This post is long overdue. I have to plead for forgiveness due to a couple of crises around the house, and a bad patch of my SLE. A couple of weeks ago, we made a humongous bowl of guacamole and ripped open the Chocolate flavor of Food Should Taste Good chips.
I have to say that as a stand-alone chip, the salt ruins it for me, personally. I have a very low tolerance for salt, however, so others might not feel the same. Once the salt was gone (yeah, I licked it off!) I thought the chips were pretty good. With guacamole on them, they were delicious, by far the best pairing with guacamole I have tried! I also tried them with my Wensleydale and Apricot cheese. The chocolate flavor was overwhelmed. What I'd like to try is Philly cheese with black cherries mashed into it. How could chocolate and cherries and cheese NOT be good? Hmm I should try PB and Nutella on them.
We also tried the Olive chips. Predictably, my husband really liked them, and I didn't. I don't care for olives, as a rule, so that was no surprise. Neither of us cared for this flavor with guacamole, which is probably not surprising. My husband said he thought it might be good with chili con queso, which he hasn't tried yet, and hummus. I might try them again when we do that. One of the few places I like plives is in Middle Eastern cuisine. People who like Olives, my husband assures me, will love these chips.
We still have a number of flavors to try -- Hatch Chili Pepper at the top of my list, Cheddar Cheese next, and of course the regular old Corn. I also still have a bag of the Multigrain to test,.but I want to try these with a variety of cheeses and meat salads. Perhaps my signature Pimiento
The nice lady at Food Should Taste Good told me she had a package of the Chocolate flavor for me to try. I have been anxiously awaiting its arrival. This enormous box arrived containing not only the Chocolate, but Olive, Multigrain, Lime, and Sea Salt and Vinegar Sweet Potato Chips Kettle Cooked. These were all sent free of charge for me to review.
The first package we opened was the Sea Salt and Vinegar Sweet Potato Chips. I have had Sweet Potato Chips before, and I liked them. I was a bit leery of the Salt and Vinegar flavor because I am not, in general a fan of either very salty or of sour flavors. I was not reassured by the aroma when I opened the bag. All I smelled was the vinegar.
I have to report honestly that neither myself nor my husband cared much for these as just a snacking chip. He thinks the vinegar and sweet potato is just not a good combination to him. Anyone fond of Sea Salt and Vinegar flavored food would probably have a totally different reaction. We did think they might go well with something like a sweetish chicken salad on them, or perhaps a chopped ham spread or salad.
I have a Sweet Potato- Chile Soup recipe that we love, and I think they might provide a nice crunchy accent topping if crumbled over the top of that. What I do think I would just love would be Sea Salt and Cinnamon Sugar! :) Another flavor I think might be good to me would be based on a recipe I found online, and that my sister-in-law made for our combined birthday dinner [our birthdays are 12 days apart, so we have one birthday dinner for both of us]. IT was Roasted Sweet Potato and Apple Casserole. The seasonings in the recipe are salt, rosemary, cinnamon, chili powder. My sister-in-law cannot handle hot, so she omitted the chili powder. I think the combination with the chili powder on sweet potato chips would be awesome!
Then we opened the Lime chips. Unqualified hit! I think it tastes like a horizontal margarita, without the risk of becoming horizontal yourself! My husband took one bite and said "I LIKE these!" On their own, I consider them a tasty snacking chip. At the same time, I want to try them with guacamole, con queso, and crumbled over a taco salad.
I'm saving the Chocolate for later. One Warning, I will be trying them with cream cheese, nutella & peanut butter on them, as well as alone.
The Salt and Vinegar Sweet Potato I will pass on to my step-nephew. He's of that age where he will surely know another teenage boy who will enjoy if he doesn't want them himself! I am certain someone in his crowd will just love them!
So excited to open my mailbox last week and find that I had received three coupons for a FREE bag of the Food Should Taste Good (FSTG) Chips. I received these for agreeing to blog a review about them. I ran right over to my local HEB on Bunker Hill, which I knew carried them. Unfortunately, they only carry three flavors: Blue Corn, Sweet Potato, and Multigrain. I decided I wanted to try the Blue Corn right NOW! I will have to go a bit farther afield to Whole Foods on Woodway in hopes of finding the Chocolate and Hatch Pepper I want to try.I should start by confessing that I am not, routinely, a chip snacker. The primary reasons for this are fats, salt content and a desire for a high-fiber diet. There are, however, two times I just HAVE to have corn chips: with guacamole and with chili con queso. Neither of these on celery sticks or carrot sticks is truly satisfactory.Part of the reason I was eager to try these chips was their nutritional content. I can have about 10 chips for 140 calories (60 from 7 g fat - 0.5 g saturated fat-- NO transfat). That's about 3 more chips for the same calories, and HALF the saturated fat of my usual brand 80 mg of sodium. which is about 35 mg LESS than the chips we usually buy. That difference alone is very appealing. I also like the 3 g of dietary fiber, compared to 1 g in our usual brand. There is 1 g of sugars in these chips, whereas the other brand has none. FSTG has twice as much iron, but lacks the 2g of calcium. I can live with that because I get plenty of calcium.So what's in the Blue Corn FSTG chips? Organic Blue Corn, High Oleic Sunflower Oil and/or Safflower Oil and/or Canola Oil, Oat Fiber, Brown Rice Flour, Flax Seeds, Evaporated Cane Juice, Sesame Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Quinoa,Soy Flour, Sea Salt.I decided that for purposes of the review, I should taste the first few with nothing on them. The first flavor I taste is the salt, teasing and tantalizing. The lingering aftertaste is the sesame seeds. In between, is a kaleidoscope of flavors, dominated by the corn, with bright accents of flax, sunflower seeds, quinoa, and a light sweetness, The earthy undertones of Oats, Brown Rice, and soy swirl through subtly. providing a background without ever overcoming the other flavors.
On a whim, I dipped one chip into my natural, chunky peanut butter. I was surprised by just how tasty the combination was. I dipped one into the VERY hot red salsa we get when we buy pollo asada, and found that the flavor of the chip held up quite well under the fire. Even better was the one dipped into the green salsa we get from the same place. I am envisioning crunching a few over a salad with black beans, grated cheese and my own habañero vinaigrette, and just a touch of sour cream. I'm also dreaming of guacamole and Chili con Queso. For that, I shall have to wait until my PSH (poor suffering husband) takes me to Whole Foods for the chocolate and Hatch Chili flavors. I am disappointed to report that it seems to be impossible at this point to find the Chocolate and Hatch Pepper chips. On way back from our birthday celebration dinner at my brother's, we stopped at the Whole Foods near him (W Alabama @ Kirby). The stocker working the aisle reported that they stopped carrying the Chocolate flavor, and he had never heard of the Hatch Pepper. Rather than hold up this promised review while I tried looking at the Whole Foods on Woodway, I elected to get the Hemp and the Jalapeno flavors The other two flavorsI will keep looking and asking for until I hound some grocery manager into ordering them.
The Hemp chips, all on their own, have a slightly nutty, slightly kale-like flavor. I think they would go well with either guacamole or chili con queso, but I think they would be excellent with black bean dip, or any of the sour cream/cream cheese vegetable dips/spreads on the market. I also think they would pair well with brie and other soft cheeses.
The Jalapeno chips start with the taste of corn, then the pepper slides in and caresses your tongue. For those who like only mild heat, these are great chips for you, moderated by guacamole or a cool sour cream dip. For those of you who love hot hot, eat 'em on their own, since the pepper keeps sliding in and building up until your mouth is delightfully toasty! For those of you who prefer something between mild and hot hot, you can dip every other one into the guacamole. To my mind, these are perfect for chili con queso. Not surprisingly, I am now doubly disappointed not to have found the Hatch Chili Pepper flavor!
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