Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Seeking the Perfect Potato Chip


I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with potato chips.

On the down side, potato chips mess up my blood sugar balance, requiring me to consume some protein after eating them. They are also greasy as pepperoni pizza swimming in its own glop.

On the up side, they are addictive little yumsters.

So one of my more mundane goals of late has been to try to find the perfect potato chip. This goal has led me to do strange things like order a sampler pack of Popchips.



Popchips have a peculiar texture, different from others on the market. But they’ve got some interesting flavors. like chili lime, which tastes strangely like a tortilla chip even though it is made of potato not corn.



And then there are Lay’s potato chips.Their parent company is against GMO labeling and this stance normally disqualify their products from taking up valuable space in my kitchen. But darn if their Limon potato chips aren’t a piece of cracked up heaven. When I have them around, my daughter and I go through these things faster than poop through a goose.


Next let’s examine Kettle chips. These things, in their normal incarnation, are too greasy for any human being to eat safely. But they’ve got these evil good flavors that are the perfect combination of sweet and salty. Nasty stuff, but when you need it, you need it.



But when I’m not feeling unbalanced enough to need the flavor addiction grease fest, I get either the reduced fat Kettle chips



or the Baked ones, which they call “Bakes” because apparently someone who works for them has a degree in Marketing but not in Grammar.



The plain Baked ones are best with some kind of dip because frankly they are short on flavor.

One issue with Kettle chips (to be fair, a lot of snack foods have this problem) is they can’t seem to decide which oil they are using in their chips.



This sort of indecisiveness is a problem for any person who, like my neighbor, cannot eat canola oil without ill consequences.

So which is the perfect potato chip? I have not yet found it. I welcome your suggestions.

So far the perfect chip is not a potato chip at all. It’s this:



Please comment and tell me your thoughts about snack chips!