oversight. The flavour is just about the most moreish and perfectly made stuff I have tried. It needed a warning on the front of the pack saying the clever flavour combination WILL make you eat more than you intended! I am totally converted to this, it’s absolutely fab stuff, and I will be buying more.

By Cinabar

Tyrrell’s Sweet Chilli and Red Pepper (Waitrose) [By @SpectreUK]

Tyrrell’s have been around for a while now and I’ve always admired their innovative flavours of crisps. It’s rare I find a flavour I’m not impressed by or dislike. These Sweet Chilli and Red Pepper crisps come in a red packet with an old black and white photograph of two men in a fire truck on the front. These crisps smack of heat. Hot enough to burn. Hot enough for a fire truck? There’s only one way to find out… On opening the packet I couldn’t smell anything particularly hot. You know when you smell some food or other and it springs out at you as particularly hot and spicy? Me neither, at least not right now anyway. Having said that, I knew I should still be cautious as these crisps could still ambush my taste buds with hidden chilli heat. On eating I noticed these crisps have a lovely sweet tomato flavour mixed with Thai spice to start with, followed by a very mild chilli heat. After every crisp chomp the red pepper flavour dances on the tip of your tongue. There is a gentle hint of garlic, onion and perhaps parsley in every bite, leaving a pleasurable aftertaste with a tender heat. No fire engine required whilst eating these crisps, but several bags, a good kick arse Jackie Chan movie and a few beers would go down a treat.

By Spectre

Pork & Apple Crisps Tyrrells (Tebay Services)

You don’t often see pork flavoured crisps. Sure there are plenty of bacon flavoured ones, from Disco’s through to Red Sky, but this is the first time I’ve seen ‘pork’ as a variety. I feel obliged to mention bacon chocolate here too, but can’t quite think of a totally decent connection...
Back to the crisps! From first taste I was quick to realise that these were something a bit special. The meaty flavour resembles the taste of a fresh pork pie (without the pastry), it is almost juicy and you can almost taste that wonderful meat jelly lurking in the pie. There is a slight sweet flavour as an aftertaste, which adds a hint of apple which works well with the meaty taste. The apple could have been a little stronger, but I think the issue was the crisps were just so fantastically meaty that the pork was the primary flavour.
As ever the texture of these crisps is crunchy, and the crisps are fairly thick cut. The potato base flavour shines through well too, making these a fantastic snack.
Seriously though, how have we not had pork flavoured crisps before? And if you know of some already on the market, do let me know and drop me a comment below.

Tyrrell's Alternatives - Thai Chilli Rice Crackers [By Spectre] (Waitrose)

Tyrrell's crisps can usually be found in huge sharing grab bags, so I was a bit surprised to find this smaller packaged helping from their Alternatives range. Rice crackers can be dry and they usually suck all the moisture from my body and anyone else that's near me at the time of eating. So I expected these Tyrrell's Thai Chilli Rice Crackers to do the same. They are small crunchy rounded crackers and have a sweet Thai flavour with a mild heat behind the sweetness. As the wrapper suggests, they are extremely moreish and I noticed the chilli heat slowly building the more I ate. I could have happily eaten a bigger bag than the 50g and was left yearning for more once I'd emptied the packet. You can really savour the mixed chilli and paprika flavour of these healthy feeling snacks. There is also a hint of onions and noticeable fish extract the more you eat. The Thai sweetness and chilli heat makes you just want to pop one after another into your mouth, the flavours washing around in there make your taste buds water. At no point did I feel dry eating these, I just wanted more. A monstrous bag of these would be great for sharing out at parties or film nights. So come on Tyrrells, bigger helpings please!
By Spectre

Tyrrells Summer Barbecue Crisps (Sainsbury’s)

Well these crisps made me smile when I saw them on the shelf. Partly because they have the word ‘Summer’ in the title and the weather has clearly taken a dive, and partly because on closer inspection there is a photo on the front of people sheltering under a brolly! Okay, these are proper British Summer barbecue crisps then!
The flavour of them reminds me more of barbecue sauce rather barbecued meat or the flavours from a physical barbecue. Spectre confirmed this thought by saying that they reminded him of the rib sauce you get in Chiquito’s restaurants. The taste was sweet, rich with a good element of tomato and a tangy smokiness to finish. Part of the flavour was even a little like a spiced tomato ketchup, sweet and tangy. There was also an element of saltiness that came through at the very end that kept me reaching for more.
I thoroughly enjoyed these crisps, and thought these in conjunction with the Butter and Mint Crisps means we have seen some wonderful flavours coming from Tyrrells this summer. Really looking forward to finding out what they have in store for their Autumn flavours!

Tyrrells: Butter and Mint Crisps [First Harvest Potato Chips] (Selfridges)

In order to celebrate Tyrrells first potato harvest, they have produced a crisp with a very delicate but intriguing flavour. Choosing the two best accompaniments for a bowl of new potatoes, many people would naturally pick butter and fresh garden mint, but in terms of a flavouring for crisps they do make a refreshing change.
One of my favourite crisps of days gone by was a packet produced by Marks & Spencers that was simply Jacket Potato with Butter flavour; I just loved the creaminess of them. I really don’t know how they got discontinued, and often still check for them on the shelves of M&S, just in case of a relaunch! These Tyrrells crisps do remind me of them, but with bells on. The mint with the butter adds a lovely fresh flavour, and the ingredients work beautifully together. The tang of herbs and creaminess are just such a clever taste, and I absolutely loved them. Interestingly I haven’t even got to the best part, the potato base of the crisps are just wonderfully flavoursome too, with a lovely light crisp crunch. This is an excellent example of how a collection of simple flavours can work so perfectly together and hands down beat a lot overly strange or complicated varieties for crisps.

Tyrells Alternatives: Habas Fritas (Nisa)

To be honest I don’t normally do to well with alternative products, it clearly states ‘alternative’ in the title, and I thought it was supposed to be a nut replacement. I’m usually quite happy with the original! The sub text on the packet didn’t exactly fill me with excitement either: “Lightly Spiced Cooked Broad Beans”. The word broad beans doesn’t normally fill you with the concept of a dream snack, but oh my, it really should.
Despite everything, these broad beans are fantastic. The coating is thick, uneven and has the most wonderful spice, it is not overly hot but there is a hint of chilli and a little garlic mixed in. The beans are also uneven, but crunchy, and this curious mix of textures and odd shapes just made them wonderfully rustic.
The taste was surprisingly similar to pork scratching, despite them not containing any meat. They were moreish, full of flavour, full of texture and an absolute pleasure to eat. This should not be an ‘alternative’ as the label suggests, this should be your first choice.

Tyrrells Welsh Rarebit Crisps (Nisa)

I really like Tyrrells crisps, and Welsh Rarebit is one of my favourite snack foods so I was quite pleased with myself for spotting these! I opened the pack up, took the aroma in and thought they smelt quite pleasant, there was a nice grilled cheese scent.
I split the large bag up amongst the testers, and pinched a crisp off one of the plates before giving them out. The initial taste was of that grilled cheese flavour, and just as I was starting to think that they tasted quite nice the secondary flavour kicked in. I assume it was meant to be a Worcestershire sauce/mustard concoction, but the only taste I could possible say it was similar to was, well there really is no nice way to put it, vomit. Obviously I tried one more just to make sure it really was as bad as I thought it was, but I’m afraid it was. It was such a strange taste, sharp, sour, and I felt they were not very nice. I just did not like these at all. The other taste testers were also unimpressed, so I’m afraid I have to give these a thumbs down. I will be sticking to the other Tyrrells flavours!