Salt and Vinegar Kettle Chips Taste Test
Date Tested: May 9th, 2020
Competitors: Kettle, Utz, Hen of the Woods, Cape Cod, Great Value, Real Coconut, Lays, Miss Vickies
Test Description: Blind test, set up by third party – Unmarked containers each pre-filled. Tester may eat out of each in whatever order and render a brand guess and/or rating.
| Guess | Taste | Bonus | A.T | Crunch | Notes | Rating | Actual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kettle | 8 | 0 | 7 | 8 | Very Standard, "Wet" | 9 | Great Value |
| Utz | 7 | 0 | 4 | 9 | Sticky | 7 | Miss Vickies |
| Hen of the Woods | 6 | 0 | 5 | 8 | tastes like red wine | 5 | Utz |
| Cape Cod | 8 | 1 | 7 | 10 | very classic taste | 8 | Lays |
| Great Value | 4 | 0 | 2 | 4 | soft, gross | 3 | Hen of the Woods |
| Real Coconut | 7 | 2 | 3 | 3 | odd | 4 | Real Coconut |
| Lays | 9 | 2 | 9 | 6 | tastes like a standard kettle chip | 5 | Kettle |
| Miss Vickies | 7 | 1 | 6 | 8 | Crunchiest, lacking in flavor | 7 | Cape Cod |
*A.T. = After Taste
This was a real meat and potatoes Taste Test. The ideal product to put to the pen and tongue: A fairly uniform product – no chunky or smooth varieties; there aren’t 4 dozen brands I had to buy; and the product costs only a few dollars. These types of tests are not only the easiest to setup and participate in but the most accurate as well.
As for the test itself, the kettle chips are yet another product to cede the crown to the generic brand. Walmart’s Great Value Brand chips were the crowd favorite. While not dominating any one particular category, it performed very well in each giving it an easy win over its competitors who seemed to focus on either crunch or taste and ignore the other. My insider contacts at Walmart claim that Great Value Potato Chips are allegedly produced by UTZ, however the UTZ branded chips performed notably worse across the board. They did have different flavor profiles however meaning maybe it all came down to the coating applied to the chips. As far as eye-balled approximations however, the Sam Walton Chip seemed closest if not indistinguishable from Lays. Perhaps Great value has multiple Chip producers or the Kettle Chips are handled differently from the standard potato crisp.
As for other contestants, the Cincinnati native Hen-Of-The-Woods was the crowd pick to win. Marketing itself as more of a premium product (although luckily not with a premium price tag) and seeing as its now sold at many local restaurant it seemed the shoe-in. Seeing the board above however, it was a colossal let down. The chips tasted soft, as if they were left in the vinegar for too long and simply didn’t taste good. I disliked them so much, I rated coconut chips higher. The Hen of the Woods propagandists might say I got a bad batch, but to those people I would say in return it is not the job of the consumer to act as quality control. Another disappointment was Cap Cod. The entire catalyst for this test was a friend telling me I haven’t had a real kettle chip until I’ve had a Cape Cod. So before ever trying one I setup this test to give it a fair run at the crown. They were fine. But certainly not the life altering kettle chip I was promised. I would like to do non kettle Salt and Vinegar chips next and see how the same brands stack up.
