Ruffles Double Crunch – Ketchup
Ruffles were the first main brand that I grew up with offering a thicker, ridged chip. Given how much I love heartier, crunchier chips, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they were a big part of my childhood growing up. It’s sort of strange to think about how Lays and Ruffles are owned by the same company, and Lays wavy chips are still trapped in the shadow of the much superior Ruffles. I would have thought at some point they would transfer that winning formula over, but maybe it’s a brand thing.
Double Crunch is Ruffles way of further pushing the limits of what they can get away with when it comes to hard chips. These are basically like a kettle version of Ruffles, so you know I’m down for it. The most obvious thing about these visually, is that they are very ridgy looking. More angular cuts, if you will.
Similar to ketchup Lays, these are very true to the strong ketchup flavour. It’s like if you took a bottle of Heinz ketchup, dehydrated it and turned it into a seasoning powder before throwing handfuls into a bag of freshly fried potato chips and shaking it around. It’s strong and leaves no question about what flavour it’s supposed to be. It has a strong, salty and sweet flavour of the ketchup with a vinegary flavour to it that’s largely cast aside by the sweetness. Basically exactly what you expect from ketchup. The one thing I noticed that I’m not sure is just my bag or consistent across all of them, is that the seasoning is a bit uneven at times. Some chips look like they are painted absolute red, with no hint of potato existing. Basically a ketchup seasoning packet with a side of potatoes. Other chips are a bit lighter and almost barren, void of any seasoning.
While ketchup is sort of a “I’ll eat it if it’s there” and not something I actively go for, it’s fair to say the main selling point of this is the double crunch. At this point it should be fairly clear that I love crunchy, hard textures, so this was an easy sell. These aren’t nearly as hard as some harder kettle chips, but they are definitely harder than the standard Ruffles. The texture is similar to double fried potato chips – the second frying takes away a lot of the starchy, fluffiness it once had and replaces it with a crunchy exterior. These ones lean more on the crunchy exterior and don’t have much of that potato starchiness that you get from a normal chip. Depending on what you look for, that could be good or bad.
While I like the texture of these, I’m likely to try a different flavour. While the ketchup can be tasty in moderation, the flavour is a bit strong and reminds me of a middle aged person using too much perfume or cologne and just really laying it on a bit too thick. Sometimes less really is more.
