Miss Vickie's Applewood Smoked BBQ

Crafted with care since 1987 says the packet. Many of the crispy snack companies I have discovered have been set up far more recently so this probably qualifies as a fairly long standing brand of snack.

I read that Miss Vickie's started out as a farm house crisp made by a a couple called Vickie and Bill Kerr who farmed in Ontario (which is in Canada) but at some time it was bought up by Frito-Lay's. Which means of course that like so many crispy snacks it belongs to the mega marketing monster that is PepsiCo.

So far I have only tried one packet of Miss Vickie's crisps and that not very enthusiastically. Partly because as you probably know I'm not mad for barbecue or BBQ as a flavour. I know a lot of people who love barbecue but I could live without ever tasting another BBQ flavoured crisp. And then there's another reason. As I write I have 7 pills to take each day and one of them, I forget which, has a depressing side effect: it affects your appetite. And in my case it means I don't really fancy crispy snacks just now. I'm just hoping I get over it.

These are the Miss Vickie's flavours listed on Wikipedia: 24 of them and only 2 discontinued. I'm a bit sorry I shall never get the chance to try the Honey & Roasted Garlic flavour. which sounds rather interesting.

• Miss Vickie's Original Recipe (1987)
• Miss Vickie's Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar (1987)
• Miss Vickie's Jalapeño (1998)
• Miss Vickie's Hand-Picked Jalapeño (1999)
• Miss Vickie's Country Onion with 3 Cheeses (1999)
• Miss Vickie's Roasted Garlic & Herb (2001)
• Miss Vickie's Harvest Onion (2002)
• Miss Vickie's Sweet Chili & Sour Cream (2003)
• Miss Vickie's Lime & Black Pepper (2004)
• Miss Vickie's Smokehouse BBQ (2005)
• Miss Vickie's Honey & Roasted Garlic (2005) (Discontinued in 2009)
• Miss Vickie's Roasted Red Pepper Grill (2006)
• Miss Vickie's Vintage Cheddar & Red Onion (2007)
• Miss Vickie's Creamy Buttermilk Ranch (2008)
• Miss Vickie's Unsalted (2008)
• Miss Vickie's Mesquite BBQ (Discontinued in 2008)
• Miss Vickie's Rosemary & Basil (2008)
• Miss Vickie's Crinkle Cut Original (2009)
• Miss Vickie's Balsamic Vinegar & Sweet Onion (2010)
• Miss Vickie's Reduced Fat (2014)
• Miss Vickie's Applewood Smoked BBQ (2015)
• Miss Vickie's Sour Cream & Caramelized Onion (2016)
• Miss Vickie's Harvest Cheddar and Herbs (2017)
• Miss Vickie's Farmhouse White Cheddar (2017)                               

I am going in to work about 6 hours a week now (don't knock it I can't manage any more just yet) and took this packet in to see what the reluctant taste testers had to say. I'm sorry to have to tell you that most of them quite forget they need to tell me what they think, but Slightly Red Haired Bristolian was pleased to approve these crisps.

Not very large crisps, with a slightly heavy bite and a very bright colour, these crisps seem to me to taste strongly of applewood (which I wrongly imagined to be one of the ingredients - it's not). Strange and not really for me. Still, Smokehouse BBQ (on the list above) sounds a lot nastier.

PS The Chef tried one of these crisps and thought it was horrible. He absent mindedly had another and before he knew it had eaten a whole bowlful.