Cathedral City Baked Bites

Product name: Cathedral City Baked Bites
Purchase details: £0.25 for a 35g bag (Home Bargains)
Calories: 173 per bag
Country of origin: UK

I was really pleased to find these Cathedral City Baked Bites in Home Bargains so cheaply recently. I usually only eat reduced fat cheddar but, as a treat, Cathedral City’s ‘real’ cheese is one of my favourites. I only recently became aware of this spin-off product and was interested to see how they compared to McVitie’s Mini Cheddars.

The ‘mini biscuits baked with real cheddar’ from ‘the nation’s favourite cheese brand’ were made by Burton’s Biscuit Co under licence from Dairy Crest Limited. The burgundy and pale yellow bag reflected the colour scheme of the block cheese, and I was pleasantly surprised that the crackers contained 20% cheese as well as 2.9% cheese powder.

The golden biscuits were oval in shape and featured the Cathedral City logo. This wasn’t always that clear in person but it did show up well on my photograph! The aroma they gave off was divine – a simply delicious cheese-infused cracker scent.

I couldn’t believe just how good these tasted. They had a mature cheddar flavour throughout and, whilst this wasn’t as strong as if I’d been munching on a hunk of cheese, it was still very, very good. I also liked how they weren’t really salty – there was just a slight lick of it in the aftertaste.

As for the crispy biscuits themselves, I really appreciated how these didn’t feel dry. Instead, the crumbs gathered together in the mouth, allowing them to moisten before swallowing.

It was only as I was eating these that I realised it’s actually been a few years since I last ate some Mini Cheddars and, as a result, it’s difficult to accurately compare the two brands. However, these Baked Bites definitely reminded me of the McVitie’s competitor, but my memory resulted in the conclusion that the Cathedral City version had a more genuine cheese flavour.

The other good thing about this bag was that it contained a generous portion, making the product a nice alternative to crisps. I’ll definitely be buying these again.

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 9/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Texture: 9/10
Overall score: 8.63/10

Tayto Pop Corners: Spicy cheese & tomato

Product name: Tayto Pop Corners: Spicy cheese & tomato
Purchase details: £0.10 for a 28g bag (Home Bargains)
Calories: 127 per bag
Country of origin: Ireland

I visited Home Bargains on my way to work the other morning and spotted these Tayto Pop Corners: Spicy cheese & tomato going cheaply due to being near their best before date. It was the photograph on the front of the red wrapper that grabbed my attention – the product appeared to be some kind of Popchips and Doritos hybrid! There was also a Chilli & lime flavour on offer but, since I’m not that keen on citrus flavours at the best of times and I could still taste the toothpaste in my mouth, I really didn’t fancy trying those!

 

I’d never had anything from the Tayto brand before but these crisps were apparently new. Except they weren’t crisps...they were ‘popcorn snacks’! Made from maize rather than potato, the baked treat contained 57% less fat than standard crisps and contained only natural flavours.

The disadvantage of these triangles coming ‘all the way’ from Ireland was that there weren’t many that had all their corners intact. However, they still looked decent, and had a particularly thick orange coating with flecks of red and green that gave them a pizza feel.

Above anything else, the Pop Corners smelt cheesy, but I also thought I could detect basil. Maybe I was trying to make them into something more sophisticated than they were but it may not have been my imagination – the ingredients did list ‘herbs’ without specifying what those were!

Despite having a vague memory of having tried a tomato-based crisp in my childhood, it’s certainly not a flavour I’ve come across regularly. According to Tayto, though, this flavour combination was a ‘taste explosion’. I wanted to savour this, initially, so I sucked the first Corner I tried. It started off tasting like standard cheese-flavoured crisps but it did then have a kind of pizza aftertaste which, I guess, suggested a tomato hint. On the whole, though, whilst I experienced different levels of flavour when consuming the bag, I didn’t find the tomato itself really featured. Instead, I’d describe the flavour as ‘spicy cheese’, with the spiciness being mild and warming rather than tongue-tingling hot. Interestingly, the powdery residue at the bottom of the bag predominantly tasted like onion, even though I couldn’t pick this element up on the Corners themselves!

I wasn’t quite as convinced by the bumpy and slightly chewy texture which, to my memory, was like thinner Snack a Jacks. By the end of the pack, they were beginning to feel a bit dry, and I also found there was a rice cracker taste vying for attention with the actual flavouring.

Whilst I definitely prefer potato-based crisps, these Tayto Pop Corners did have a nice flavour and came in a generous portion size. They were certainly worth the £0.10...and more!

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 6.5/10
Overall score: 7.13/10

Walkers Pops: Original

Product name: Walkers Pops: Original
Purchase details: £0.50 for a 23g bag (Tesco)
Calories: 102 per bag

I think it’s time to review another of the Walkers Pops varieties so here’s the Original version – exactly the same idea as Melted cheese & crispy bacon but a flavour which, for me, was safer!

I tend to find ‘plain’ crisps a bit hit and miss. With some higher quality crisps, like Kettle Chips, I find it hard to beat the Lightly Salted flavour but, in terms of everyday potato snacks, I usually find that kind of flavour really boring. As a result, I was interested to see exactly what I thought of these Pops: Original.

Despite being a new product for the UK and Ireland market, some things never change, so the Original flavour was represented by the colour red. Interestingly, whilst I always think of ‘original’ and ‘ready salted’ as being interchangeable, there was actually more to these crisps’ ‘seasoning’ than I first thought. Amongst other thing, it listed cheese powder, spices, herbs, and milk products such as whey powder. Maybe these things are present in ready salted products too but it’s not something I’ve ever noticed before!

These Pops were the same in appearance as the Melted cheese & crispy bacon ones, although they were paler due to the absence of orange powder. I couldn’t resist having a sniff of the inner bag and was surprised by how aromatic they were – I probably would have guessed that they were beef flavoured if I hadn’t known! Individually, though, they didn’t really smell of anything.

On munching through the bag, I was greeted with a familiar salty flavour, but not in an over-the-top way that caused me to worry about my health – even the feel of the crisps were powdery rather than grainy so, despite the red warning on the nutritional label’s salt section, they didn’t feel at all unhealthy. I also tried resting a few of the Pops on my tongue and found that my tastebuds tingled with additional hints of flavour that gave an almost cheesy taste.

Pleasingly, the texture of these Pops was unchanged from the Melted cheese & crispy bacon. They may have been thicker than standard potato crisps but it was good to know that, health-wise, they were lighter.

On the whole, these Pops pretty much tasted like plain potato chips, but the improved texture meant I’d definitely choose them over a standard bag of ready salted crisps in future.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 9/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

Walkers Pops: Melted cheese & crispy bacon

Product name: Walkers Pops: Melted cheese & crispy bacon
Purchase details: £0.50 for a 23g bag (Tesco)
Calories: 102 per bag

I loved Popchips so much that I was really keen to try the new Walkers Pops range when they were released. ‘Air-popped’ rather than fried, they claimed to have ‘all the great Walkers taste’, but with 50% less fat than ‘standard potato crisps’. They also contained no artificial colours or preservatives, and no MSG.

Now, I’m a weird member of the human race, in that I don’t like bacon. I wish I did – I like the smell but that’s about it on a standard rasher. However, I do enjoy crispy bacon as long as it is so crispy it can be snapped in two. The fact that this flavour specified ‘crispy bacon’ was a bonus, then, although really it’s the texture rather than the taste that causes me problems the rest of the time!

I should also add that I’m not generally a fan of meat-flavoured crisps, so I was taking a gamble with this Melted cheese & crispy bacon packet – it was definitely the melted cheese aspect that swung it for me.

Made for the UK and Ireland market, this ‘potato snack’ came in an orangey-brown bag and featured a nice and low calorie content. Despite the flavour, they were suitable for vegetarians, and 45% of the product was simply ‘dried potato’.

The Pops were presented as quite large discs with a red powdery dusting on top – they were almost identical to the Popchips Barbeque  but were more flat. Inside, they looked more white in colour, and were almost fluffy.

The strong scent of these Pops fascinated me. There was an element of a standard smoky bacon crisp aroma (not something I’m overly fond of), but I could genuinely pick up a cheesy tang too which was different to many other cheesy crisps available. The latter really lifted the overall smell for me so it certainly didn’t put me off trying this meaty snack.

On trying my first disc, the potato itself seemed to have the bacon flavour and, as soon as my tongue hit the build-up of powder, the cheese came through. Surprisingly, and slightly strangely, the taste was pretty creamy – I didn’t even know that was possible in a crisp! However, I did find the flavour a bit odd, and the melted cheese aspect tasted more like butter to me. The Pops were a bit salty too (as they should be) but, thankfully, not to the same extent as Frazzles. For me, though, the best thing about the flavour was that, whilst meaty, this was a subtle aspect rather than being overpowering.

The texture of this snack was great. Bumpy to the touch, they were fantastically crunchy and crispy in the mouth – maybe not something to eat when sitting next to another person, though!

On the whole, these Walkers Pops: Melted cheese & crispy bacon were a hit. I don’t think I’d call myself a fan of the attempt at a cheese flavour but the overall taste did improve as I worked my way through the bag. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 9/10
Overall score: 7.75/10