This is the first review in a one-off bonus series covering the items in a Snack Crate subscription box, which found its way to my parent’s mailbox. For more details on this, check out the introductory post.
What in the hell are these? A lot of the products in the box have been least similar to things that we have in the U.S., but Humpty Dumpty’s BBQ Ringolos are slightly more weird and different: they’re just barbecue-flavored, circular-shaped potato snacks. The rings are much smaller than, say, the “fun onion rings” line of snacks here in the U.S., in that they can fit on the fingers of a smaller child (although they were even too small to fit on my pinkie). Even though they’re also pretty thin, they are much “tougher” than the onion-shaped snacks which, to my knowledge at least, are about the only major brand of ring-shaped “chips” that us Americans have, leading to crunchy bites rather than the “crumble-in-your-mouth” texture of the onion rings.
This might just get my pick for the “diamond in the rough” treat of the entire box, because these are pretty darn good. The barbecue flavor is fairly standard, with a rather heavy dose of saltiness that will be familiar to American tastebuds, while the weird, novelty shape is different enough to inject a little bit of “fun” (in marketing-speak) into snacktime. But adding to the experience is the “chew texture”, which reminds me a little bit of the grainy “lightness” of something like Munchos—again, an either “love it or hate it” trait that all comes down to personal preference, and that I happen to like. It’s not as light as that weird greasy chip is, but it’s also not as crunchy (or greasy) as a potato chip, striking an odd, but welcome, balance between the two.
Another neat thing: since the snacks are so small, each 50g bag (which translates to about 1 ¾ oz.) packs in quite a large quantity; I don’t know how much they retail for, but if it’s about the same as a typical potato chip bag in this size, I feel like you get more for your money here. I went on two decent-sized snack binges of these, and still have about a quarter-of-the-bag left.
Really, at the end of the day, it’s more or less a novelty, but this is something that I’m kind of surprised hasn’t made its way to our borders yet. Its appearance is unique enough to potentially stand out from the ever-growing number of options in the snack aisle, and packs in a taste that wouldn’t even have to be adapted to “fit” American tastebuds. (Although, in all honesty, even if it did, I’m still not sure I’d buy them all that often, if at all; I guess we do kind of have too many options already).
Flavorwise, they’re very familiar, but good, which are usually the two main traits most people are looking for in a snack.
RATING: 7/10. These are pretty good. The barbecue flavor is standard, and will be familiar to American tastebuds, while the ring shape is different from most American ring-shaped snacks; they are much smaller and crunchier, with a semi-grainy potato texture that somewhat reminds me of Muncho’s. They’re nothing outstanding, but their shape is unique (translation: “fun” in marketing speak) enough to help them stand out somewhat in a crowded salty-snack market.
