Rachel Ray, Snack of the Day, PopChips

I've talked about PopChips here on French Fry Diary before.

Here's Rachel Ray talking about them for her Snack of the Day sequence:



Enjoy!

French Fry Diary 357: Gourmet Basics Smart Fries

I am always intrigued by potato snacks that try to be healthy. I've been seeing Smart Fries from Gourmet Basics on shelves for a while and I finally picked up a bag, the flavor I picked was 'classic sea salt.'

There are lots of healthy bonuses with these so-called Smart Fries. They are cholesterol free, sugar free and transfat free. The problem is they are also kinda flavor free as well. They claim they have potato in them but I didn't taste it, heck, I certainly didn't taste any salt either, sea or otherwise. It's not that they're tasteless, but they are very bland. Perhaps I should try some of the other kinds like honey BBQ or vinegar splash.

They are kinda a skinny round tube in the shape of shoestring French fries, and are good for dipping. They are air popped and very low in calories. Not my first pick, but a good healthy snack, thumbs up.

French Fry Diary 349: Herr's Tangy BBQ Flavored Popped Chips

It would seem that the popularity of Pop Chips has caused at least one of the major potato chip company to fire back as it were. The other day at CVS I came across a tiny six ounce bag of Herr's Tangy BBQ Flavored Popped Chips. I picked them up right away.

It was not so much the fact of competitive popped chips or even the barbecue flavor - but the word 'tangy' was what grabbed me. I admit I was excited. If they could make a 'tangy' barbecue flavor of popped chip, could regular or kettle tangies be next? Of course it might just be a ploy like when McDonald's added the word 'tangy' to their McNugget BBQ sauce without changing the formula one bit.

For the health-conscious, there's a lot to be happy about as they are, as noted on the front of the bag, all natural, gluten free, and with no transfats, preservatives or cholesterol. The chips themselves are round, but with more broken pieces than Pop Chips. And for creatures made from potato flour, the taste is not bad but that may just be the BBQ flavor covering up any bad taste. Not a bad snack at all, and a step above the BBQ Pop Chips.

French Fry Diary 329: Pop Chips

My first impression of Pop Chips is that they are crazy hard to open, without the use of a scissors, a blowtorch, or an AK-47. Wow, do you want us to have these things or not?

I have been hearing about Pop Chips for quite some time, from friends and family, from the Pop Chips Twitter, from strangers, and from ads. But it wasn't until recently that I actually saw them in a store. I snapped up a bag each of regular and barbeque.

Their big claim to fame is that they are not fried nor baked, but popped. Now I'm still not sure exactly what that means, I mean, potatoes don't exactly 'pop' like corn does - but I tried 'em anyway. My first impression is that they were like a natural version of Munchos. Yeah, that's it. If Munchos were natural potato chips instead of dehydrated potatoes. The difference would be that Munchos have that extra corn taste that Pop Chips don't have. The difference is more accurately the rice flour in the ingredients - which also adds a bit of a rice cake flavor to them, but it's all good.

The Bride was very happy with the calorie count, and also has become partial to the salt and vinegar flavor as well. They are all natural, with no preservatives, no artificial flavors or colors, no cholesterol, no transfats, no saturated fats, and gluten-free. The bags make a lot out of them being healthier. "Nothing fake or phony. No fake colors, no fake flavors, no fluorescent orange fingertips, no wiping your greasy chip hand on your jeans. No, really." And as you can see, they even have a sense of humor about it.

The barbeque flavor is what the folks at Pop Chips call "the tangiest barbeque taste this side of the Mason Dixon." This might not be true, but these are very good, and the brown sugar in the ingredients does give them a sweet kick.

Pop Chips are a great healthy snack, no scratch that, Pop Chips are a great snack. Recommended.