Golden Wonder Variety Crisps, 16 x 25g

The Golden Wonder Variety box is sixteen 25g bags in four everyday flavours: four each of Cheese and Onion, Ready Salted, Salt and Vinegar and Smoky Bacon, 400g in all. Each bag is one serving, and the published listing gives a separate ingredients list and nutrition table for every flavour. The pack names Golden Wonder Ltd of Corby, Northamptonshire, as the maker for Great Britain.

Ready Salted

Ready Salted is the plainest bag in the box: potatoes, rapeseed and sunflower oils and salt, nothing else. With 1.08g of salt per 100g, it is also the least salty.

Cheese and Onion

The cheese and onion seasoning lists onion powder, sugar, whey powder (milk), salt, flavour enhancers (monosodium glutamate and disodium 5'-ribonucleotides), yeast powder, cheese powder (milk), flavouring (milk), citric acid, paprika extract and black pepper extract. Onion first, cheese behind.

Salt and Vinegar

The salt and vinegar seasoning lists flavouring, potato starch, monosodium glutamate, salt, potassium chloride and citric acid. There is no vinegar on the list; the sharp taste comes from the flavouring and citric acid. It is the saltiest bag in the box, at 1.68g per 100g.

Smoky Bacon

The smoky bacon seasoning lists dextrose, maltodextrin, salt, sugar, flavour enhancers (monosodium glutamate and disodium 5'-ribonucleotides), flavourings, yeast extract, citric and malic acid and paprika extract. There is no bacon on the list: the smoke and bacon come from the flavourings, and dextrose and sugar give it a sweet edge.

The crisps

Every bag starts the same way: potatoes fried in rapeseed and sunflower oils, in varying proportions. The difference is all in the seasoning.

Numbers for one bag

Per 25g bag, the listing gives Salt and Vinegar 129 kcal (536 kJ) and 0.42g of salt; Cheese and Onion 130 kcal (544 kJ) and 0.31g of salt; Smoky Bacon 131 kcal (547 kJ) and 0.34g of salt; and Ready Salted 134 kcal (557 kJ) and 0.27g of salt.

Per 100g

Per 100g, Salt and Vinegar has 514 kcal and 1.68g of salt, Cheese and Onion 521 kcal and 1.23g, Smoky Bacon 524 kcal and 1.37g, and Ready Salted 534 kcal and 1.08g. On the UK front of pack scale all four are red for fat and green for sugars; Salt and Vinegar is red for salt and the other three amber.

Fat

Ready Salted carries the most fat, 32.7g per 100g and 8.2g a bag, because it has no seasoning to dilute the oil; the flavoured bags have 30.6g to 31.1g per 100g.

Sugars

Cheese and Onion carries the most sugars, 3.5g per 100g, with Smoky Bacon at 3.1g; Salt and Vinegar and Ready Salted have 0.4g. All four are green on the front of pack scale.

The four at a glance

Lowest salt: Ready Salted, 1.08g per 100g. Highest: Salt and Vinegar, 1.68g. Most fat: Ready Salted, 32.7g. Most sugars: Cheese and Onion, 3.5g. Milk: Cheese and Onion only. No MSG: Ready Salted only.

Which bag for whom

Ready Salted for plain crisp fans and anyone avoiding MSG, Cheese and Onion for cheese lovers, Salt and Vinegar for a sharp bite and Smoky Bacon for a sweeter, smoky flavour.

Allergens and diet

Milk is in the Cheese and Onion bags, in the whey powder, cheese powder and flavouring. The other three lists have no milk. The published listing gives no may contain advice. The box says the crisps are suitable for vegetarians; it is not a vegan box, because of the milk, and there is no gluten free claim. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

MSG

Cheese and Onion, Salt and Vinegar and Smoky Bacon all use monosodium glutamate. Ready Salted does not, so it is the bag for anyone who avoids MSG.

What the pack leaves out

The box says there are no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. Where there is a colour, it is paprika extract.

Sixteen bags

At 25g, each bag is one serving. Sixteen bags cover three school weeks of lunchboxes with one to spare, and the four flavours keep the week varied.

The pack

The red bag carries the Golden Wonder name with the line more punch per crunch around it, a 16 variety pack label and four coloured bands, one for each flavour.

Who it suits

A mixed box suits a family with different tastes, a lunchbox rota or an office snack drawer. Keep the Cheese and Onion bags away from anyone avoiding milk.

Serving ideas

Put a bag in a sandwich: ready salted with ham, cheese and onion with cheese, salt and vinegar with fish fingers, smoky bacon with a cheese toastie.

Party bowls

For a party, tip the bags into separate bowls by flavour so guests can choose, and keep Ready Salted for anyone who wants a plain crisp.

In the kitchen

Crushed Ready Salted makes a neutral crumb for fish or chicken; crushed Cheese and Onion tops a macaroni cheese.

Storage and packaging

The box advises a cool, dry place.

Other Golden Wonder packs

For a single flavour, we stock Golden Wonder Cheese and Onion and Salt and Vinegar in six bag packs, with Beef and Onion and Tomato Ketchup. For four meaty flavours, the Golden Wonder Meaty box has Roast Chicken, Smoky Bacon, Beef and Onion and Cheese and Onion.

The tasting notes on this page are our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description.