Handcooked sea salt - HEMA

Strolling around Madrid last week we spotted a recently opened HEMA store, actually the first in Spain. HEMA (originally an acronym for Hollandsche Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam, "Dutch Standard Prices Company Amsterdam") is a Dutch discount retail chain that started life as a dimestore. And guess what Crisps&Critics found in there: Dutch chips!! 

These chips are sliced thick and unpeeled. Then, fried in sunflower oil, in small amounts and a bit longer than usual. This results in a hard crust with a strong, dry crunch. Its flavour is good and are, despite the packaging reading "a pinch" of salt, generously salted (1.1% of sea salt). 

Definitely a perfect match for any "herring and bitterballen" Dutch party. 

Features:
The biggest potato crisps is	7.5 cm long
and has a thickness of	1.53 mm
Crunchiness:	103 dB
Other features:	unpeeled, salty
Origin:
Country, region	The Netherlands, Amsterdam
We got them from	a HEMA store in Madrid (Spain)
Price / gram	1.25 € / 125 g
On-line:	http://www.hema.nl/

Inside a bag of handcooked sea salt - Hema

Nature & Blue Chips - Spar Premium

Crunchy colours, mmmmm!!!

This bag has two different potato varieties: nice purple potatoes from St. Gallen (Switzerland) combined with well-known-to-us yellow potatoes. The differences in color between varieties of potatoes are basically differences in carotenoid and flavonoid content (pigments).

The yellowish potatoes in the bag are cut thick (one of the thickest we ever tried) and quite crunchy. The purple ones are just a bit thinner and feel softer, lighter, airier but still crunchy. 

These potatoes do not smell. Still taste good, feel natural and are chic.

Innovation is the key also for this Swiss potato chip manufacturer. Chips are gently fried in a vacuum with pure sunflower oil at 140ºC (regular frying is at around 180ºC). Like this, each chip absorbs 40% less fat. 

Features:
The biggest potato crisps is	6.5 cm long
and has a thickness of	1.80 mm
Crunchiness:	96 dB
Other features:	Purple colour, flat thick cut, no curls..
Origin:
Country, region	Switzerland, St. Gallen
We got them from	Spar supermarket, Salzburg
Price / gram	1.69 € / 100 g
On-line:	http://www.spar.at/

Inside a bag of Nature & Blue chips

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Classically Ready Salted - Walkers

Very thin crisps. So thin that daylight can go through along the whole crispy surface. The Classically Ready Salted from Walkers are a historical snack salted with salt from Chesire (1.4%). Apparently, a very long time ago, in the Triassic period, some parts of Chesire were flooded with seawater. Those big salt reserves are nowadays used, for example, to spice up this Walkers' snack.

British potatoes are fried in a mixture of sunflower oil (26%) and rapeseed oil. Their taste is classical, as its labeling. The crisps are rather small in diameter and do not sate. Its crunch, short and powerful, leaves an airy sensation.

Features:
The biggest potato crisps is	5.5 cm long
and has a thickness of	0.91 mm
Crunchiness:	101 dB
Other features:	Flat thin cut
Origin:
Country, region	UK
We got them from	a Sainsbury’s supermarket in London
Price / gram	0,50 £ (pounds) / 25 g
On-line	http://corp.walkers.co.uk/#!/our-range/walkers-crisps/ready-salted

Artesancis - Lay's

Crisps&Critics was travelling when stumbled on these chips. Despite not having all the instruments to fill in the feature table, we felt these crisps were worth a review.

We got these potato crisps from a refrigerated vending machine. The chips were cold and they provided us with an unknown experience eating fresh chips under the Spanish sun. The flavour coming from the bag is very good and authentic, probably due to the chips being fried in olive oil (according to the Spanish labeling, in the Portuguese translation the oil type is not specified). One drawback: when chewing the potatoes it all felt like a floury mass. Still, their flavour, one of the best potato flavour tested so far. 

By the way, don’t let Lay’s marketing department fool you today (April 1st): The product name is “Artesancis” and not “Artesanas" or "Artesanais” (Spanish and Portuguese for "manually cooked") as Lay’s would like us to read from the packaging and their internet link. There’s some controversy around the net on (this and other) deceptive marketing techniques if you want to know more...

Features:
The biggest potato crisps is	6 cm long
and has a thickness of	not available
Crunchiness:	not available
Other features:	Flat cut. Weird labeling.
Origin:
Country, region	Spain
We got them from	Vending machine
Price / gram	1 € / 40 g
On-line:	http://www.lays.es/productos/lays-artesanas/

Sunland Farm - Kelly's

The first review from Austria goes to the Sunland Farm Naturally Salted Chips, from Kelly's. 

It passed our review with honours. We had to read again and again at the ingredients list behind the bag to confirm that the excellent potato flavour of these chips is really authentic: no added flavours. 

Each chip has consistency and is crunchy hard: is it due to the Saratoga Springs original recipe? First, unpeeled Austrian potatoes go on a salty bath. Afterwards the chips are cooked on sunflower oil. Of course, the salt comes also from the Austrian Alps.

Special mention to another very well packed product: the Kelly's Airpack keeps the chips fresh and unbroken. 

Features:
The biggest potato crisps is	7.5 cm long
and has a thickness of	1.14 mm
Crunchiness:	104 dB
Other features:	Unpeeled potatoes
Origin:
Country, region	Austria, Salzburg
We got them from	Spar supermarket
Price / gram	1.69 € / 100 g
On-line:	www.kellys.eu

Inside a Sunland Farm's bag

Boxerchips - Savagely Salted but not indecently so

Definitely a plus point for the Boxerchips: The original and patented cardboard packaging keeps all chips unbroken. Additionally the packaging can be used as a tray, very practical for sharing the snack with others. However, the cardboard’s smell mixes a bit with the crisps flavour, what can be weird for those that like us, at Crisps&Critics, open the potato bag and take a deep breath...

Boxerchips thickness and curl is very varied. We also find chips partly unpeeled. It gives the impression the potatoes have been manually processed.

Positively surprised, and contrary to expectations (packaging reading “Savagely Salted”), these crisps are just right salted with marine salt, allowing us to enjoy the great taste of these selected potatoes fried with sunflower oil.

Features:
The biggest potato crisps is	5 cm long
and has a thickness of	1.42 mm
Crunchiness:	104 dB
Other features:	Flat cut potatoes. Packaging is patented under: EP2358595
Origin:
country, region	UK, England
We got them from	Easyjet flight GWA - BCN
Price / gram	1,80 £ pounds / 40 grams
On-line:	http://www.boxerchips.com/pages/where-can-i-buy

Boxerchips open package

Patatas fritas Extra Crujientes - Hacendado

We would have never thought an own brand generalist supermarket crisps could taste that good. These potatoes have been fried on sunflower oil (28%) after being cut flat and thick. Such a thickness together to the huge proportion of bent, double and curled chips not only result in a quite high crunchiness score (106dB): the crunchiness perception at every bite multiplies in our mouth. 

The price/quality ratio is more than acceptable. The only thing we miss is a bit of a "frying stall" flavour to make these potatoes perfect. All in all, these crisps do really make honours to its label: "extra crujientes" (extra crunchy) and place clearly above average.

Features:
The biggest potato crisps is	7 cm long
and has a thickness of	1.10 mm
Crunchiness:	106 dB
Other features:	Flat cut, many bent chips.
Origin:
Country, region	Spain, Castilla y León
We got them from	Mercadona supermarket
Price / gram	1,55 € /180 g
On-line:	http://www.informacionmercadona.es/patatas-fritas-hacendado/

Inside a bag of "Patatas fritas extra crujientes Hacendado"

Patatas Fritas al estilo tradicional - Hacendado

The crisps of the white-label brand "Hacendado traditional style" are soft and discreet.  Soft because they are mildly fried with sunflower oil. Discreet because its cut, flat and thin, provides us with a weak but interesting crunch. 

Inside the brown paper bag, that reminds us of a grocery paper bag, we find two plastic bags of 150g each. Very convenient when we only want some crisps for a bite before/between main meals. Good Spanish potato crisps at a very reasonable price.

Features:
The biggest potato crisps is	5 cm long
and has a thickness of	1.20 mm
Crunchiness:	97 dB
Other features:	Flat thin cut. Pale yellow colour with many broken chips (probably due to transport)
Origin:
country, region	Spain, Medina del Campo
We got them from	Mercadona supermarket
Price / gram	1,35 € / 300 g (2x150g)
On-line:	https://www.mercadona.es/ns/index.php?nidioma=5

Inside a bag of "Hacendado  patatas fritas estilo tradicional"

We've got another post coming soon from the same brand. Don't miss it, we are bringing very interesting news!

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Thanks to your feedback we have improved the feature table to make it easier to read. 
We hope you like the new table layout and enjoy reading and tasting our next recommendations!

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Features:
The biggest potato crisps is	cm long
and has a thickness of	mm
Crunchiness:	dB
Other features:
Origin:
Country, region
We got them from
Price / gram	€ / g
On-line:	http://