Real Namkeen Farali Chiwda Tikha Indian Traditional Snacks

I may have got the names of this traditional Indian snack in the wrong order. If so, I apologise.

It was recommended to me by the very nice man who runs the little newsagent at the bottom of the road. A couple of weeks ago he proudly showed me his new range of Indian snacks but when I came to choose one to buy, he wasn't there (it was (possibly the son) a younger man in charge that morning) so I couldn't ask which he would recommend for a delicate English palate.

I chose this packet because I recognised the word Tikha. Maybe that was a mistake because this is a pretty hot crispy snack.

It's also a slightly weird crispy snack. You get very very small little sticks of potato, plus peanuts, plus raisins. And it all tastes slightly of peanut curry... followed quickly by a very spicy taste. Very very spicy. The flavour seems to come from peanuts, sale, fennel, sesame seed, black salt (what is that?), turmeric, dried curry leaves.... and the wonderfully vague "spices and condiments". Could be anything then.

So what did we think? Well, most of the reluctant taste testers found this crispy snack difficult to eat because it is so tiny. I mean, really tiny. You find yourself picking up one tiny potato stick out of politeness and it lasts less than 10 seconds, so then you grab up a small handful but ow! that leaves you will a really hot mouthful. Decisions, decisions.

Tech taste tester tells me he thinks he is intolerant to chilli and found the taste REALLY hot. Tall taste tester said this crispy snack was the work of the devil. Why? He won't eat fruit and, oh no!, this packet includes raisins. Tall Elegant taste tester said she really didn't like it, but later admitted it had grown on her. I found the taste surprisingly peanutty, and then very hot.

I think perhaps we all have namby pamby English taste buds, oh except for Dutch taste tester.....

I must say, if you like this crispy snack you get a lot for your money. As everything is so small you get a lot crammed into this quite large bag which contains 400g (14.11 oz) of potatoey/peanutty goodness. Luckily it has an efficient snap shut feature to keep your snacks crispy.

Rawlicious Food Co. Kale Chips Original Cheezy

Ooh dear. I hardly know what to say.

The packet says I'm absolutely probably the most tastiest Kale Chips there is and organic goodness and dried not baked. Why not try these? Craving more Rawlicious organic goodness?Try out our other tongue tingling flavours. Dee-Licious!

The other flavours of Kale Chips are Thai Chilli, Indian Spice and Double Pepper (that's red and yellow peppers not, say, black pepper and pink peppercorns.

Our Kale Chips. Jam-packed full of 100% natural loveliness and gluten and wheat-free (yay!) with no added stuff like flavourings or preservatives. Kale Chips are dehydrated slowly, not baked, so all that yummy organic goodness hangs around for maximum flavour and nutrition. Dee-Licious!

Well. Erm.... this all sounds like a jolly good idea and possibly the healthiest crispy snack ever. Unfortunately the reluctant taste testers and I are not trained to enjoy healthy snacks. And - how can I put it - we really didn't enjoy this.

I can only stress that this is these are only our personal opinions but I have to admit none of us enjoyed this crispy snack. We really didn't. And I wasn't really aware that these Kale Chips are flavoured with lemon and salt and pepper, and made with 25% cashew nuts. There is yeast in the recipe too but just how these ingredients equate to a flavour called Original Cheezy I don't know.

Very sorry, but it's the texture. Eating dehydrated kale is a little like trying to eat an autumn leaf.

And like the other kale crisps the reluctant taste testers and I have tried (see the Crispy Crunchy Snacks We Really Didn't Like sidebar) it looks awfully like deep fried nettles.

I'm not sure I have ever eaten kale as a vegetable. Although I have no rooted objection to trying it. I mean, I eat cabbage quite a lot; I buy it on purpose when the Chef is in the Alps (he pretty much sticks to a traditional red cabbage recipe at Christmas) but I don't feel that a cabbagey-style vegetable is totally suited to a new life as a crispy snack.

In case you fancy trying kale for the first time, here are some recipes from the Guardian website. Maybe freshly made Kale Crisps (the first recipe) are the way to go.

The packaging is kind of cardboardy and I had to fight my way in with a pair of scissors. Made in the UK but bought in Switzerland.

Bret's Frites Goût Salés

Another of these slightly weird (but tasty) Frites from Bret's. We tried the Goût Crème Oignon before... oh, wait, it was the Chef and me in Switzerland who tried those. So the reluctant taste testers had not seen this style of crispy snack before - well, it's all cut into strips - you can't call it a crisp.

It isn't a crisp, it isn't one of those square extruded snacks masquerading as a chip (that's a french fry not a crisp), it's a flat strip of crispy potatoeyness (not sure that's a word). And it's quite tasty but also quite weird.

And it isn't so easy eating flat strips of crispy snack. You really have to concentrate to pick them up in smallish, largish (but not too greedy-looking) fingerfuls. Or one at a time. Maybe this uses up more calories than you might suppose and thus creates a healthier snack? Who knows.

However, the reluctant taste testers and I thought this quite a pleasant plain salted crispy snack. Somehow rather plainer than the rather fabulous packet design, but nonetheless an honest and tasty snack.

Belin Les Super Z'Héros au Fromage

It feels weird for an English person to type "Z'Héro" so often but basically what we have here is a superhero of a crispy snack.

A crispy circle (a zero) of puffed maize snack. With a nice cheesy taste. Not fancy but tasty. The reluctant taste testers and I liked these zero-shaped crispy snacks. And Dutch taste tester and I enjoyed the play on language.

And this superhero snack feature four superheros. We have Commandant Z'Héro, Miss Z'Héro, Kid Z'Héro (Maître du Taï-Cheese) and Speed Z'Héro. Oof! That was exhausting. All these superheros and their accents.

I'm not convinced these are particularly efficient superheros. If you look at the packaging these crispy superheros seem to be suffering some unfortunate accidents. Luckily on the back of the packet they seem to be a little more successful.

Jones o Gymru Y Ddraig Goch (Sweet Chili)

The fourth and final packet of Jones crisps brought back from Anglesey by Noble Friend. And we liked these too.

We thought these crisps had a very nice crunch, they looked good and they tasted fine. Not terribly sweet, not terribly chilli, not a lot like most Sweet Chilli crisps,  but pretty tasty.

Y Ddraig Goch means red dragon. Which might, I suppose, be Welsh for sweet chilli. So it's rather a shame that the little dragon on this handsome purple packet isn't red rather than purple.

Just as used to happen every time I took the maximum ten books out of the library when I lived in Cirencester, the first book I read (picked at random, obviously) turned out to be the best of the bunch, and the last book on the pile was the least good. And here we have the same syndrome. The reluctant taste testers and I liked all the Jones o Gymru crisps... but we liked the sea salt flavour which we tried first best. And we sort of liked this flavour the least.

Not that we didn't like the other three flavours. It's just that the wonderful plain Sea Salt flavour is sensational, and the others (in our opinion) are only very good. Which is hardly what you might call an only. And I suggest we liked this flavour "least" because we thought it the least exciting, the least individual and special, the least fabulous.

It seems a great shame that Madryn Foods (Jones o Gymru) only produce four flavours of crisp. The four flavours they make are so good I cannot help thinking that any further flavours would be fabulous too. We can only hope that they produce new flavours of crisp in the future.

If you would like to follow Jones o Gymru on twitter @MadrynFoods you might be surprised to find a good many of the tweets are in Welsh. Because this crisp comes from Welsh Wales.

M&S Reduced Fat Full on Flavour Sweet & Smokey BBQ

Here's a BBQ flavour crinkle cut crisp (full on flavour and reduced fat to boot) which appeared in the office one day. To my shame I cannot recall who provided it. Well, you know, the reluctant taste testers quite often proffer new acquisitions for all of us to try. Pretty much everyone from Giraffe Fan to Tech taste tester has provided something tasty over the last (not quite) 3 years. I do the writing it's true, but everyone gets to try if they want to.

And in fact I think the reluctant taste testers rather liked this gentle BBQ flavour. Not a BBQ fan myself I thought they were quite nice too.

And if you can find such a good crunch and pleasant taste together in a reduced fat crisp I think you are doing pretty well. A success then.

But I totally forgot to mention this is one of Marks & Spencer's crisps mysteriously made in Denmark.

Benenuts 3D's Bugles Goût Chèvre

This is one of the last packets of crisps left over from the grand tour of Europe earlier this year; another choice from the giant Carrefour outside Reims in Northern France. And yes, this bugle (or cone) shaped snack really does taste of goats cheese.

Of course goats cheese is not everyone's cheese of choice, but Giraffe Fan taste tester was amazingly enthusiastic. I said, next time you go to France just pop into a supermarket - we did. But sadly her next holiday is a family trip to Israel to visit her many uncles and aunts and cousins. Oh calamity! (does anyone else but me remember Robertson Hare in All Gas and Gaiters?) so she'll have to make do with Israeli crisps. But obviously could look out for Benenuts Bugles another time.

But no. It turns out that Giraffe Fan will be putting in an order with rels who are going to France this summer. I have emailed her the scan of the packet so they don't buy the wrong thing. And that would be unfortunate.

Some of the reluctant taste testers don't much care for goats cheese, and I have to say I felt that this crispy snack does really taste of goat's cheese. So some of them weren't mad keen. But some of them liked this crispy snack quite a lot.

Well, as I often point out, it's all about personal taste. If you are a fan of goat's cheese you really might like these crunchy bugles. Check out the local supermarché next time you are in France.

Jones o Gymru Halen Mon PDO Sea Salt & Vinegar

Yes, you've guessed: another tasty crisp from Jones o Gymru. And looking online for further information, I find that this flavour Halen Môn Sea Salt & Vinegar celebrates Anglesey-born Dr Tom Parry Jones who invented the electronic breathalyser. Which is definitely the fascinating fact for today.

Plus, get this.... you can Say it With a Spud if you contact Jones o Gymru. Yes, a special Welsh-grown potato with your very own message written on it in (what looks suspiciously like) biro can be mailed to the loved-one of your choice. A potato-gram! Whatever next?

Well, I guess that was a pretty fascinating fact too.

This is another 40g packet of very tasty crisps and not too much scary vinegar. So the reluctant taste testers liked them quite a lot and noshed them down in no time. Very nice.

I have read online that you can buy these crisps in Tesco. But possibly only in Tesco North Wales. I say North Wales, because the Chef's brother was in South Wales just the other day and searched diligently for a Welsh crisp for me to try. Which was extremely kind of him. And he found nothing. So, as I say, maybe North Wales only. But I daresay you may be able buy them online if you want to try.

Jones o Gymru Mature Cheese & Onion

Another packet of crisps found in sunny Anglesey by Noble Friend. And very tasty too.

I thought this crisp was a very grown up, rather smart, take on Cheese & Onion. Most of the reluctant taste testers were very complimentary and liked this crisp a lot. Tall taste tester got there too late; it's not a large packet (just the way I like it) and the rest of us had been unable to keep away from the kitchen.

Dutch taste tester thought the taste was a little muted. She felt it could have been stronger and she'd have like it better. Each to their own.

A lovely traditional style crisp. wonderful crunch, great aroma and (I thought) a very nice taste. 

Jones o Gymru Halen Môn PDO Sea Salt

Noble Friend went to Anglesey for the weekend and in the local Italian deli (where else?) she found these fabulous Welsh crisps. From Wales. And indeed, in Welsh.

What a lovely aroma of old fashioned properly hand cooked (hand fried) crisp. What a great flavour of oil and salt. And a great crunch. Simply delicious.

What a great crisp. Well done Noble Friend for bringing back a fabulous crispy snack to the reluctant taste testers of North London.

Halen Môn Sea Salt is harvested from the sea waters around the Isle of Anglesey. PDO means Protected Designation of Origin. In other words, you can't use this name for just any old sea salt. It has to come from Anglesey.

In Wales we are famous for our castles, choirs, beautiful natural landscapes and...yes... more than fair share of Atlantic rain says the packaging. Okay, so we might have to don our raincoats quite often, but it also means that we can grow world class potatoes. And you can read all this in Welsh if you want.

Les Chips de l'Aveyron Roquefort

Senior taste tester and Madame Senior taste tester went to Nimes for their holidays and bought a packet of local crisps. And tasted and enjoyed said packet of crisps. And brought me back a photograph of the empty packet! Not even the empty packet so I haven't even been able to sniff the flavour.

So sadly I have no idea of the taste or crunch or colour of these crisps, but I am assured they were pretty good.

And I have googled Aveyron. You should too. It looks absolutely lovely. What a fabulous area in which to hand cook your tasty Roquefort flavoured crisps.

TUC Mini Snackies Cream & Onion

These incredibly tasty little biscuits have a madly complex pedigree and it's not at all easy to work out who had them made. At bottom, it's a company called Mondelez Interntional. But Mondelez has subsidiaries all over the place from Spain to Finland. And I think I bought them in France. However, they seem to be made in Hungary.

Very very tasty little biscuits. A little like the nicest cheese & onion flavour, a little bit cream cheesy. And a great crunch. Just extremely good.

Tall Elegant taste tester and I enjoyed these a lot, the Chef finished the packet with great gusto (his own words), and I think the all the taste testers liked them. No dissenters.

M&S Spirit of Summer Pina Colada Mocktail Popcorn

The packaging for this exotic Pina Colada popcorn is very minimal. You can see the actual label is very small indeed. Smaller than some clothing labels.

I bought the popcorn because when I mentioned having seen it, History Graduate taste tester got a little excited. Don't know why he didn't buy a bag for himself but perhaps it is my duty to supply the nasty sounding popcorn. I say nasty sounding because I don't like coconut at all so I've never tried a Pina Colada.

Interestingly most of the reluctant taste testers were not put off by the coconut, but by the pineapple. Which I rather like.  I must say even the aroma of coconut really put me off. And although each individual (apparently beautifully puffed) corn kernel has little bits of freeze dried pineapple gummed to it by the tasty "Mocktail" flavouring, it also has desiccated coconut. Which I particularly dislike. So I confess I could not bring myself to try.

The Chef likes coconut though. And he reports this popcorn is OK. The popcorn crunch is just right and he's not bothered by the sweetness of the pineapple.

Half the packet, which I take to be about 100g, was finished by the taste testers but I suspect that this was possibly due to the presence of Extremely Senior Volunteer taste tester who is an adventurous eater and will eat virtually anything. Or so it seems.

Half the packet was eaten by the Chef. So if you like coconut and think you may have similar tastes to the Chef, this may be a fun alternative popcorn choice for you. Sadly not for me.

M&S Spirit of Summer Cajun Spiced Plantain Chips

Well, History Graduate taste tester was braver than I am and he purchased this packet of exotic crispy snacks for us to try. And you know what? This snack is not as sinister as I had supposed it might be.

The aroma from the bag is savoury, almost meaty, but these plantain chips are suitable for vegetarians, even vegans. The flavour is created from a combination of tomatoes, garlic, onion, yeast extract, oregano, cumin, cayenne pepper, black pepper, basil, fennel seeds, and of course the ever popular "flavouring". Not to forget salt and sugar. Without which...

I took a few of these home for the Chef to try. He took a large chip and crunched in... And then there was a sudden silence and an agonised look. A strange expression crossed his face. Somehow I feel he wasn't that fetched. Oh dear oh dear.

And Tall Elegant taste tester and I were rather impressed. Not to mention Tall taste tester told me a couple of days later that he liked them so much he'd gone out and bought a packet. On purpose.

Considering how nasty I have thought this product might be, I thought it was quite a success.

Jacobs Crinklys Cheese & Onion Flavour

Oh these crinkly little biscuits are good. Sorry; that's a cheese snack biscuit not just any old biscuit.

I found this packet at Luton Airport but as with so many things I am sure you can buy them in other places - just not in my local shopping street.

What we have is basically a crinkly version of the Mini Cheddar. And I think it really works well. Somehow they seem a little bit lighter than the usual style of Mini Cheddar, with a very good light crunch.

And a great taste. This seems like the archetypal cheese and onion flavour. Delicious. Great cheese and onion aroma, great cheese and onion taste. Not too oniony, not too sweet, not all smart and 5 star restauranty with caramelised onion or whatnot. No. Just extremely good cheese and onion. I think they qualify for a yum.

A nice little 50g bag too so no danger of eating far too many. And as you know, with any really good crispy snack that is always a danger. Ah, you say, but you can't share this bag with friends because you don't have enough to go round. No. Quite right. But they are far too good to share so I don't care.

Savoury satisfaction time after time says the packaging. You know what? They may be right.



These little biscuits were marketed as a McVitie's product. A Mini Cheddar. They've now dropped the  Mini Cheddar and the maker is Jacob's. But as both McVitie's and Jacob's are brands owned by United Biscuits I'm not sure what difference this makes.

Still a very tasty product.

First published 9th July 2014.

How to Make the Perfect Crisps (Courtesy of The Guardian)

A slightly different post today: here's a page from The Guardian newspaper.

Each week in the Guardian Felicity Cloake reads a bunch of different recipes for... say... Spaghetti Bolognaise, Lemon Meringue Pie, or Salad Niçoise. And then she sticks all the best bits together to form what she feels is the prefect recipe. It's an interesting read even if you are not a mad keen cook.

And this week, she makes potato crisps. Click on the link. The recipe looks so much better in colour, and the comments are fun to read.

I have yet to try this.  Mostly because I don't have a mandolin, and deep fat frying makes the kitchen so filthy. But I must say these genuinely hand cooked crisps do sound good. I think I would probably only add salt.

M&S Chorizo & Red Pepper Tortillas

[Deep breath] And yet another crispy snack from those energetic guys at the Marks & Spencer crisp development department.

And a wonderful rich red they are. Reflecting, no doubt, the chorizo, smoked paprika and red peppers in the ingredients. Except there isn't any chorizo because these crisps are suitable for vegetarians.

Well, that's fine by me, because although I adore salami and eat far more of it than government recommendations would allow (processed meat is so bad for you they say), but I don't care much for chorizo.

I think this packet of tortilla chips was purchased by History Graduate taste tester. He doesn't cut open the packet in a careful "I'm going to scan this later" sort of a way. No; he rips them open any old how. So there's a rip in the packet although you may not notice it.

Why do you suppose M&S used an image of an old wooden door with an Apsley House green grill? Apsley House is the London house of the Duke of Wellington (known as Number 1 London) and the railings have always been painted a wonderful blue green now called SC329 Apsley House Railings.

Well, that may be useful information if you are looking for a great paint colour for your railings, and it doesn't help that I used to live in a flat with the front door and the railings painted this colour, but it also doesn't explain why the packaging department chose this image to illustrate these tortilla chips.

Image from patrickbaty.co.uk

Ah Well. Surprisingly tasty (even to me with the I don't like chorizo or red peppers attitude) and they seemed to be quite successful with both History Graduate and the rest of the taste testers. Not bad at all. And really, a gorgeous colour. Much richer than the packaging shows. Imagine these with guacamole.

Roland Bretzeli

This is a tasty little pretzel snack from Roland of Switzerland. And tasty they are.

The Chef brought them home for one of his committees (they get the chance to snack on all sorts of Swiss goodies) so I also had the opportunity to try them.

Lovely light pretzel taste and a good crunch. What more do you need? Plus I chanced to discover that they work very well with a sour cream and chive dip which happened to be sitting in the fridge.

Yup. Tasty.

Lay's Edition Hiver Fondue Savoyarde

Here's another crisp from the supermarché outside Reims. Fondue flavour.

Now, to me fondue is a Swiss dish. And Savoy is in France. So this is a French fondue; presumably because this is a French crisp. And by the way, how would your fondue work in the flat dish shown on the packet? It wouldn't, that's how. Because without any heat under the dish you'd have a solid lump of cheese and wine mixture in no time at all.

But I mustn't take the packaging design too seriously. If you take the fondue fork for scale then the crisps are ridiculously giant. Which they are not.

As usual with Lay's crisps (that's Walkers in disguise, first time UK reader) the crisps are a good size with a great crunch. And the flavour?

Cooked cheese, we thought. Not the kind of cheese you find in Cheese & Onion flavour, nothing at all like what you get in Cheesy Wotsits, but we thought it a passable representation of Cheese Fondue flavour.

The reluctant taste testers ate almost all of this quite large packet which I take to be a success. I saved a few to take home to the Chef. I confess he wasn't madly impressed, but he is somewhat of a connoisseur on the fondue front having spent a great deal of time in Switzerland. Plus we make our own in London.

Dutch taste tester is mad for cheese and following her encounter with these crisps was determined to take in a real fondue as soon as possible. Luckily there is a Swiss restaurant in Soho called St Moritz (don't skip the little movie) or she could simply come round to dinner with the Chef and me.

As these crisps were a special edition for winter (15/16) I do not know how long they are (or were) available to purchase.

Kent Crisps Oyster & Vinegar

Yup, another Kent Crisp. With a great image of beach huts on the packaging. Yes, we love the packaging.

But I'm not sure about the flavour. I didn't tell anyone what this crisp was because I was absolutely sure no-one would get it. And I was right. Most of the reluctant taste testers commented that these crisps were very vinegary. I confess I didn't notice this particularly. But none of them picked the actual flavour at all, apart (nearly) from History Graduate taste tester who suggested Fish & Chips.

Now, that's an idea. Fish & Chips crisps. Or in the US, Fish & Chips Chips. Or would that be Fish & French Fries Chips? Not such a good name in that case. And er, anyway, is Fish & Chips a thing in the USA? I don't know. And in case you weren't aware, Fish & Chips, or perhaps these days Fish'n'Chips is huge in the UK.

So... no-one thought of oyster as a flavour and I can't say I'm surprised. To be honest I tasted with a little trepidation (you know I don't eat fish) but to me the flavour was bread. Not unpleasant, but bread. And Tall Elegant taste tester said she saw what I meant.

I think we award this crisp a "could do better".

I wonder would these crisps taste more convincing if there weren't suitable for vegetarians? After all, an oyster is not a vegetable. So there aren't any oysters here.

Kent Crisps Smoked Chipotle Chilli

This is another packet of crisps from the cross channel ferry between Dover and Calais. You can find them at some supermarkets I'm told, but not at any supermarket I've been to. So I stocked up on the ferry. Much to the mystification of the staff.

A nice little 40g packet of crisps, lovely orange chilli colour, nice crunch, and a very attractive savoury chilli flavour. Not too hot and certainly not too sweet.

The reluctant taste testers took no time at all to polish off these crisps.

Very nice. And the packaging design is lovely too.

The crisps are made in Ramsgate in Kent, with chilli grown by a guy called Steve who farms chillis in Kent. Nice local product. Well... local if you live in Kent!

M&S Wiltshire Ham & Piccalilli Hand Cooked Crisps

One of the reluctant taste testers contributed this crisp. I think it was Tall Elegant taste tester but I confess I cannot remember exactly.

I don't think I would have chosen to try this crispy flavour under normal circumstances. I once tried a ham flavour crisp that was so disgusting I felt quite sick. That was a long time pre-blog but you know how the body remembers feeling ill after eating a particular food and puts you off trying it in future. Well, I should tell you straight away that these crisps are not disgusting.

But I remain a little dubious about ham as a flavour for crisps.

And then there's the piccalilli. Not a favourite pickle for me. I find the colour off putting and it's too mustardy for my taste. Anyhow, I had the feeling that Noble Friend and Tech taste tester might like these. And I think I was right. But Dutch taste tester (a big fan of piccalilli) was sorely disappointed because the piccalilli flavour was not flavourful enough for her. Well, sometimes you just can't win.

And if you don't know what piccalilli is, here's a recipe from River Cottage.

Nice big golden crisps with a good crunch. But perhaps the flavour is not for everyone.

Joe & Seph's French Goats Cheese & Malabar Black Pepper

Oh dear. It would be nice to say that the reluctant taste testers and I really enjoyed this popcorn. Only we didn't.

Some of us don't like goats cheese at all. Fair enough. Some of us thought the taste was strongly goats cheese (me) and some of us didn't. I must say I was pleased that this popcorn (unlike so much of the Joe & Seph range) did not feature the caramel starter flavour with the goats cheese on top. Remember the Cheese on Toast popcorn?

But it doesn't matter what you think about goats cheese if the texture of the popcorn isn't right. And it isn't. Or we didn't think so. 

You can see this popcorn won an award in 2012. Each to their own.

Nim's Pineapple & Mango Fruit Crisps

Hmmnn..... Noble Friend picked up this little 22g packet of fruit crisps at a trade show or somewhere. 100% fruit it says on the packet. Air Dried Not Fried. And 80% pineapple, 20% mango.

They also describe themselves as Deliciously Healthy Award Winning Snacks. And, Certified by Vegan Society, and Partners with change 4 life which is a British government initiative trying to encourage us all to eat more healthily. Or perhaps less unhealthily.

This healthy snack seems to have been created by a health conscious mum called Nimisha (maybe known as Nim) who writes that she kept looking for healthy snacks but found that the healthier they were, the less taste they had. So she created a range of multi-award winning fruit snacks that are not only free from additives, preservatives or added sugar, but are also full of fibre, Vitamin C and intense natural flavours.

OK then. Well, we weren't that impressed. I picked a piece of pineapple which was quite tasty and seemed surprisingly juicy considering how dry the little bits of pineapple and mango were. But then I had another bit which didn't taste of much other than cardboard. And wasn't juicy at all. And that's pretty much the same story I got from the reluctant taste testers.

Plus, we couldn't quite decide if this strange crispy snack was pot pourri or crumbled water biscuit (or matzo). It may be madly healthy but it isn't very prepossessing.

This packet of fruit crisps tells us it is 1 of our 5 a day. But an office of 11 people failed to eat more than about half the packet. Once opened, eat immediately! Well we did our best.