Listen to how Pringles advertises these products:
“Pringles Extreme Flavors aren’t for the faint of heart. Brave one bite, and you’ll be hooked on the aggressive taste that just won’t quit.”
“Kickin’ Cheddar – This cheddar’s got attitude, and it doesn’t take orders. So buckle up and get ready for a wild ride.”
Wow! Upon hearing this, I couldn’t wait to crunch down on one of the products in Pringles’ fairly new Extreme Flavors lineup, the Kickin’ Cheddar potato chips. Me and my tender little heart were ready for the ride of a lifetime! I have been a huge fan of their Cheese ‘Ums (now renamed Cheddar Cheese) since I was the age of 12, so if Kickin’ Cheddar was as half as good, I’d die a happy man!
Okay, I’m being a tad facetious here. Companies have been using slick marketese in attempts to lure us chileheads to the supermarket thinking they can provide the ultimate spicy munch food. I wasn’t gonna fall for it again, like we have been so often in the past with so-called “hot” snacks. I would much rather lower my expectations and be pleasantly surprised if it actually were a terrific chip.
Ingredients:
Dried Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Contains one or more of the following: Corn Oil, Cottonseed Oil, Soybean Oil, and/or Sunflower Oil), Rice Flour, Wheat Starch And Maltodextrin. Contains 2% or less of: Whey, Cheddar Cheese (Pasteurized Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Monosodium Glutamate, Salt, Sunflower Oil, Sugar, Maltodextrin, Lactose, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Whey Protein Concentrate, Cream, Onion Powder, Dextrose, Buttermilk, Jalapeño Pepper, Sodium Caseinate, Lactic Acid, Citric Acid, Disodium Phosphate, Yellow 5 Lake, Nonfat Milk, Soybean Oil, Yellow 6 Lake, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Turmeric Extract, Spice Extract, Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate. Contains Wheat and Milk Ingredients.
Appearance and Texture:
The can shows a heavy orange coating covering each chip. In reality, each chip barely has any flavor coating on it. I’m not talking about a select few; EVERY chip in the can was skimpy in terms of coating. Most of what you see in the photo below is the color of the chip, not the flavoring:
Taste and Heat:
The flavor’s surprisingly not too bad. There was a light cheddar taste (pretty far from “extreme”) with a slight hint of jalapeno. And when I say “jalapeno”, I do not mean “hot” – Pringles accurately got the distinctive, peppery, vegetable taste of a jalapeno chile in the seasoning. Only there’s no heat. Zero. Zilch. Nada. You could give your four-year-old niece Amber a stack of these chips with no worry of scalding her sensitive little mouth.
Overall:
Decent taste but bland when compared to other potato crisps in Pringles’ stable. You’d be better off buying a can of the superior Cheddar Cheese Pringles; when compared to Kickin’ Cheddar, they are the ones with a more “extreme” taste.
The word “EXTREME” in large type and swirling jalapeno peppers on the label may entice you, but don’t give in; Kickin’ Cheddar chips aren’t worth the money.