Walkers Hoops and Crosses Review

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

Recently Walkers crisps got in touch with me about a new crisp they are launching called Walkers Hoops and Crosses. This new baked snack contains 30% less fat and is also made with wholegrain. They also have no artificial colours or flavours and no MSG.

Walkers Hoops and Crosses come in three flavours, Prawn Cocktail, Salt & Vinegar and Roast Beef. My son was a little confused by the Roast Beef packet being yellow and thought they were Roast Chicken at first until he read the label.

We opened the packet and poured them into a bowl.

The Walkers Hoops and Crosses were quite thick chunky shapes which were the perfect size for a nibble. My son instantly wanted to play noughts and crosses with them.

The game ended in a draw! These snacks definitely have the fun factor. We tried all three flavours and this is what we thought.

Roast Beef
These had a lovely meaty flavour that was not too strong. These were my husbands favourite and they did not stay around long. I was not that keen but I don’t like Roast Beef flavour normally. My son also liked them.

Prawn Cocktail
These had a nice subtle prawn flavour, it was not too strong and was very tasty.

Salt and Vinegar
These were really nice, they had a tangy salt and vinegar taste without being too tangy.

All of the flavours had a lovely crunch and taste. They were not like crisps though they had a light and puffy texture that was different and rather nice. Best of all when I looked at the nutritional information I found out there were only 84 calories in the packet.

This makes them the ideal snack for me to nibble on. The family really enjoyed these snacks and I would be happy to include them in my son’s lunch box.

Walkers Hoops and Crosses are available in packs of 6 x 23g multipacks, RRP £1.59 and can be found in most supermarkets.

Disclosure: I was sent some Walkers Hoops and Crosses in order to do an honest review. I was not told what to write and my opinions are my own.

Walkers Deep Ridged Crisps

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

I was interested to learn that Walkers have brought out another new type of crisp, Walkers Deep Ridged Crisps. They must have great fun at Walkers HQ thinking up new types of crisps for us to try. When I was asked by the lovely Sam from Walkers on twitter if I would like to try some, it would have been rude to say no. I wasn’t sure what to expect but then a box of crisps arrived in my office.

The box contained the different flavours of Walkers Deep Ridged Crisps, Flame Grilled Steak, Mature Cheddar and Onion and Salt and Malt Vinegar. The first thing I noticed was that the packs are larger than normal. They are 50g packs instead of the 28g pack. You can also get them in the 28g pack size and Ready Salted is available in multi-packs. The size of the packet pleased my husband, who thinks normal packs are too small.

Each of the crisps has 8mm ridges. These are twice as deep as other existing ridged crisps on the market hence the name Walkers Deep Ridged Crisps. The ridges are meant to transport more flavour and crunch and I was happy to put this to the test. My family helped out with the taste test.

The crisps were very firm and crunchy. They were a nice size, some were quite large meaning you needed two bites to crunch though them. The flavours were strong, not over powering but much stronger than on other crisps. This is what we thought of the flavours.

Salt and Malt Vinegar

I was the only member of the family to try these, my husband and son do not like this flavour. I found that the flavouring was very strong and tangy. It was nice but you would need a drink to wash them down.

Mature Cheddar and Onion

The whole family liked these. My husband thought they were very cheesy and my son agreed with that verdict, mentioning he could also taste the onion. They did have a lovely cheesy flavour, very cheddary.

Flame Grilled Steak

I am not a great fan of meat flavoured crisps apart from chicken flavour but the two boys told me these were absolutely delicious and I had to try them. When I did I was pleasantly surprised. These have a lovely steak flavour that does not taste at all artificial in the way some crisps can. I think these ended up being my favourite.

I liked these crisps and I would get them again. The large size of the packs is a definite bonus and pleased the men in my family. They were very tasty and full of flavour.

Disclaimer: I was sent a box of crisps to review but was not told what to write, my opinions are my own.

What’s That Flavour? – Walkers Mystery Crisps Revealed

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

The Walkers Crisps Mystery Flavours have been the subject of intense debate. I tried to solve the mystery myself in this post about Solving The Walkers Crisps Mystery but unfortunately I was not right. Walkers have finally revealed the mystery flavours and the lucky winners who each scooped £50,000. Very well done to them.

In case you are still wondering I thought I would share the flavours with you here.

Mystery Flavour A

This was the dairy flavour and it is Sour Cream and Spring Onion. I was close to this with cream cheese and chive but not close enough.

Mystery Flavour B

This was the meaty flavour and it has been revealed to be Lincolnshire Sausage and Brown Sauce. I was nowhere near with this one.

Mystery Flavour C

This was the spicy flavour and it is revealed as Birmingham Chicken Balti. I was right with curry but not specific enough.

I would love to know if any of you managed to guess these flavours correctly.

What’s That Flavour? – Solving the Walkers Crisps Mystery

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

The answer to the mystery has finally been revealed - Walkers Crisp Mystery Revealed

I love Walkers Crisps and I have tested them out before. You may remember that I acted as a Walkers spy when I took a sneak peak at their Crinkles Crisps here or the Crisps designed to make you smile for Red Nose Day here. I love the way they keep you guessing and when I received this mystery package in the post the challenge was on.

As you can see the box contained three packets of crisps, all with question marks on them. The only clue as to what was inside the packs was the labels which did not give that much away. All they said was Meaty Flavour, Spicy Flavour and Dairy Flavour. Well I love a good mystery so I dug out my magnifying glass and went on the search for clues. As all good detectives need a sidekick, I enlisted the help of my son and we tried to work out what the mysterious flavours were.

Dairy Flavour

I was a bit unsure what dairy flavour crisps would be like, after all dairy includes milk, yoghurt and ice cream. Luckily it also includes cheese so I guessed these would probably be some sort of cheese variant. The crisps have a lovely golden colour.

The flavour is really nice and these had to be my favourite of the three. I suspect that there are some chives in there somewhere and the little green flecks on the crisps provided an additional clue to this. I tend to think that soured cream would normally go with chives, but these did not taste quite like other soured cream crisps. I think they were a bit creamier so I am going to guess these are cream cheese and chive flavour. My son also liked this flavour and they disappeared very quickly. His guess was cheese and onion flavour.

Spicy Crisps

These were much darker in appearance and when I tasted these I thought immediately of curry. What sort of curry in particular I have no idea, but to me they are definitely curry. I am not as keen on this flavour but I am not a great lover of curry. If you do like curry you will like these even if I have got the flavour completely wrong. My son went in a completely different direction and guess chilli con carne for these.

Meaty Crisps

Again these were a dark crisp, not as dark as the spicy ones, and with little specks of green on them. These were very nice and I instantly thought of lamb and mint sauce when I was eating these. I could taste a little hint of mint. Just to confuse you further my son said decisively that these were gammon flavour!

I am not sure that we managed to solve the mystery, but the big question is will you be able to? Walkers have just launched a new promotion called What’s That Flavour?

The challenge is on, can you identify the mystery flavours? The flavour have all been inspired by ingredients and recipes loved by the British public but are designed to get you guessing. Hitting the shelves today you will find these mystery bags of Walkers crisps, labelled with a question mark and labelled Mystery Flavour A, Mystery Flavour B and Mystery Flavour C. You can go to the Walkers website and submit your guess, and when the competition ends on Friday 9th March three lucky people who identified the correct flavour will be chosen to win £50,000 each! One person for each flavour. It will not be as easy as it sounds as you can see from the wide variation in guesses between me and my son.

If you want to enter it is really easy, just buy a bag of the mystery crisps, munch them and go to http://www.walkers.co.uk/ where you can submit your guess and see what other guesses have been made. Keep your eye on the Walkers crisps facebook page as they will be releasing clues to help you solve the mystery. Bear in mind you need to be over 16 to enter.

You will be able to buy Walkers Mystery flavours in the following pack formats:

32.5 g single bags
1 x 6 Variety 6 pack (all three mystery flavours)
1 x 6 pack: 4 x Cheese & Onion and 2 x Mystery Flavour A
1 x 6 pack: 4 x Ready Salted and 2 x Mystery Flavour B
1 x 6 pack: 4 x Salt & Vinegar and 2 x Mystery Flavour C

Walkers crinkles crisps – a sneak peak

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Dragons and Fairy Dust

I recently received aa brown box containing two packets of walkers crisps to try. These are new Walkers Crinkles - “with more flavour in every grove“. I suspect the packets I were given must be secret as they were labelled research and development. The crisps I received were Cheddar and Onion flavour.

I took them to work to try at lunchtime and I hid in my corner, wearing a disguise in order to eat them! Well they are secret crisps and I enjoyed being a Walkers spy

This is what they look like when not in the packet.

As you can see they live up to the name, they are very evenly crinkled. I would love the potato slicer that does this! You could see the flavour on the crisps if you looked at them but this did not detract from the nice look. They had a nice feel, not greasy as some crisps can be. Anyway what do they taste like?

They are really crunchy which is very nice. I think they are crunchier than the orignal crisps. They have a lovely cheesy flavour which is not spoiled by too much onion. They also have a very nice aftertaste. These are lovely crisps and I look forward to seeing them in the shops.

From brief investigation it appears they are going to be available in Simply Sea Salted, Cheddar and Onion, Salt and Malt Vinegar and Sweet Chilli. I am looking forward to trying these in the other flavours.