Chip Review #1 - Tim's Cascade Style

Tim's Cascade Style Potato Chips
Flavor - Sea Salt & Vinegar, Artificially Flavored
Style - Extra Thick & Crunchy
9 oz for $2 something
1 oz. - 140 calories, 70 from fat
Sodium - 330mg

Here it is, the first review of my search for the best salt and vinegar chips out there. Who knows how long it will take, but when I start a search, it almost never ends. You see, I'm a collector, and when I start a collection, I can get a little fanatical about it. Thus starts my journey on the potato chip road.

After a little research on Wikipedia, you'll find that salt & vinegar is one of the first two original flavors created for potato chips (the other one being cheese & onion). Salt and vinegar is what the Brits put on their chips (or fries as we call them) and apparently, the flavor is quite popular in Eastern Canada and the Northern United States.

Tim's chips are packaged in a colorful red and white striped foil bag and has a mountain range right in the middle. It also has an anchor and lifesaver on the front, probably because of the "sea salt" label.

Although most people don't look at the back of the bag during a purchase, I think they do read the packaging when they first open the bag and the subsequent times they decide to snack. I suspect that most chips have similar nutrition levels, but it's nice to know that these chips have no trans fat.

Tim's signature is also on the back with a description of their potato chip history. Turns out Tim Kennedy has been cooking chips near the Cascade Mountains in Algona, WA since 1986. He uses premium potatoes, kettle cooks them and then seasons them. Sounds like standard procedure when it comes to chips! Interestingly, no mention of the kettle cooking process is on the front of the bag.

Upon opening the bag, I imagined the chips to be similar to Lay's in that the chips would be thin and mildly flavored. I was surprised to see that the chips had that kettle cooked quality. They were a little thicker and you knew they were going to pack a nice crunch. Sure enough, they exceeded my expectations being much thicker and much more flavorful than other chips I've tasted. I gotta admit, I was quite surprised.

Out of four stars, four being the best (and four feeling the least amount of guilt):

Crunch - 4
Flavor - 3
Value - 2
Guilt - 2