Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The Same Corn Chip, A Much More Sensible Shape, Tostitos Scoops! Are Wonderful!


The Good: Tastes good, Not unhealthy, Wonderful shape for dipping.
The Bad: Not the most impressive flavor on their own
The Basics: Tostitos Scoops are a good snack and one that begs for garnish . . . that it can hold!


As much as I love the Tostitos Hint Of Lime corn chips (reviewed here!), sometimes I like being able to enjoy dips with my chips. For dips, it makes sense not to have a chip that is flavored. Even a weak chip like the Hint Of Pepper Jack (reviewed here!) can alter the flavor of a dip. So, when I want to enjoy a dip, I need an unflavored chip and arguably the best chip for dipping are Tostitos Scoops! Unlike traditional corn chips, Tostitos Scoops! are bowl-shaped to hold dips or fillings, making for a very fun, edible container for dips!

Basics

Tostitos Scoops, for those who are not familiar with them, are tortilla chips. Frito-Lay has marketed their Tostitos chip line as an alternative to Doritos for over a decade now and in the last several years, they have started adding flavors and different shapes to their line. The Tostitos Scoops are salted little bowls that otherwise look like regular tortilla, white corn, chips.

Tostitos Scoops come in various sizes, but always in a bag. The standard size bag that I have found is 14.5 oz. family sized bag. The chips are a scalloped bowl shape that are approximately 2" in diameter and 3/4" tall. Most of them are curved and there is not real regularity in the shape of these.

Ease Of Preparation

Tostitos Scoops are simple to enjoy; all you need do it open the bag and remove the chips from it! There is no trick to eating Tostitos Scoops; they are a snack that is ready to go from the bag to the mouth.

Taste

Tostitos Scoops smell like white corn when opening the bag. If the bag is even a little warm when it is opened, the smell of corn dissipates quickly.

As for taste, the Tostitos Scoops as slightly salty. The salt flavor is hardly overwhelming and as soon as it wears off (or washes off on the tongue), they taste like utterly generic corn chips. The corn flavor is subtle, making this a neutral, minimally salty corn chip. It begs for garnish.

Nutrition

Tostitos Scoops are a surprisingly natural snack, with no preservatives. Given that the ingredients are mostly white corn, vegetable oil and salt, it might surprise salty snack eaters to learn how generally good these chips are. These have a shelf life of approximately six months, so it's not a bad snack to stock up on.

Each one ounce serving of Tostitos Scoops has 140 calories, sixty of which come from fat. There is also a gram of dietary fiber. While there are 7 grams of fat and 2 grams of protein, there is only 120 mg of sodium, which represents 5% of one's RDA of sodium. There are a smattering of vitamins and minerals, but nothing significant. There are no dietary notes on the Tostitos Scoops! They are Vegan compliant.

Storage/Clean-up

Kept in their bag, Tostitos Scoops will remain fresh for months and as long as the bag is resealed, one suspects an open bag will last for a few weeks before getting stale. I've never had to deal with issues of freshness for my Tostitos Scoops.

Cleanup is simple as well. Tostitos Scoops are a dry food and thus leave no mess behind. Because they are weakly salted, they do not even mess up one's hands. Simply wash your hands, throw out the bag and cleanup is done!

Overall

Tostitos Scoops are a good basic snack which is enjoyable, if not really extraordinary on their own. Even so, they are a wonderful “base” snack!

For other salty snacks, check out my reviews of:
Snyder’s Of Hanover York Peppermint Pretzel Dips
Triscuit Dill Sea Salt & Olive Oil Crackers
Everybody's Nuts! Garlic & Onion Pistachios

8/10

For other food and drink reviews, please click here to visit my index page!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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