FitBite – Cassava Chips Chili Lime
When I think of chili lime as a flavour, my mind wanders to a very wide range of spice levels. I’ve had ones where the lime and salt is the most distinct flavour and I get a slight tickle in the back of my throat, all the way to where the lime is nice and zesty and the next second I’m coughing and wheezing as I grasp for the nearest cold beverage.
I’ve had a lot of interesting substitutes for potatoes and corn when it comes to chips, but cassava is a first. I’ve had cassava in dishes before and I enjoy the texture, but the thought of it being a chip is certainly intriguing for me. What I will say is in my minds tongue, the worst case scenario is it’s no worse than the other veggie chips that use other roots like turnips or radishes. Even the carrot chips I tried before were okay, even if they weren’t exactly what I consider a true chip alternative. Keeping an open mind is basically what I’m trying to do here.
To my eyes, these look very curled and I can’t tell if it’s because they were thin and curl up when they are fried, or the curling is inevitable regardless of the thickness. The lime zest is very strong if we go by the smell, and I am slightly reminded of surface cleaner. Got that Mr. Clean scent to it.
These are spicy as all hell. usually when something says its spicy they play it up for marketing effect. These don’t even flash any hot colours or fancy graphics. Just a simple chili pepper. But boy does that chili pepper burn. These are definitely spicier looking than the bag may lead you to believe, and they contain just as much fire as you can expect from a chili flavour. Once you get past the burning you can sort of taste the lime, but again, mostly the burning chili.
The texture of these chips is somewhat hard to describe to someone who hasn’t had alternative veggie chips. The best way I can describe it is a almost like a stale kettle potato chip. It doesn’t quite have that clean crisp snap that I regular potato chip might have, and it’s got a little bit of a stiffness to it that you may associate with a stale potato chip. It’s not dissimilar to the texture of the radish chips I had previously. Something about root vegetables and oil just seems to make them stiff rather than crunchy. I suspect it may have something to do with starch content, but I’m mostly just talking out of my ass right now. What I can say is that while it’s not a substitute for the potato chip (let’s be real nothing is), it has it’s own texture and mouth feel that I actually do enjoy.
While the spice is a bit too much for me, I do find myself enjoying the texture. If you take this as something on it’s own rather than a proxy or replacement for other forms of chips, you might enjoy this like I do. Either way, only one way to find out and go try some yourself.
