Jagabee – Happy Butter Flavour Potato Sticks

In tough times, we all find different ways of coping. When it comes to food, the coping comes in the form of forgoing fresh or easily perishable foods for more shelf stable ones. Like replacing the joy of freshly fried up french fries, and trying out shelf stable potato sticks that are somewhat, kind of like fries. Jagabee is a fairly well-established brand at this point, and Calbee even has a cafe where they fry up fresh Jagabee sticks. If you ask me, that seems like a recipe for seasoned fries, but I’m sure its different enough to try at least once. Sadly I won’t get that luxury for the foreseeable future, so here we are.

So what makes this particular butter happy? I haven’t the faintest. What I can tell you is that it’s honey, butter, parsley and mascarpone cheese to make a very appetizing flavour. It’s a flavour profile they’ve used quite successfully for their other Calbee snacks, like potato chips.

I’ve had Jagabee before, and historically it’s the texture that makes them addictive, the flavour is kind of a happy bonus. That isn’t to say it doesn’t elevate the snack, as their seasonings are usually pretty on point and help make the snack extra hard to put down. The texture is best described as a freeze dried french fry. That doesn’t sound very appetizing to some of you I’m sure, but let me try and elaborate – the outside is very crispy, kind of like a twice fried french fry. Once you get past the crunchy exterior, the inside is very light and the best way to describe it is like a dried fluffy potato mash. The whole thing comes together to satisfy that french fry craving, while also being something quite different in experience. It really is something that you have to try at least once to understand what all the hype is.

I can understand why this flavour is considered one of their more successful combos. It has just the right sweet and salty combo that brings out the best of the honey, butter and that slight cheese flavour. The first thing you taste is the combo of honey and butter, and you get a bit of saltiness and slight tanginess from the cheese. The butter is the real start for me here, as it gives the flavour a richness and helps to smooth things out. It’s kind of like that one friend with really good social skills that’s able to make everyone feel comfortable and right at home, letting them be their best selves in any environment. You end up with a bunch of different flavours that come together real well. The sticks themselves have quite a lot of potato flavour to them, something you wouldn’t normally get from most french fries that are as thin as these.

The whole thing comes together perfectly, and this is definitely one of those snacks I highly recommend to people. The price for the portion you get is far less of a value proposition than actual french fries, but like the actual thing, I’ve yet to meet someone who has tried them that hasn’t fallen in love with them. There’s a reason these things are so popular.