Pipers Burrow Hill Cider Vinegar and Sea Salt Crisps, 150g

Pipers make sharing crisps with named ingredients, and this is their salt and vinegar, made with cider vinegar from a Somerset cider farm rather than malt or spirit vinegar. This is the 150g sharing bag. The full product name on the pack is cider vinegar and sea salt flavour potato crisps, and the pack names Pipers Crisps as the maker.

The ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the crisps are made from potatoes, sunflower oil, cider vinegar powder (maltodextrin, Somerset cider vinegar and cider vinegar), sea salt, dextrose, lactose (milk), rice flour, malic acid, yeast extract powder, apple powder, onion powder and natural flavourings.

Burrow Hill cider vinegar

The pack says the cider vinegar comes from Burrow Hill Cider Farm, in an apple orchard in Somerset, where the autumn harvest brings in 40 varieties of apples, pressed in the traditional way, and the vinegar is matured in oak barrels for a bittersweet flavour.

Apples three ways

Cider vinegar, apple powder and malic acid, the natural acid of apples, all bring apple into the seasoning. The result is a rounder, fruitier sharpness than a spirit or malt vinegar crisp.

Maltodextrin

Maltodextrin carries the cider vinegar as a powder, so it can be dusted evenly onto the crisps.

Sweet against sharp

Dextrose and lactose soften the vinegar, and onion powder and yeast extract give a savoury base, so the sharpness is balanced rather than harsh.

Salt

This is the saltiest Pipers bag we stock, at 2.1g of salt per 100g, red on the front of pack scale. Keep portions to a handful.

Onion and yeast extract

Onion powder and yeast extract powder sit behind the vinegar, giving the seasoning a savoury base. Yeast extract is naturally rich in glutamates, worth knowing for anyone who avoids them altogether.

Rice flour

Rice flour carries the seasoning so it spreads evenly over each crisp, and it contains no gluten.

Numbers per 100g

The label gives 523 kcal (2184 kJ), 30g of fat, 3g of saturates, 57g of carbohydrate, 2.7g of sugars, 3.3g of fibre, 5.2g of protein and 2.1g of salt per 100g. The listing gives no serving size, so the figures on this page are per 100g.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 30g is red, as it is for fried crisps generally. Saturates at 3g are amber. Sugars at 2.7g are green. Salt at 2.1g is red.

Allergens and diet

The published ingredients highlight milk, in the lactose. The published listing gives no may contain advice. The pack says the crisps are suitable for vegetarians, with Vegetarian Society approval, and carries a gluten free claim; they are not vegan, because of the milk. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

Gluten free

Cider vinegar is made from apples, not barley, and no gluten containing cereal is on the list, so the pack can carry a gluten free claim, unlike crisps made with malt vinegar, which comes from barley.

Sunflower oil

The crisps are fried in sunflower oil, the only oil on the list.

Crisps as they should taste

The back of the pack carries the line crisps as they should taste, and the brand describes its aim as bold flavour from named ingredients and good potatoes.

The pack

The green and white bag carries the Pipers trumpeter over the Pipers name, with Burrow Hill in green above cider vinegar and sea salt crisps and the 150g weight.

The Pipers range

Pipers name the source of a key ingredient on each bag: Wyke cheddar, Atlas Mountains thyme, Trealy Farm chorizo, Burrow Hill cider vinegar and Anglesey sea salt. The five bags we stock share the same 150g format and are all fried in sunflower oil.

A sharing bag

At 150g, the bag is made for sharing. Tip a handful into a bowl rather than eating from the bag, and clip it shut between servings.

Who it suits

A fruity, sharp salt and vinegar suits anyone who finds malt vinegar crisps too harsh, and the gluten free claim suits a coeliac guest. It is not suitable for anyone avoiding milk.

Serving the bag

Cider vinegar crisps go with fish and chips, a pork pie, a cheeseboard with a sharp cheddar, or a glass of Somerset cider.

In the kitchen

Crushed, the crisps make a sharp, fruity crumb for fish goujons or the top of a potato salad.

Storage and packaging

The pack advises a cool, dry place and eating the crisps within three days of opening. Its recycling mark says recycle at store, UK only, and do not recycle at home.

Other Pipers flavours

In the same 150g bag we stock Pipers Anglesey Sea Salt, Wyke Cheddar and Onion, Trealy Farm Chorizo and Atlas Mountains Wild Thyme and Rosemary.

Other 150g packs of Pipers 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.