Simply 7 Lentil Chips – Creamy Dill
As I get older, I like to think I also get more mature (though probably not as much as the typical human). Part of that is trying to make healthier choices and try and find less damaging snacks for my body to stem the tides of temptation. I’ve thus far had fairly good experiences with lentils, so I figure what could possibly go wrong with chips made of lentils? And creamy dill flavour? This has to be too good to be true. At the very least, it’s not an insane combination like kale chips. Seriously people, what are you thinking buying that crap?!
Well readers, I am about to find out first hand if this would make for a good stand in, or if this ends up in “never again” territory. These types of snacks tend to end up in one of the two piles, rarely in between. Simply 7 is more about their standards, not so much the number of ingredients. Not to be confused with their 7 ways to live a healthier life. There’s a whole lot of marketing going on here, but the key message is living healthfully. That’s something I can get behind. At the very least, it’s not completely marketing, as their ingredients look reasonable for the most part. Then again, that natural flavour line triggers me, as it always does. But I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s nothing too bad masquerading as natural.
I know they say these are baked, but oddly enough when I open the bag I get the smell of something that seems kind of fried. Maybe it’s the oil used, or the way lentil flour cooks, but I’m reminded of something fried. Like fried beans or something along those lines. Each of these chips looks like a square that was baked and started to fold into itself. You end up with something that looks those packing peanuts, if they were flattened out. Kind of a weird thing to think of when eating a supposedly healthy snack, but my mind goes to weird places all the time. Moving on.
Upon closer inspection, these chips would make the perfect scoop for a dip of some sort. Not that I would recommend these for dipping, since they already have a distinct flavour packed in. The aroma of fresh dill and yogurt is very palpable in the air when being around these. The smell alone is actually making me salivate a little, so they get points on nailing the smell. But smell is only one part of the experience. More importantly, how does it taste?
I’m not really sure how else to put it, but it’s what I imagine eating Styrofoam to be like. Not that I’ve had Styrofoam before, but you know how sometimes you can kind of guess how something tastes based on how it feels and looks? Call it a gut feeling. I know this sounds like it’s a bad thing, but honestly, it’s not a deal breaker for me. In fact, in a way it’s what sets it apart. It’s not exactly crunchy or crispy, and it kind of melts slowly as you put it in your mouth, but it has a slight firmness to it that reminds of that weird fried white strands used as garnish you get when you go to an asian restaurant and order fried pork chop. It’s like eating those little things. It’s weird because it’s different, but it’s not bad either.
The flavour of these is just as they smell, very tasty and appetizing. The dill flavour is strong and comes through really well on what I expect would be an otherwise flavourless chip. It reminds me of tzatziki sauce in that it has a dill and yogurt like flavour to it, and goes down fairly smooth.
The combination of the flavour of dill with Styrofoam peanuts is odd to say the least, and yet I found myself finishing most of the bag in a short sitting. Would I recommend these to everyone? No probably not. The consistency is weird and may be off putting to some. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys dill or tzatziki sauce, as the flavour really carries this chip. The texture while odd, is very interesting, and I would encourage people to give it a try at least once. I would say that whether or not this snack was “healthy”, I would still get it again because I find the texture fascinating and unlike the other chips you usually have. But I’m into weird stuff so take that with a grain of salt.
