A few weeks ago while shopping at a Japanese market, I came up with an epic idea. I was looking at all the crazy flavors of potato chips they have here, some of which I had no idea even what they could be. Always looking to expose my children to the finer things in life, I thought, "What if we had a family potato chip taste test?" I spent the next few weeks gathering all the wacky flavors I could find, then last night we got to work.
This was serious business, mind you. I handed out papers for each person to number one through thirteen, so they could share their impressions, and guesses about the flavor in some cases, as we didn't know what some of them were supposed to taste like.
Here are the players:
And here are the tasters, hard at work.
Some working harder than others, HA!
We each wrote our notes individually, and didn't {or tried not to} share our impressions until everyone had had a chance to form their own opinions of a particular flavor. There's my sheet, pictured above. Guess which one was my favorite?
Oh my Umeboshi, bebe!
Here were some of our other impressions...and guesses:
1. Pretty much unanimously BBQ (specifically BBQ chicken)...although kinda sweet and weak.
2. Supposed to be pizza, but tasted exactly like ketchup or tomato paste.
3. This one looks like sashimi to me from the picture...but it got a wide variety of responses...fishy, no distinct flavor, Japanese people. (Yes, that last one was Coree. Weirdo.)
4. We thought maybe this was the Okinawan lime flavor? The picture wasn't very distinct. Impressions were: Bell pepper, banana pepper, peppercini, lemon pepper. You get the idea.
5. Shoyu (soy sauce) according to the label. Tasted like teriyaki...except Troy thought they tasted like sweet breakfast cereal. Either way, this one was a favorite.
6. Another one we couldn't really tell from the picture. But even before Googling the image, we could tell it was wasabi on the first bite. Yum. Only Patrick didn't like these.
7. The picture looks like grilled steak. The chips tasted exactly like Jack Link's beef jerky. Too weird, in my opinion, but popular.
8. Umeboshi. (Pickled plum.) I was in the minority here, but I wanted to marry these. In my opinion, the perfect combo between sweet and tart. We will have a long courtship, I can feel it. Troy liked them, too. Cliff and Jake were meh...Coree and Patrick were thoroughly disgusted.
9. From this picture we were guessing bacon and onion flavor. The flavor was so bland, none of us could really pick out anything. They had kind of a lard flavor, really...which is probably why 'pie crust' was the most common guess. Pass.
10. Seaweed. True to form, these tasted like salty seaweed...with a hint of sesame. Most of us were neutral. Patrick said, "seaweed belongs in sushi, not chips."
11. From the picture, we were guessing soba or ramen flavor. They tasted like very weak, bland ramen...with a bad, cheesy smell. Not sure how that was possible.
12. These appeared to be scallop flavor...but they started out bland, like plain potatoes...but finished with a bad fishy aftertaste. Patrick said, "Gross. I mean, fish & chips? Oh, wait...." Anyway, not popular.
13. Clams. Strong clam smell, even stronger clam flavor. Troy thought they were similar to escargots. Patrick just said, "Ew, ew, ew."
This was good, clean fun family fun! I highly recommend it, if you're local. And if you're not....come see us!
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