Sticking with savory snacking for a sec, I have these Limited Edition Creepy Crisps from The Good Crisp Company.
I had never heard of this brand before, but at a glance, these seem to be...healthy Pringles? The little blurb on the can says that as a parent, they wanted to have a snack for their children that they felt good about, and that this year they "added a spooky twist." Safe to say, my assumptions were correct.
What's the spooky twist? Judging by the package, the chips inside are black-colored, but normal, original, potato-flavor. Will they actually look as black as they do on the tube? Will they still taste okay? Will they cause the same colorful gastrointestinal aftermath as other black products, like the Black Cherry Fanta slush or the Burger King HA1loween burger? We shall see!
As far as packaging, the overall shape and function is just like Pringles. We have a tall, foil-lined, tennis-ball-looking can, with a pop-top lid, filled with swoop-shaped potato chips. To get the full seasonal-packaging affect, I googled what their normal cans look like. After seeing that, I can really appreciate what they have going on here.Normally their can is red with black text, and their logo is a bright yellow sun. For this spOoky edition, the sun has been swapped out for a crescent moon against a purple background, flanked by spiderwebs and golden-eye'd bats. The illustrations are simple, flat, and a little clip-art-y, but in a good way. It makes me think of when Mr. Burns hung his Halloween Decoration, Batsy, in that Treehouse of Horror cold-open several years ago. It's simple, but effective. And the orange-colored text a nice touch.
When opened, I had a hard time finding a un-chipped-chip. They'd been through it, but that isn't going to stop my snacking. They may be a bit broken, but I can still plainly see that they are a dark blue-purple color. Are they made with purple potatoes? Looking at the ingredients, I don't think so. The ingredients list dried potato flakes along with alkalized cocoa and hibiscus? Somehow, using those unique ingredients, they managed to make these look like the potato-equivalent to blue corn tortilla chips. (These might actually be even darker than that!) Impressive visually, but how will they taste?I've had a healthy (or maybe not-so-healthy) amount black-colored food over the years, and sometimes it works out great, but other times the food dye makes the item borderline inedible. Thankfully, these are the former. These taste like normal, salty, crispy, potato chips. It's been a long time since I ate a non-wacky-flavored Pringle, but even so, I feel like it's safe to say these taste like Original Pringles, but slightly brighter and fresher.
Another product with just an aesthetic-specific seasonal spooky twist. Some may call that boring, and demand wacky flavors, like pumpkin spice, or like, ultra-murder-death-pepper, but after years of food blogging and trying wacky flavors, it is nice to have some safe, comforting, items like these. I know what I'm getting, I know I'll be able to easily consume the entire container (and not waste any money) and still satisfy my desire to Halloween-ify everything I consume this month.
I would definitely say these are worth checking out, because who doesn't like normal potato chips? And their coloring makes a great addition to a snack-board or lunch box. Speaking of color, I have gone through nearly the entire can, and whatever process they use to produce this color, doesn't seem to cause any..."colorful situations." Impressive!Today's Halloween-ramble is actually about my segregated system for sweets. It's how I distribute, and store, my Halloween (and year-round) candy. Simply put, I'm a fruit-and-chocolate separatist.
As a kid, I had a little tote bag with my name on it (that my mom decorated) for Trick-or-Treating. We'd collect our candy, go home, and inside that bag, all together, is where all my candy would be stored as I slowly nibbled it away over several months. I quickly noticed that the longer it was in the bag, it started to get this gross, stale, flavoring to it. At first I thought it was simply because the candy itself was old, BUT it's really because all of the flavors are trapped, mingling, together! Fruity candy got that faint chocolate-flavor to it, and chocolate candies got oddly fruity. I hated it. BUT if you separate you candies, that won't happen!
Year-round I have two large candy bowls in my kitchen, one is designated for fruity candy only, and the other for chocolate. I even have a third, slightly smaller, bowl where peanut butter cups go. Because, if you leave them in the mix, all chocolate starts getting a peanut-butter-tinge to it. This is how I store my sweets for my own snacking, but it's also how I serve up my Halloween candy. Especially post-Covid.
Pre-Covid, I would have my two bowls indoors, grab something from either one to drop into their pails and pillow cases. So you got one fruity, one chocolate. (Sometimes even more if you were extra adorable or spooky.) Now, post-Covid, I put the two bowls on a little table in my walkway and cover the table with non-edible treats, like erasers, little spider rings, and tiny containers of slime. That way if kids can't do candy, due to allergies or whatever reason, they can still get a treat. This year I also bought little pouches of Halloween Milkbones so families with dogs can give their pup a treat too!
Moral of the story, separate your candy. It'll taste fresher longer!
Do you have any Halloween candy rules? Where do you store your sweets?
Fans of this would also like: BLK Black Lemonade, Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost, or Black Egg and Cheese Cookies
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