It happened when I was at the supermarket in the early
spring. I was making my way down one of the main aisles when I noticed an end
cap display of chips. I always look at them and always see the same flavors yet
I still inspect them every time. This time as I am perusing the shelves when I
see a deep turquoise bag that looks blatantly unfamiliar. Had those wily Minnesotans
finally made lutefisk chips? Nope. I stood there agog as I read "Salt'N
Vinegar" on the bag and thought to myself, "I can't believe those
bastards finally did it." A new salt & vinegar chip and I didn't even
have to leave my neighborhood to find it.
Considering they already had a salt & vinegar chip in
their portfolio, I wonder why Old Dutch added another. Did someone in the
marketing department have an epiphany that they could innovate by making a pivot
from sour cream & onion and leverage their existing salt & vinegar chip
infrastructure to take it to the next level?
Let us find out what these shiny, new chips are all about.
The first thing I noticed after grabbing a handful for testing
purposes was just how many large chips there were. It was impressive that so
many of them survived packing, transit, and being put on a shelf without being
reduced to smaller, less breakable shards. Once I had gotten over the size, I
noticed that they seemed to be of a slightly darker yellow hue than is normal
with scattered brown spots. I am unsure if they were cooked longer or if
perhaps there were more sugars present to get that almost golden color.
I found these to be just a touch saltier than average and I liked
how the typical regular chip crispness veered towards kettle crunchiness. The
vinegar tang was really odd with these chips. When eating them, my tongue
detected a medium-light bit of sourness which left me wanting more. And when I
indulged, I found that my lips started to tingle even though my tongue wasn't
registering dangerous levels of vinegar as I'd expect. This happened at different
times so I don't think it was my tongue.
They finished with a sweet earthiness – these chips have
lactose and dextrose.
I posit that we have here chips that are in the top 2 of all
time for texture. I loved the crunchy crispness. Less thrillingly, they tasted
sweeter than their kettle counterparts and less sour too. I will definitely try
them again because I am flummoxed at the vinegar irritating my lips (in a good
way) but not my tongue.
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