The Great Weird Flavoured Chip-Off

I absolutely love to try new things, especially when it's an unexpected, new, exciting flavour. Denmark isn't nearly so adventurous when it comes to inventing new chip flavours, and when a contest to invent a new chip flavour arrived, the winner was "Ribs".. So boring!!

When we came to visit my parents in Atlantic Canada and we saw all the new, exciting flavours, we bought as many as we could find! Naturally!

So welcome to the official Quite Chefy weird chip taste test. We'll be testing ten different flavours of chips, rate them from 1 - 5 from terrible to delicious, and give a verdict on whether or not we would purchase them again.

The taste testers: Lea, my husband Michael, my aunt Bonny, and my mother and father, Carol and Harold. Family fun!

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The Contenders

1. Maple Bacon by Presidents Choice
2. Canadian Burger by Presidents Choice
3. Sriracha by Presidents Choice
4. Barbecue Baby Back Rib by Presidents Choice
5. Sweet Potato by Covered Bridge
6. Lobster by Covered Bridge
7. Jalapeno Cheddar Popcorn by Presidents Choice
8. Aged Cheddar and Onion by Presidents Choice
9. Poutine by Presidents Choice
10. Loaded Potato Skin by Ruffles
    

Chip One: Presidents Choice Maple Bacon

The chips will be judged based by smell, whether or not the taste delivers on promised flavour, and will be rated on a scale of 1 - 5, 5 being "I could eat a whole bag, then complain later about how fat I am", and 1 being "I'm offended that I had to put this in my mouth". In the end, we'll sum up the scores, and pick a favourite!

Ready? Begin!

"Crunchy rippled potato chips with a maple bacon flavoured seasoning."

At first glance, we thought, what could go wrong? Bacon is the world's greatest condiment, and maple syrup is a delicious Canadian treasure. The description was pretty straightforward.

When we first opened the bag and inhaled the aroma of the chips, they certainly smelled of maple, but they also smelled of cheap bacon flavouring, which was disappointing right from the start. Crunch was great, and they were nice and thick so they didn't crumble to dust when we ate them, but taste-wise, they were lacking. They tasted like cheap bacon-flavoured chips with a sweet aftertaste, and the more we ate, the worse the sweetness became.

Average Rating 3.4 out of 5

Would eat, but would not purchase again.

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Chip Two: Presidents Choice Canadian Burger

"Crunchy rippled potato chips made with a Canadian-inspired bacon cheeseburger seasoning and a hint of ketchup flavour."

There's not much better than a great burger, so the idea of Canadian Burger chips were really exciting and an excellent way of packing even more carbs into the diet.

I opened the bag and stuck my nose in, and immediately had regrets. It reminded me of bad produce, and transitioned into a bag of slightly old McDonalds mixed with dirty sock. Not exactly tempting to my poor tongue. Against my better judgement not to eat anything that smelled so foul, we ate the chips. The taste was shocking. The chips actually tasted like burgers, but not in the best way. It reminded us of a cold, day-old Burger King Whopper. You get a cheesy flavour first, which transitions into a ketchupy relish taste, and leaves you with the taste of charbroil at the end. These chips were shocking, weird, and confusing. They tasted better than they smelled for sure, and they left us with an aftertaste of ketchup and onion from a fast food burger. My brain and tongue are confused by these chips, and I think I'd rather just eat an All Dressed as opposed to these burger chips, if I should be honest.

Average Rating: 2.75 out of 5

While surprising, not overly pleasant. Would not purchase again.

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Chip Three: Presidents Choice Sriracha

"Crunchy rippled potato chips with a spicy Asian-inspired seasoning blend."

We have a giant bottle of sriracha in our fridge, and we love the stuff. It's spicy, sour, a little sweet, slightly garlicky, and then even more spicy as it punches you in the face with hotness. For those of you who don't know, sriracha is a chili sauce/past made from chili, vinegar, sugar and salt. It's great with just about anything, so sriracha chips just had to be great, right?

As soon as the bag of chips were opened, we could smell the acidity in the chips paired with a nose-tingling chili scent. My mouth watered in anticipation! I'm not sure if they taste exactly like sriracha, but they have quite a spicy taste with a garlic kick.

Average Rating: 2,5 out of 5

Split decision. Half loved and half hated because they were deemed too spicy. Not me, I loved them, and would purchase again.

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Chip Four: Presidents Choice Barbecue Baby Back Ribs

"Crunchy rippled chips made with a sweet barbecue rib seasoning blend.

What's not to like about a good, tender, juicy rib smothered in bbq sauce? That's the thought behind these chips.

Upon smelling them, we agreed that they smelled like Texas barbecue seasoning or premade barbecue spice. Not bad at all, but not really what we expected based on the explanation. They taste exactly like the spice, but with an added tang of cheap sour barbecue sauce and onion flakes. The aftertaste clings to the side of the tongue in a very unpleasant, sour way that slightly burned. They tasted nothing like rib, or any meat that I'd ever tasted in my life, and certainly never want to taste again.

Average Rating: 2 out of 5

Unanimous dislike. Would not purchase again.

DO NOT MIX BURGER AND RIB CHIPS TOGETHER FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR TASTE BUDS!!

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Chip Five: Covered Bridge's Sweet Potato with Sea Salt

I'm not the biggest fan of sweet potato, but I can appreciate a good sweet potato fry with lots of salt and a hint of chili, so I thought these would be a fun taste test., and I know my mom loves them.

They had a good clean scent of sweet potato. The flavour was genuine and real. These chips weren't trying to be any other chip, and they were balanced well between sweet and salty. The aftertaste was also very clean and tasted of sweet potato. Great chip if you like the orange spuds! Can recommend!

Average Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Split decision based on personal opinion of sweet potatoes. Would possibly purchase again depending on the day's mood.

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Chip Six: Covered Bridge's Lobster

You read that correctly. Lobster. Would these then be the lobster of chips? The smell was a bit off putting. They certainly didn't smell like lobster, but akin to dried seaweed. The chips themselves were unevenly cooked with lots of burn marks on them. Not promising at all.

They tasted more or less like they smelled. Not much of anything with a hint of seaweed, which lingered on the tongue. Did Covered Bridge even taste lobster before creating this chip flavour? I really doubt it, because lobster does NOT taste like seaweed!! Stop it!

Average Rating: 1.8 out of 5

Unanimous dislike. Would never ever purchase again.

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Chip Seven: Presidents Choice Jalapeno Cheddar Popcorn

Yeah, yeah. Not a chip, but in the same salty snack category. Great popcorn is hard to beat, and my husband and I love a bit of spice. Unfortunately we taste tested them with my parents, who friend-zoned spicy things.

Upon opening the bag, it smelled like ordinary premade popcorn. In fact, it didn't have much scent at all, and the scent that was there was indescribable. Upon tasting the popcorn, we realized that there wasn't much flavour other than the overwhelming peppery taste of what was supposed to be jalapeno pepper. If you took a mouthful of popcorn, you could get a slight hint of cheddar flavour, but mostly it was just burn with no discernible popcorn or cheddar flavour.

Average Rating: 2.25 out of 5

Split decision based on tolerance of spicy food. Would possibly purchase again, but there are better popcorn flavours out there.

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Chip Eight: Presidents Choice Aged Cheddar and Onion

Cheese and onion pair well together, so the hope was high for these chips to kick some tastebud butt (and I should really refrain from using the words tastebud and butt together). The smell from the bag was inexplicable. It smelled faintly of old cheesy sock, but the smell wasn't as alarmingly bad as the burger chips.

The taste of these chips was a bit like cheese powder with an aftertaste of aged, salty cheese. There was a familiarity to the flavour, and that flavour was Kraft Dinner cheese powder packets. It reminded me of eating way too much of the stuff as a kid, because I liked it, and as a college student because I was poor, and KD is cheap. The onion flavour is a bit lacking, or rather an afterthought. It tasted lightly of sour cream and onion chips. Not bad, but could be a bit better.

Average Rating: 3.25 out of 5

Average flavour. Would possibly purchase again.

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Chip Nine: Presidents Choice Poutine

"Crunchy rippled potato chips made with a Quebecois-inspired gravy and cheese seasoning."

Ah Poutine. That artery-clogging salt bomb of french fries, gravy and cheese curds. So good yet so bad at the same time. It's a dangerous love affair and a rare treat for me. Poutine-flavoured chips? Oh baby that sounds awfully tempting, doesn't it? These just have to be good!

Opening the bag, no magical fry shop scent came from the bag. They smelled like potato chips with a slight roasted chicken chip (if you know what that is) scent about them. Oh no, please be good!

One chip, two chips, half the bag later...These chips deliver on flavour. You start with a slightly cheesiness, move into the chicken gravy flavour, and you get the obvious fried potato flavour from the chips. These are great, and were enjoyed by all in second and third helpings. Yummy!

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Excellent. Would absolutely purchase again and regret eating the whole bag.

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Chip Ten: Ruffles Loaded Potato Skin

Last but hopefully not least. Just like the poutine chips, loaded potato skin chips by Ruffles had the potential to be something great and amazingly tasty. What's not to like? Potato, sour cream, cheese and chive - a super tasty combination, right?

The initial sniff test revealed that these chips smelled like chips. There was no distinct flavour that jumped out as anything spectacular.

When first tasted, you could definitely taste sour cream and onion in there, but with a little extra something, but the other tastes didn't really stand out, except for a hint of cheese. The overall seasoning was actually quite faint and weak. The taste of greasy chip, however, was quite prevalent, and a bit sickening, which is often a trait of Ruffles chips.

Average Rating 3 out of 5 - straight average across the panel.

Mediocre. Would eat a couple, but would not purchase again.

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The Winners

Winner! Poutine chips

Runner up! Sweet Potato

Last but not least! Maple Bacon

Presidents Choice Poutine chips won the test with an outstanding 4.5 out of 5! Coming up second is Sweet Potato, and in last place, Maple Bacon.

I highly recommend trying the Sriracha chips by Presidents Choice if you like a little spice and sourness in your chip.

Thanks for joining me for the weird chip taste test, and I hope do do this again sometime with new and interesting products.

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Until next time, stay chefy!!