French Fry Diary 650: Ore-Ida Bold & Crispy Zesties!

Even though Ore-Ida's Bold & Crispy line is new, at least two of their styles are just rebrandings. Zesties! and Zesty Twirls have been around for a long time. Ore-Ida has even trademarked the phrases, and rightly so, these seasoned fries are unique in the fry world.

The Zesties! are just a little larger than usual regular cuts with a spicy battered coating of seasoning, pretty traditional stuff like pepper, onion powder and paprika along with other stuff at add heat. That said they aren't hot as much as they are seasoned. It's a bold taste, with just enough kick to get your attention.

The batter gives them a bit of a crisp while the insides are baked potato-ey and hot, temperature hot that is. The Zesty Twirls are much the same, only in skinnier curly fry form. However, be sure to watch these fries as they cook. The directions can be shaky with your particular oven, and if they get too crispy, they're not so good. Watch them!

Zesties! is a good name for these fries, they're very good, with a kick, even with their new rebranding.

French Fry Diary 457: Herr's Onion Rings

Every once in a while I need a break from French fries, potato chips, and even onion rings, so I try something different - onion ring flavored snacks. I've done a few of these, finding the 7-Eleven Select brand the best of the bunch. Recently I picked up a package of the Herr's variety at my local Wawa - Herr's Onion Rings.

Like most onion flavored snacks, these aren't really onion rings at all but corn meal covered in onion powder. Some have a bit more kick, but the Herr's rings are -just- that, some salt, and a whole lotta multisyllable chemicals.

The onion flavored corn meal rings aren't bad, but they aren't that great either. They are a little grainy, and could not only use more of a kick, they could use more flavor as well. As a rule, I am usually pretty pleased with Herr's products, but this is an exception.

Herr's Onion Rings are all right in a pinch, or an impulse buy, but if I want an onion flavored snack, I'm going to 7-Eleven.