Kev's Snack Reviews

Recently, Tesco Express stores have been selling a range of snacks from Emily Crisps, and one that caught my eye were these Sweet Potato Sticks. They cost £1.10 for a 35g bag. The bag contains both purple and yellow sweet potato chips, sprinkled with sea salt and fried in sustainable palm oil. I opened the bag, and was a little disappointed there didn't seem to be much in it - little more than a handful. I wanted to like them, I really did but they were just somehow lacking. They tasted too greasy, and seemed like they had been overcooked, spoiling any natural flavour of sweet potato. I think they made a mistake in using palm oil rather than a lighter oil like sunflower, and it really shows in the taste. Overall, these were a let down for me and not something I would buy again. I feel they're overpriced for what they are - the larger bags are over £2.50. Have you tried Emily Veg Crisps? Are you a fan? Let me know in the comments! 5 out of 10.

Sweet Potato is one of the latest health trends to become mainstream, there's sweet potato versions of many classic potato products now, from baked sweet potatoes, sweet potato fries, sweet potato mash, and a lot more besides. But now they're also invading the crisps world, with Tyrrell's launching their version called "my sweet potato". Cute! I chose the Lightly Salted variety in Morrisons recently, which cost £1.50 on special offer and is free from additives, gluten free and suitable for vegans and vegetarians. In fact unless you're allergic to sweet potato, sunflower oil or sea salt there's no allergens at all! These are for you my sweet potato... To fit the "my sweet potato" theme, there's some comedic messages on the pack from a husband to his wife: Hope you're not saying I'm a knobbly old thing... There's even a poem: "My darling, my sweet, with your striking orange complexion, like sunshine through Aut...

Now that Summer is over, Kettle Chips are here to save the day with warming earthy flavours perfect for autumn snacking, with their revamped Veg Chips range. Joining the existing flavour "Lightly Salted" is "Honey and Black Pepper" and "Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar", all made with crunchy parsnip, sweet potato and beetroot chips. All varieties are suitable for vegetarians and free of artificial ingredients. As I've never tried any of these before I began with the original variety: Lightly Salted. These turned out to be some very moreish and flavoursome crisps, with definite warming earthy flavours from the parsnip and beetroot. They were very addictive but felt more satisfying than regular potato chips, thanks to the more wholesome flavours on offer. The Honey and Black Pepper variety were similar but with a honey twist, this enhanced the earthy flavours perfectly with the pepper bringing a nice warming spicy kick. Very moreish! The ...

As part of my healthy eating drive recently, I've been trying some healthier snacks from the supermarkets. Luckily, it's getting easier to find healthy stuff thanks to a stream of new products from the various new paleo/raw/vegan companies that are constantly springing up. It seems Tesco are getting in on the act too, not only have they recently ditched a lot of sugary drinks from their shelves, they've also increased their range of fruits and nuts for snacking. They're also promoting their new vegetable crisps, which you'll find near the checkouts in many Express stores. They include Beetroot slices, which sounded horrible to me so I went for these sweet potato slices...ahem...crisps instead. They're basically slices of sweet potato that have been baked until crunchy. There's no salt or oil added, just pure dehydrated sweet potato. I guess they thought these don't need any flavourings since the natural sweetness of the potato is flavour enough. ...