Hardbite – Spicy Dill Pickle

I’ve started coming around to pickles with my ripe old age. But only certain pickles mind you – I’m down with the dill, and the gherkins mostly because they’re smaller. In general though pickle is still very much something done in moderation and the line between too much and just enough is a very easy one to cross.

I’m not quite sure what the thought process behind the creation of spicy pickles was. I assume someone at some point thought, hey you know what would be cool? Something that’s both tangy, salty and spicy! Now that I type that out I realize it was inevitable. I mean, hot and spicy soup has been around since forever, so it only makes sense that it would come to chip flavours too. I don’t like vinegar, that’s been well-established in the canon at this point. I do however, have a soft spot for dill pickle as a flavour. I think most of it is just my general love for the flavour profile of dill. I still have fond memories of salmon in dill sauce. I think that’s how I started to fall in love with salmon in the first place, before I cut the dill out entirely for some reason.

I’ve said before that I am a huge spice wimp, and that sometimes worries me when I try these types of flavour. They say spicy, but I’m never really sure just how spicy, or how hot things can get. Going off smell alone, you would be forgiven for thinking this is just normal, regular old dill pickle flavoured chips. That is, they smell delicious and there is no indication of heat at any point. Even the chips themselves only look slightly more orange than usual, and I’m not even sure if that’s due to the spicy seasoning.

When the flavour of the chip first reaches my tongue, all I taste is that tangy dill and pickle flavour. It’s not until a few seconds after that the spice comes racing up to the driveway, getting out the car and swiftly sucker punching me. Thankfully the spice is a fairly weak fellow of small stature, so there’s a slight initial sting but there isn’t much residual heat. The heat does build up after a few sucker punches, but it’s not to a point that unbearable or requires me to quench my thirst. I actually think it’s nice and the heat adds a nice depth to the flavour, rather than just being straight up salty and briny.

The texture is really what keeps me coming back. If I could only use one word to describe these beauts, it would be crunchy. Sure, it’s not for everyone, but for me it’s everything. It’s honestly tough for me to go back to normal chips under normal circumstances at this point.