French Fry Diary 703: Whole Cuts

This potato snack, Whole Cuts, comes from Calbee, the same notorious company that makes shrimp chips, seaweed chips, and yes, the infamous French fries in a can. At once I was wary, but as with many things on this blog - I try it so you won't have to.

"Cut like a fry, crisp like a chip." is what the hype says, and these gluten free snacks claim natural simplicity with no preservatives and no artificial flavors. The ingredients are just potatoes, oil, and salt.

After I got into the nearly unopenable package (so tough to open these could have been sold at Trader Joe's), the Whole Cuts had the look of natural cut shoestrings but felt dry and firm and more solid. These were very crunchy and have a thorough potato flavor with just the right amount of salt.

Not bad and quite the crunchy little snack, these were much better than I at first thought they would be. Granted, Whole Cuts wouldn't be my first choice as a snack, but these were quite good.

French Fry Diary 662: Nathan's Kettle Cooked Crinkle Cut Potato Chips

Now I've reviewed them before and I'm quite fond of Nathan's Potato Chips, the thick crinkle cut style. On a recent stop at the fryless Nathan's at the Thomas Edison rest stop on the NJ Turnpike, I saw these chips - kettle cooked crinkle cuts. I figured I'd give them a try.

First things first. The bag was so hard to open (I eventually gave up and just used a scissors) I thought perhaps I was mistaken and had actually bought it at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.

These are almost identical to the other chips in every way except for the kettle cooking. The chips are too crunchy and too greasy. It's almost as they were trying to ruin them. But I can't really say that. I don't like these, perhaps someone does.

French Fry Diary 647: IKEA Potatischips Saltade

Those of you who remember my first FFD adventure to IKEA know it's not my favorite place to eat. Hang out and shop? Oh yeah, I love it, but for eating? Um, no. On a recent shopping excursion I saw something in their grocery that caught my interest - potato chips - so I figured I'd try again.

Packaged and sold by IKEA, they're called Potatischips Saltade, assumedly potato chips salted in Swedish. I like the bag, 5.3 ounces or 150 grams, very colorful, and the ingredients are very simple - potatoes, canola oil, and salt, and a lot of that last one.

Once opened, the bag yielded small but thick chips. They have a big crunch that usually only kettle chips have, and they're very salty, perhaps too salty. Of course, that said, they're also quite addictive. Their thickness and saltiness might make them perfect dippers for something cold and seer like ice cream.

I liked these a lot, and definitely a lot more than IKEA French fries.