The Hottest Flavor in Snacks Is ‘Cooked Too Long’ Nearly burnt chips, pretzels, and crackers are taking over the snack aisle

eater ^

[mylife]

Snack companies are always scrambling to figure out what the next hot flavor is, because The Market demands ever-changing options even though the perfection of sour cream and onion is right there. Chip and pretzel and puff makers experiment with making things pickle-y, or spicy, or putting spice on top of the other flavors, or making snacks taste like completely other meals, like pizza. But the latest trend isn’t a flavor at all. It’s a method, which in many ways leads to the absence of flavor, but which also is for many exactly the point. Get excited to buy burnt chips.

A few brands have made inroads into the overcooked market, to the thrill of anyone who explicitly scours a bag of potato chips to find the burnt bits at the bottom. Better Made may have started the trend with its “Rainbow” chips, which it first started mass-producing in 2005. The first potato chips, it says, used to look a lot more like Rainbow chips, but as potatoes with less sugar content became favored in chip production, the dark, caramelized color became rarer. “​​Better Made would collect the rejected dark chips and package them as ‘Rainbows’ but the supply was very limited and we were unable to meet the demand for them,” the company says in its product description. Eventually, it worked with farmers to develop a potato that would create a darker chip.

Herrs, Utz and Cape Cod have all introduced (or re-released) “dark” russet kettle chips Utz has also made “extra dark” pretzels, as has Unique. “We left our classic special sourdough pretzels to cook just a little bit longer for all our dark pretzel fans,”

Cheez-It introduced an “Extra Toasty” line of snacks “after years of fan requests.”

[mylife]

better made is a damn fine chip

[kiryandil]

"Extra Golden Brown And Delicious"

That's what we told the waitrons when we nearly burned one of their pizzas.   

[mylife]

Mmmmm... carcinogenic

[Yo-Yo]

better made is a damn fine chip

My favorite chips are Better Made Rainbow Dark chips.

[mylife]

heh!

[crz]

Get your taters, thin slice them on a slicer board, put a bunch of oil in a fry pan, and make your own chips.

[Bob434]

lgbtq chips? Ugggh0- nope no thanks

[JonPreston]

No, with burnt chips, and for god’s sake stop loading the bottom of the bag with tiny, little bits I have to shake out in my hand and inhale.

[mylife]

I don’t get the rainbow thing but it’d try the chips

[Bubba_Leroy]

I like Cajun style blackened fish and chicken. Whenever I overcook something on the grill, I say it is just Cajun style.

[V_TWIN]

Lays original are the all time greatest hands down IMO.

Too bad I can’t eat ‘em any more

[Rural_Michigan]

Utz dark russets have been one of my favorites for awhile

[mylife]

contents damaged in shipping

[jimwatx]

I guess these people have never heard about carcinogenic:
Acrylamide
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
Heterocyclic amines (HCAs)

all of which form when carbs are heated to high temperatures. Anything burnt would be loaded with them.

[mylife]

but very tasty

[cableguymn]

I can over cook anything no problem. Don’t need to pay more to buy stuff that way

[Born to Conserve]

I always get my pizza “well done”.

[Don W]

We’re all gonna die someday. You can live, take chances, and die with many interesting experiences, or you can exist in a safe little bubble and die of boredom and ennui.

I know that I want to LIVE, not merely EXIST.

[Jacquerie]

My better half deep fried potato chips some years ago; they were fabulous.

Thanks for the reminder.

[mylife]