Kettle Brand – Honey Dijon
Honey Dijon is one of those flavour profiles I didn’t really appreciate until later in my life. I didn’t enjoy mustard as a kid, so the concept of Dijon mustard didn’t appeal to me in the slightest. Believe it or not I was a picky eater as a kid, and mustard was just not a condiment I enjoyed. Truthfully I still don’t enjoy it all that much, but I’m definitely a lot more open to it these days, Dijon mustard especially. As I matured, I learned to give everything a chance, and while I didn’t have fond memories of mustard, I figured in the right setting it could work. Mostly though, my aversion to mustard was incidentally averted due to snacks. Specifically, honey mustard and onion pretzels by Snyder’s. I like to think it was the gateway to get me into other mustard based snacks, and eventually even consider the condiment itself. The journey our palettes can take are so magical sometimes, wouldn’t you agree?
Anyways, Kettle is something I haven’t done much reviewing on, which is surprising. Surprising because they’ve been around for quite some time now, and I love kettle style chips. I still remember when I was in university living on campus in first year and going to the only “convenience” store we had on campus. I felt like trying something new so I bought a bag of Kettle chips to try out. The rest was history from that point on. It’s crazy to think back to that time when it was still considered a relatively new brand in my neck of the world. Also a little sobering realizing that was over a decade ago, but I digress.
Kettle strikes a good balance in texture between overly fried and crunchy to under fried and soft and powdery like normal chips. It hits that sweet spot that you don’t fear for losing a tooth to an overly crunchy bite but still give enough crunch to have a satisfying substance to them. The main reason I enjoy kettle style chips more is they have more substance and don’t feel as flimsy or thin as the standard that is set by Lay’s. There’s a time and place for those light airy chips, but I’m just not about that life. I’m all about the crunch. And while this isn’t quite as crunchy or hard as say, Hardbite, this is still very tasty and would probably appeal to a wider audience.
The flavour is a real nice mix of honey and Dijon mustard. Dijon mustard is tangy and a flavour which I can only describe as savoury with hints of vinegar. The honey helps to provide a nice rounded sweetness to balance things out, giving it a nice sweet and salty combination. The chip itself is no slacker, and you can taste the potato flavour still, though the seasoning does a decent job covering that up, if you don’t care much for it.
To anyone who is on the fence about kettle style chips, I’d say Kettle is a great brand to dip your toes in. A gateway kettle chip, if you will. They aren’t called Kettle for nothing. Whether or not you decide to try this flavour is really up to whether you like that sort of soft, honey mustard type of flavour. Dijon is a more mild, less astringent type of mustard, so I find this to be a general crowd pleaser. So venture forth and grab hold of a bag! It’s really not that hard…
