Well, they're made in Washington, they're gluten-free, they're all-natural, they're potato chips, and they happen to be blue. Because they're made from blue potatoes.
Yes, "Blue Potatoes" - says so right on the nutritional info. Don't be expecting normal potato chips with some blue food dye/coloring, because these are a real thing. Potatoes that are blue.
First, let me start off by saying that when you get right down to it, I'm a SALTY snack guy way more than I'm a SWEET snack guy. I still love my sweets, don't get me wrong, but salty snack foods really hit the spot for me. Three small pieces of chocolate and I throw in the towel, but I'm well-known for being able to take out a giant bag of salty snack product in a single serving. I really don't know why I'm telling you this...
I've eaten a wide range of potato chips in my years. From the ultra-thin crispy ones to the thick-cut crunch-packing ones. Flat or ridged, wacky flavors or pure potato goodness. Low salt, no salt, and you-better-believe-these-are-salted mamma-jammas.
Blue potato chips have a very unique flavor and texture.
The first real flavor profile you get is "potato". My friend, a good ol' buddy, the potato flavor that I've grown to know and love. But a split-second later, you notice something's different about him.
Did he get a haircut recently? Has he lost a little weight? Was he on vacation and developed a lovely tan?
It's the taste of blue that you can't really put your finger on. It's not any kind of artificial taste, don't think I'm trying to say it tastes like blue food coloring or anything. It's that the difference in flavor is because they are blue potatoes. Maybe it's that they have a different starch content than the normal Idaho potatoes you usually find sliced up and fried in your regular batch of chips.
One thing I do notice is that they seem to be holding on rather well to the canola oil that they were fried in. Of course, there's no trans-fats or anything, but these are not a fat-free product by any means. If you pick up one of these beauties and hold it up to the light, half of the time you'll find that you can see some translucency (based on the potato cut), but that right above that hue of blue, there's a sheen of brightness from the oil, or maybe from the starch in the potato itself. Well, judging from the texture when you hold it, I'd say it's more likely the oil.
That's the other flavor you'll catch on your tongue, possibly even before you even get to the sea salt they've sprinkled on top to give it that real potato chip feel.
After all, a potato chip without salt can only really be described as "a fried slice of potato". To achieve real potato-chipdom, you need that salt. And yes, sea salt means they get more salt flavor while transferring less sodium into the product. So that's kinda good.
The last thing I'll really say about these chips is something that's kind of a pet peeve of mine when it comes to potato chips. The big boys know how to mass-produce a chip, and you get a bag full of consistent chips. All the same thickness, relatively same sizes, so every chippy bite is just as good as the last one. I think it may be that Seneca Farms is a smaller production, which means you get a little variation in the size/texture/crispiness of the chips. You can come across a thin crispy little bugger, and then your next chip is much thicker and crunches with a bit of a "thud", if you know what I mean.
While this affects me as a pet peeve when I'm in restaurants getting hand-made chips, there's more at stake because an improper-thickness chip can mean it is the soggy bottom boy mucking about in a sea of crisp-shirted proper chips. Or a burnt-out thin-skinned individual, bitter and resentful of his well-adjusted brethren who were able to handle the heat.
It's not THAT varied in this bag of blue potato chips, which shows some pretty good quality control, so in the end maybe it's a blessing in disguise. This way, any potato chip fan, no matter which style he or she prefers, will be satisfied more than usual at least a few times per serving.
And to the Food and Drug Administration folks who determined that "11 chips" makes a serving? You all can bite my shiny blue potatoes.
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