Congrats to Cassie M!

Food Should Taste Good–the company name really says it all, doesn’t it? I was first introduced to these chips by a friend who has to eat gluten- and dairy-free. I was intrigued by the different flavor options listed on the back of the small bag of Sweet Potato chips she gave me, so when Food Should Taste Good offered up a chance to sample their wares the next week I jumped at the chance. In case I was a little biased by my previous experience with two of the thirteen available flavors, and on seeing that I was sent thirteen full sized bags, I decided to make this test a group effort and took them to work with me to enjoy with my coworkers as well as gather their reactions.

In the order that we tasted them:

Lime - If you like lime flavored tortilla chips already, these will bring you to your knees. If you don’t already favor them, these will change your mind. Instead of tasting like salt and candy flavoring, these chips taste of real lime juice and are fragrant with a bright, zesty note of lime peel. They aren’t as acidic or strongly salted as other lime chips, but the lime flavors here are so much bigger that you don’t need it. The corn grounds the lime flavors and rounds out the whole thing into an absolutely amazing chip on it’s own or with just about any salsa you can produce. Eat these with a fresh salsa or guacamole and you’ll have a party in your mouth that I can’t begin to describe on a family site.

Olive - I had high hopes for these, and for the most part they were entirely borne out. These are corn tortila-type chips with speckles all through them from a couple types of olives. You get a little salt and tang from the olives, but the chips aren’t overly briny. One of my coworkers and I sat with the bag of these and nearly finished them without even realizing it. Hummus is one of the recommended pairings with this variety, and it’s a very good one.

Cheddar - This was the only one I considered a mis-step. That said, the flavor was there, but what turned me off was that rather than being baked in, the chips were coated in cheese powder. I’m sure it was good quality real cheese powder, but powdered cheese is powdered cheese. However, if you’re a fan of nacho-style chips that are coated in powder, you’ll probably love these. The cheddar flavor is real and more intense than some other chips I’ve tasted, and since it’s not a “nacho” chip it lacks the jalapeno-ish note that those tend to have. I found that these worked best for me crumbled over a bowl of spicy corn soup. For that, they were an ideal topping.

Potato Chive – This variety was one of my surprise favorites. I hadn’t sampled many of the potato/corn based chips, so I didn’t really know what to expect from this one and was anticipating something trying to knock off sour cream and onion potato chips. I could not have been more wrong. These taste like hash browns topped with chives, unless you do what I did and dip them in plain yogurt. Then they taste like a real baked potato. This was one of the few bags that did not make it to my office, as I liked them so much I decided to keep them to myself.

Chocolate - We had high hopes for this flavor, which may have been too high for our own good. I think the problem we had with these stemmed from them being a salty/semi-sweet chip. They are still pretty good, but when you’re expecting something sweet and get a salt hit instead it does tend to throw you off balance. That said, this was a favorite of one of the voluntesters and definitely gets points for being a more unusual chip, even in a line like this. It tastes a lot like a deeper-chocolate flavored, lightly salted cocoa puff, which in the right circumstances is amazing. Don’t expect a sweet chip here and it could be one of the most interesting offerings available.

Cinnamon – This one we sampled the day after the Chocolate, and I think that we had adjusted our expectations accordingly. We weren’t as surprised when this one was also salty, and decided the most accurate description of it is savory-leaning cinnamon toast crunch. It was a much less jarring flavor combination than the salty chocolate, and one I think was more successful overall. This disappeared more slowly than the other savory flavors, but it definitely disappeared.

Multigrain – While these are just as high-quality of chips as the others, they were easily the most boring flavor of the bunch. Had we tried them by themselves we might not have noticed. They are good, crunchy chips studded with flax seeds and other grains and taste somewhat similar to the soy and flax chips from Trader Joes, which is definitely not a bad thing. The only thing we found off-putting about these was the inclusion of flax seeds, which some of the voluntesters didn’t like, but overall they are perfectly decent not-quite-plain corn chips.

The Works - These were an absolute surprise hit. I honestly wasn’t expecting much after the Multigrain ones, and figured they’d probably be something like everything bagels, which I’m not too fond of.  Instead, these were crunchy and complex and an absolute delight. They are flavored with garlic, onion, poppyseeds and most unexpected, caraway seeds. They have a savory note that is heightened by the aromatic flavors of the caraway into something entirely unexpected and deeply addictive. I had to portion out these chips for the voluntesters that hadn’t made it over to try them because everyone who did would just stand at my desk and eat them by the handful.  I truly wish we’d had some really good onion dip to try with these, as I think that would have taken them over the edge.

Jalapeno - The first thing that hits you about these chips is the color, which is a brilliant red. I’m usually turned off by dyed red tortilla chips, but these are colored with beet powder rather than food coloring and as such don’t taste like chemicals. The second thing you note is the kick that these bring. They are spicy and flavorful, but with a heat that builds the more you eat–for me, a hallmark of truly good spicy foods. These aren’t so hot that it would be painful to those with a low tolerance for heat, but not so wimpy that the heat seekers would dismiss them either. On top of that they also have a good flavor of peppers from both jalapenos and crushed red peppers. The recommended accompaniments to these are salsas and guacamole, and I think that would be an ideal pairing. I’d particularly like to try these again sometime with a fresh fruit salsa, like mango or pineapple. They would also be a great visual addition to a holiday table just for the color, especially if paired with the Blue Corn for the Fourth of July.

Buffalo - We figured that there wouldn’t be much difference between these and the Jalapeno ones, other than color, and once again we were dead wrong. These have the vinegar note of good hot sauce and a definite chili note as well. They weren’t a big favorite of ours though, and the most common comment about them was that they didn’t taste like buffalo sauce so much as they did like Chinese food with garlic sauce. A bit disappointing, but still edible and probably would have been great with bleu cheese dip.

Sweet Potato – These were the first variety I ever had, so I was a little biased. They are a unique texture because of the potato/corn base, and have a very subtle sweetness from the sweet potato. They aren’t show stoppers like The Works, but they make an excellent side to all sorts of things because of that. I had my portion with egg salad for lunch and quite enjoyed it, and a coworker ate them with spicy hummus and reported that that was delicious as well. These are recommended dippers for things like fruit salsa and hazelnut spread, and I can definitely see those combinations working very well.

Blue Corn - These didn’t taste much like corn chips, all things considered. Blue corn is a pretty subtle flavor on its own, but the inclusion of flax, sesame and sunflower seeds and quinoa proved to be overwhelming. They still taste pretty good, and definitely better than the Multigrain, but not a whole lot like a corn chip. One of the voluntesters described it as tasting “healthy,” but didn’t mean it in a positive way. I’m pretty sure that came from the quinoa, which ups the positive food value of these a bit, but not enough to overcome the fact that you’re still eating chips. Which should taste good. These do have a pleasant taste of their own, but they lose the appeal of the blue corn in using the other seeds. We didn’t have anything to dip these in, but they would probably far much better if we had.

Yellow Corn – These are a classic, salty, wafer-thin tortilla chip. If you like the kind of chips you get from the restaurants that fry their own and pile them into takeout bags and baskets, then you’ll probably go for these. They are quite salty, but balance out nicely when paired with just about any salsa you can imagine dipping them in.  We ate them out of hand and plain, but wished we’d had vats of salsa to go with them. These are a little saltier than I’d like to eat on a regular basis, but as a treat they aren’t bad, especially if served with a frosty beverage to wash them down with.

All in all, these were really good chips and I’m glad I got to try them all. I definitely came out of it with a few favorites that I will and have bought again, and some that I’m glad I got to try before I bought a bag. They are all made with gluten-free ingredients, all but the Cheddar are lactose-free as well along with being trans-fat free and cholesterol free as well. As packaged snack foods go, you’re never going to find a completely wonderful for you treat, but these come pretty close and taste good enough to make allowances for from time to time.

Enter to Win

Two winners will receive a new sampler pack which includes 2 bags of Cheddar, 2 Blue Corn and 1 bag of Lime. This giveaway is open to the U.S. and will end on June 14, 2010

This Giveaway is now Closed

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In compliance with the new FTC Guildlines, please note that this is a sponsored post.  I was given a samples of Food Should Taste Good chips, however, I was not paid for the review and the opinions are my own.

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