Harvest Snaps – Crunchy Loops Sour Cream & Onion

You may or may not be familiar with Harvest Snaps. They’re a product line that started by Calbee in North America that made a name for itself by creating pea snacks that incidentally also were shaped to look and resemble green peas. Pea based snacks aren’t uncommon in Asia, but very uncommon here in the west, so it was refreshing to see it make it relatively big over here. They started branching out into various flavours, and they were for the most part interesting and relatively tasty to me. But what really got my attention were the other products that they started to branch out into. Like these onion ring looking snacks.

These are a baked red lentil snack. Not a combination of words I thought I would type out but here we are. I also don’t really know if red lentils are substantially different from normal lentils when it comes to flavour or texture. I can only assume the choice to go with red lentils was something relating to manufacturing consistency, price or perhaps both. Whatever the case, my brain is already forming assumptions based on my length experience with the legumes.

I’m sure I wouldn’t be the only one who would think that these are simply onion rings based on the smell and appearance. Maybe the only hint that these are different is that these have more air pockets in them, and results in it looking a bit more holey than usual.

The flavour is overwhelmingly sour cream and onion. Fans of the flavour will recognize it, as it’s the same flavour as sour cream and onion rings, and it has that distinct, artificial flavour. But in a good way of course – you know it’s fake but you still love it. The flavour of lentils is barely present, and really only noticeable if you wait for the aftertaste. It seems lentils was really only a different ingredient to use for texture, rather than have any impact on the flavour.

The texture is slightly puffy but also mealy, as most bean or legume based snacks tend to be. The type of gritty where if you chew it the wrong way it might even scratch up the insides of your mouth. All part of the experience, I assure you. Given that I went into this knowing it was legume snack, I expected there to be mealy bits, so it’s not much of a turn off for me. If that is something that bothers you though, this may not be the best experience for you. That being said, most people who get this are aware of that, so again, part of the experience.

Given the speed and voracity with which I consumed the entire bag, I think it safe to assume these are enjoyable for a repeat visit, and I can see why Harvest Snaps as a whole is so popular. The one hiccup here is that these are pricey for the amount you get, which is somewhat expected. If that’s not a deal breaker for you, go get yourself a pouch of these bad boys. Definitely worth it.