Tesco Finest Spiced Bramley Apple Crumble Crisps

Who in the world thought of this weird idea? Presumably Mr Tesco.

So I tried these crisps in a blind taste test both at work and at home with Christmas guests. And got the following responses:

• Weird but quite nice (this tester took some home for a road trip)
• Strange... I'm not sure... 
• Quite the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted - I don't think I can eat anything ever again
• Mmmm seems familiar... what is this flavour?...erm... sort of appley?
• Oo... I know this... is it oriental?
• (sniff sniff) cinnamon? Are these made of apple?
• I'll have a larger one this time, thanks
• From Tesco? We should look out for these.

So a divided response then. I think most people agreed that you get an apple crumble taste. It's the extra crunchy burnt brown bit at the edge of the crumble where apple juice has bubbled up. Whether this is a good flavour (and I admit it is tasty) for a potato crisp is another matter.

The crisps themselves are perfectly normal crisps with a good crunch, a little dark in colour but that's all the spicy flavour dust. The smell is very strongly cinnamon. At least, I think it is cinnamon; the packet somewhat unhelpfully lists "spices" and "flavourings" rather than naming individual elements so these could include clove, mace or nutmeg or even allspice. Who knows? And there's obviously quite a lot of sugar involved.

I can say that the apple element is Bramley, and the potato a variety called Hermes (grown in a field called Porter and picked/dug up on 23 october 2013). Hand cooked in small batches and "tumbled carefully in seasoning" - how exotic that sounds. Suitable for vegetarians.

Quite tasty but I'm not convinced this is a good flavour for a potato crisp. Not convinced this is the "perfect taste of Christmas".