Hula Hoops Variety Potato Rings, 6 x 24g

The six bag Hula Hoops Variety box puts three flavours of the potato rings in one pack: two bags each of salt and vinegar, original, and cheese and onion, 144g in all. Every bag is 24g and a single serving.

What is in the box

According to the published pack listing, the box holds 2 x Salt and Vinegar Flavour, 2 x Original and 2 x Cheese and Onion Flavour. Six bags cover a working or school week with one to spare, with a change of flavour most days.

One ring, three seasonings

Every bag holds the same potato ring: a dough of potato starch and dried potato, with rice and maize flour, cooked in sunflower oil. The seasoning is the only thing that changes, so the texture is the same light, even crunch in every bag.

Original

The original bags are plain: potato starch and dried potato, sunflower oil, rice flour, maize flour, salt and potassium chloride. No allergens are highlighted in their ingredients, and they are the least salty bags in the box.

Salt and vinegar

The salt and vinegar bags are seasoned with natural flavouring, salt, citric acid, rice flour, dextrose, maltodextrin, sugar and yeast extract, with potassium chloride. No vinegar is named; the tang comes from the citric acid and the flavouring.

Cheese and onion

The cheese and onion bags are seasoned with dried onion, salt, yeast extract, sugar, dried cheese, citric acid and natural flavourings containing milk, with a touch of cayenne and black pepper extract. They contain milk.

Cooked in sunflower oil

The pack says the rings are cooked with 100% sunflower oil, and all three recipes list sunflower oil as the only oil. The labels give 2.2g to 2.3g of saturates per 100g.

Rice and maize flour

Rice flour and maize flour sit beside the potato in every recipe, helping give the rings their light, even texture.

Potassium chloride

Potassium chloride appears in all three recipes. It tastes salty but contains no sodium, and the salt figure on a UK label is worked out from sodium, so it seasons without adding to that figure.

Numbers bag by bag

The labels give 120 kcal for every 24g bag. Salt per bag is 0.34g for original, 0.43g for cheese and onion and 0.48g for salt and vinegar, which is 6%, 7% and 8% of an average adult's daily reference intake.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, all three flavours are red for fat, at 25g, amber for saturates and green for sugars. Salt is amber for original, at 1.4g, and red for cheese and onion, at 1.8g, and salt and vinegar, at 2g.

Allergy advice

The published ingredients highlight milk in the cheese and onion bags only. The allergy advice for the box says it may contain cereals containing gluten, and the single flavour packs of original and salt and vinegar say they may contain cereals containing gluten and milk. If someone in the house avoids milk, keep the cheese and onion bags aside and still check the others. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

Diet

The pack says the rings are suitable for vegetarians. There is no vegan claim, the cheese and onion recipe contains milk, and there is no gluten free claim.

What the pack leaves out

The pack says there are no artificial flavours or colours and no MSG; the only colour, in the cheese and onion bags, is paprika extract. Yeast extract, in two of the three recipes, is naturally rich in glutamates, which is worth knowing for anyone who avoids glutamates altogether.

Who the box suits

A small mixed box suits a household where one person wants plain, another sharp and another cheese and onion, or a week of lunches where the same flavour every day would grow dull.

Choosing a bag

If you are handing out bags, original is the mildest and the least salty, cheese and onion is soft and savoury, and salt and vinegar is the sharp one.

Energy per 100g

Per 100g, the labels give 499 kcal for original and 502 kcal for both cheese and onion and salt and vinegar, so the flavours differ far more in salt than in energy.

Sharing fairly

Every bag is the same 24g portion, so sharing out is easy and fair whichever flavour each person picks.

Serving ideas

Tip the bags into bowls for a small party, or hand them out with packed lunches. Rings go with any sandwich filling, and the plain ones make a mild dipper.

Storage

The pack advises a cool, dry place. Keep the bags in the outer bag until needed, and finish each bag once opened.

Each flavour on its own

All three flavours are sold on their own in six bag packs, which we stock: Hula Hoops Original, Salt and Vinegar and Cheese and Onion. For a bigger mix, the twelve bag Hula Hoops Variety box adds BBQ beef.

Sizes of Hula Hoops Variety Potato Rings we stock

Figures as published on each pack's label.

The published listing gives the United Kingdom as the country of origin. The tasting notes on this page are our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description.