There was a huge bag of this stuff at Costco and since I love Elotes, it was really tempting. But they weren't sampling it in-store, and I had never tried this brand before, so I didn't want to overcommit. I've been burned by jumping into wholesale-club sizes of new products in the past, so walking away was the right move at the time. Thankfully, Dollar Tree had this mini bag!
Let's check it out and see if I should take the plunge.
Opened, the bag smells savory, like corn chips, and tangy, like Tajín. A good sign.
The mix is comprised of: Double Cheese Crunchy Corn, Elote Honey Roasted Sesame Chips, Elote Corn Sticks, Fiery hot Corn Churritos, and Elote Corn Jacks
Double Cheese Crunchy Corn - looks a lot like Corn Nuts, but I found these to be significantly less hard on your teeth. They have a dry, smoky, corny, flavor with a dusting of artificial Cheeto-cheese-dust. They're noticeably tangy, but I think that is flavor transfer from rubbing against other items in the bag and not something intentional for this particular mix-in. Overall very enjoyable, but I think "double cheese," is overselling it. They are a moderately cheesy at best.
Elote Honey Roasted Sesame Chips - I love the combination of sweet and spicy, so this was my favorite item in the mix. At a glance, they look like a piece of breakfast cereal, covered in a darkly colored glaze. Kind of like candied nuts. But they don't just taste sweet, they're also salty, tangy, and have a medium-level of dry pepper-based heat. It's like making Puppy Chow using sesame crackers, honey, and Tajín. Unfortunately there weren't that many in this mix, but if you seek them out and snack on them consecutively, the salt builds up. If there were more, I would need a drink handy for the salt aspect, not the spice level. Still it's my favorite item in the mix, salt be damned.
Elote Corn Sticks - Probably my least favorite item in the mix. You know those little bread sticks in Chex Mix? It's like a corn version of that. Mainly crispy corn flavoring here, not so much elote. They taste perfectly fine, but when you compare it to the other items this is clearly the dud.
Fiery hot Corn Churritos - These bring a decent amount of heat to the table, but there weren't that many in the bag. I'm not a heat-seeker, so I'm fine with that. The few that were there added just the right amount of heat for my snacking needs. These are pretty much a better version of the Elote Corn Sticks.
Elote Corn Jacks - I am not sure if the shape just grabbed seasoning better than other shapes, or if this mix-in is where the citrus flavoring was concentrated, but I felt like these were extra lime-y. As if you squeezed lime juice onto a bag of corn chips. (But they stayed dry and crispy.) Tangy, salty, corn-y, and delicious. Another hit.
Verdict is in! This is delicious! But it's quite salty. I would be snacking on this solo, so if I bought the giant Costco bag, I don't think I could get through it before it got stale, BUT I will gladly buy this little one again, or a medium-sized one.
If you like lime flavoring, Corn Nuts, and elotes, this is the snack for you.
Fans of this would also like: Elote Pringles, Aldi Mexican Street Corn Corn Chips, or Mexican Street Corn Cheetos
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