For my fellow crisp lovers. If crisps are your kryptonite, read on.
So, I’ve tested all the seed oil-free crisps so you don’t need to – you’re welcome.
Anyone who is taking their gut health seriously these days knows that ultra-processed vegetable oils and seed oils are to be avoided wherever possible. You’ve read Chris Van Tulleken’s Ultra Processed People and Tim Spector’s Food for Life, you’re getting very handy in the kitchen and heck, you may even have done the whole Zoe thing and started dabbling in the dark arts of intermittent fasting and MCT oil.
Here’s the thing though……you may have put a serious dent in your sugar cravings and you can walk past Krispy Kreme without so much as an eye twitch, but crisps, oh crisps, still possibly your Desert Island Discs luxury item. But oh so very bad for you, with their sunflower oil, or rapeseed oil or whatever cleverly packaged glorified engine cleaner grease is cheap on the global markets this week, and their nasty, but oh so guilty-pleasure tasty flavourings.
Do we have to turn our backs on these evil crispy morsels of deliciousness forever? No, fellow crisp lovers, we do not! Enter stage left, the vaguely healthy enjoy-in-moderation olive oil cooked crisp, and its less well-known cousin, the coconut oil cooked crisp.
But wait, do they even taste nice? I don’t know if your family was partial to a Spanish summer holiday in your youth, but I very much remember the olive oil crisps as they were so damn foreign (to me!). They came in large clear plastic bags and tasted absolutely nothing like the BBQ flavour Ruffles that I really wanted; no, they just tasted……oily, olive oily, and a bit, well, ugh.
So I heard about the new olive oil crisps on the block and my first thought was ‘nope, you can’t make a healthy version tasty, no can do’. Readers, how very wrong I was. Truly, I am a convert. Let me walk you through the main contenders on the market.
First up – Torres. Just delicious. Nice and thin with a lovely crunch. Never over-cooked. Perfect mouth feel, a nice level of salt and no strong olive oil flavour. In short, possibly the nicest ready salted crisp you can buy. That’s if you’re a fan of ready salted, which I am. Do not be lured by their other tasty-sounding flavours like Iberian Ham though, it’s only the plain salted crisps that are seed-oil free.
Next up – San Nicasio. Here, you’re in luck because not only do they do salted, they also do smoked paprika, black peppercorn and truffle flavours, all cooked purely in olive oil. I still think Torres has a slight edge when it comes to crunch and mouth feel, but there’s so little in it, I really wouldn’t dwell. Again, not over-cooked, which is a pet hate of mine when it comes to crisps. For me, there’s a smidge too little salt in there, but I am a bit of a salt fiend and it’s just as well I cook with himalayan pink and celtic sea salt as I love it. The flavoured versions aren’t super-strong on flavour, but that’s because it’s natural rather than artificial, so it’s more a case of continuing to train your taste buds away from chemical flavours. They’re delicious though.
And then we have – Trafo. Now Trafo do a wide range of tasty crunchy snacks, some of them organic and healthy sounding, but it’s only their traditional potato crisps that are seed-oil free (from my research to date). Again, a pretty faultless crunch and mouth feel when it comes to the olive oil crisps and a rounded level of salt. I also tried the coconut oil fried crisps – these had a really good solid crunch and were slightly low on salt for me. There was a slightly ‘thicker’ oily feel to them as I crunched them. It wasn’t unpleasant but I was a bit more aware of the oil. This could simply be because coconut oil is a saturated fat and has a tendency to coat the mouth a little more. Again, not unpleasant, but I’ve found I’ve preferred to re-purchase the olive oil crisps rather than these.
They’re all great options, and you could even add your own flavours to them – shake on some cumin, cinnamon & chilli, make your own salt & vinegar sprinkle (currently still experimenting with this – husband’s favourite crisp flavour so..)
I’ve seen a couple of others on the market more recently as well, Bonilla a la Vista and Espinaler, but I haven’t tried either of those yet.
Yes, they’re a little more expensive, you’re looking at between £3.50 and £5 ish for a big bag, but like everything, that’s because decent ingredients cost more money and my mantra is ‘quality not quantity’. What you’ll find is that because they’re not full of seed oils and additives that drive addictive eating behaviours, sharing a bag of these with friends or family over a couple of drinks or a nice brew will satisfy the crisp munchies just nicely thanks. I tend to buy mine from welleasy.com because if you’re a subscriber, like I am, you’re getting a discount on everything you buy from them each time you shop, and no, this is not an ad, I’m just a regular customer.
So, bottom line – go forth and enjoy olive oil crisps! – in moderation! – as part of a healthy balanced whole food diet! – not every day!
Comments