Snack Review: Michael Season’s Baked Multigrain Chips
A few weeks ago, the snacking Goddess herself, Caitlin, asked if I’d be interested in reviewing baked multigrain chips. Naturally I accepted. When it comes to crunchy, salty snacks, Sun Chips are at the top of my list. That’s right - when it comes to chips, I’ve always preferred the multigrain variety to the potato- and tortilla-types. Pretty healthy, right?
Well, not really - Sun chips may be a lesser evil among our beloved sinful, salty snacks. But when it comes to being good for you, they have nothing on the Baked Multigrain Chips produced by Michael Season’s. The Addison, IL.-based company’s motto is “Feel-Good Snacking.” This seems to suggest that either you should feel good about eating such wholesome foods, or that the products taste so amazing, they’ll make you “feel good” with every bite. I’m guessing the PR department at Michael Season’s was going for the former interpretation.
In addition to four 5-oz. bags of Baked Multigrain Chips (2 each of the Original and Cheddar varieties), I was greeted by a press release extolling the virtues of Michael Season’s Natural Gourmet upon opening the delivery box. The brochure offered several reasons I should “feel good” about using the brand to fulfill my snacking needs. Truth be told, the fact that the chips cost me nothing would have been reason enough for me to feel good. However, I can appreciate the small-business ethos and the decently low retail price ($2.99/5 oz. bag; better than many similar offerings at Whole Foods) of this brand.
What most impressed me from the information page, though, was the nutrition information. For people seeking a healthier lifestyle, Michael Season’s Baked Multigrain Chips offer a winning combo of large serving size (18 chips), low caloric toll (those 18 chips will set you back a mere 110 calories), fiber (3 grams), and all-natural ingredients. While Sun Chips bathe in a stew of preservatives, dyes, and unpronounceable artificial flavorings before reaching the grocery-store shelves, this brave new multigrain chip has just 10 ingredients in its “Original” format. Five of those are whole-grain flours. The chips are flavored with a blend of sunflower oil, sugar, salt and black bean powder. The only ingredient that’s even vaguely questionable is modified corn starch, and in the middle of all this natural goodness? That’s barely a blip on the radar.
These chips struck me as the sort of product Whole Foods would love to stock, if they were able to double the price. The idea of all-natural, low calorie Sun Chip-alikes held a lot of appeal for me. Needless to say, I was excited to open my first bag and taste them! These were my impressions:
Original
For my first taste, I wanted to get an idea of the underlying flavor and texture dynamics of the chips. To that end, I decided to sample the original version first. To be honest, I felt a wave of disappointment upon withdrawing my first handful. These bore very little resemblance to Sun Chips. Although they were of the familiar “wavy” shape, they were far too thick. They almost reminded me of styrofoam, bearing more than a passing resemblance to the less-than-desirable “vegetable chips” and “potato crisps” offered by Trader Joe’s.
Biting into my first chip, I found it was not that bad - however, it was nothing like a Sun Chip. Rather than thin, crispy, and pleasantly brittle, like the chips that obviously inspired them, these were comparatively hard, with a clean snap and a slightly airy texture. Absent, also, was the characteristic grease of Sun Chips, along with three-fourths of the salt and most of the flavor. I suppose a short list of all-natural ingredients has its drawbacks.
Cheddar
While the Cheddar chips had the same unusual texture as the Original type, the wonderful Cheddar flavor nearly made up for it. Unlike the basic chips, the Cheddar version offered plenty of salt, along with a lovely, tangy cheesiness that tasted of actual cheddar cheese - most likely because that’s what they’re seasoned with. The combination of slightly-airy, crunchy, thick texture and strong seasoning brought to mind something like greaseless vegetarian pork rinds. Basically, when divorced from the Sun Chips association, these make for decent (and, yes, “Feel-Good”) snacking.
Michael Season’s offers, or will soon offer, a third flavor in their line of Baked Multigrain Chips, a Honey Chipotle flavor. If the Cheddar version is any indication of how this brand flavors their snacks, I’d be very interested in trying those. I might not be able to resist trying them if they begin popping up on nearby shelves. In the meantime, though, unless I’m feeling major snacking guilt… I’ll just stick with Sun Chips.
Buy Michael Season’s Products Online:
- at Amazon.com
3 Comments
Snackerrific :: » Snack Review: Michael Season’s Honey-Chipotle Baked Multigrain Chips on December 11th, 2008
[...] adventurous one at that - it was their Honey-Chipotle Baked Multigrain Chips. I’d sampled the Original and Cheddar varieties of the chips, and adored them. Although their texture struck me as a little bit off at first, it [...]
ann on May 30th, 2009
are they gluten free the wholegrain
Snackerrific :: » Snack Review: The Cheddar-tastic Michael Season’s Taste Test on November 18th, 2008
[...] generous. I was grateful to the homegrown Illinois company already for sending me some of their Baked Multigrain Chips to review a few weeks ago. Apparently, Michael Season’s was satisfied with my review - I was [...]