Chex Mix Remix – Zesty Taco
Chex Mix is mostly an American thing. I say this because unlike over there in the south, here in the frigid North, you won’t find it nearly as commonly as the Canadian snack, Bits and Bites. While not exactly the same, the same general concept is there, with pretzels, wheat and corn squares, and some other items. I mean, technically it’s owned by a giant conglomerate that owns many American brands too, but that’s besides the point.
This mix has four pieces – cheese puffs, corn shell chips, taco seasoning chex, and salsa chex. It’s an interesting idea, and I imagine they’re trying to go for a taco experience by the handful, where you get some of that corn shell, the salsa and taco seasoning to simulate the different parts of a taco. I mostly picked this up because it lacks the more common filler pieces like pretzels and bread sticks. I remember always trying to rush through those pieces so I had the good stuff left behind. This one skips all that so it already gets bonus points.
I rarely see cheese puffs this small, but I can tell you it’s a welcome addition instead of the bread stick fillers. The cheese puff is pretty standard and while it’s very airy and melts on the tongue, the flavour has a bit of taco seasoning on it as well to give it a bit of a meaty, savoury flavour. The salsa chex is surprisingly red, and generously coated in salsa seasoning. It’s got a thick layer of coating on it, but surprisingly not too salty. It has all the flavours of a typical salsa, with very, very mild kick. It’s mostly sweet, tangy and tomato forward. The corn chip is actually pretty mild, which helps to balance out the other pieces that are more heavily seasoned. The Taco seasoning chex is a wheat chex with a nice wheat texture that’s got a bit of a more brittle bite to it. It’s flavour is similar to the cheese puffs but with more of a meaty, almost chili like quality to it.
Overall flavour is pretty spot on from what I was expecting, with the hints of onion, tomato, pepper and flavours of cheese, cream and of course corn. Similar to other taco seasoning snacks though, it does end up feeling a bit on the salty side if you have too much in a sitting, so snackers beware.
Because of the lack of bread sticks and pretzels, the mix overall has a nice cohesive crunch that doesn’t feel jarring at any point, and is similar to when you have a taco where everything is relatively soft and nothing will be too hard to get through. The corn chips are a little crunchier and firmer than the other pieces, but not by very much. Overall a solid choice and I would get this again for sure.
