When I got home, I decided I would buy some of my own to snack on. During my grocery run, I came across a a variety of kettle style, salt + vinegar potato chips. Rather than limiting my selection, I decided to purchase several and conduct a blind taste test.
Surprisingly, the Kettle brand didn't wow me as it did before. The Trader Joes brand was inedible. Cape Cod was just meh. The clear winner for me was Lay's Kettle Cook Potato Chips. These had the perfect balance of potato, salt and vinegar. Reading the Lay's label, it appears they have an ingredient that's missing from the rest- buttermilk powder! Really? What's buttermilk powder doing in a salt + vinegar chip? Sounds out of place but if that's what makes this chip, I'm not going to argue with them.
For stacked ranking, here are the results:
UPDATE:While perusing the aisles of my local Fresh & Easy, I found their private label salt + vinegar chips. These claimed to have malt vinegar in them. It didn't do it for me. I would say these finished just above the Trader Joes chips.
