Schär Gluten Free Original Curvies, 170g

Curvies are Schär's curved potato chips, stacked in a tube, and Original is the plain, salted one. Schär make gluten free food, and the small print on the tube, in Italian, describes the chips as salted crisp wafers made with potato and specifically formulated for people intolerant to gluten. This is the 170g tube, which the pack marks as new, and the maker on the label is Dr. Schär AG / SPA.

The ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the chips are made from dehydrated potatoes (57%), sunflower oil, rice flour, glucose syrup, potato starch, salt, an emulsifier (mono and diglycerides of fatty acids) and rapeseed oil.

Gluten free by design

There is no wheat on the list: the dough is dehydrated potato with rice flour and potato starch. The Schär logo on the tube carries a crossed grain and the words gluten free.

Curved chips

The dough is shaped into thin, curved chips of even size, stacked in the tube so they stay whole. They are closer to a stacked tube crisp than to a sliced potato crisp.

Dehydrated potatoes

Dehydrated potatoes make up 57% of the chips, so potato is well over half the recipe.

Rice flour and potato starch

Rice flour and potato starch bind the dough in place of wheat, and give the chips their light, even crunch.

Glucose syrup

Glucose syrup adds a little sweetness. The label gives 5.1g of sugars per 100g, amber on the front of pack scale, just over the 5g line.

No palm oil

The tube carries a no palm oil mark: the oils on the list are sunflower and rapeseed. The label gives 1.8g of saturates per 100g, amber.

The emulsifier

Mono and diglycerides of fatty acids are an emulsifier that helps the dough mix evenly.

Numbers per 100g

The label gives 495 kcal (2072 kJ), 25g of fat, 1.8g of saturates, 61g of carbohydrate, 5.1g of sugars, 4.4g of fibre, 4.7g of protein and 1.3g of salt per 100g. The listing gives no serving size.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 25g is red. Saturates at 1.8g are amber. Sugars at 5.1g are amber. Salt at 1.3g is amber.

Fibre

The label gives 4.4g of fibre per 100g, and the tube carries a fibre mark beside the palm oil mark.

Plain and salted

With salt as the only seasoning, the chips taste of potato, with a touch of sweetness from the glucose syrup.

Sunflower and rapeseed oil

Sunflower oil is the second ingredient, after the potato, and rapeseed oil comes last. The label gives 25g of fat per 100g, red on the front of pack scale.

Salt

The label gives 1.3g of salt per 100g, amber on the front of pack scale.

Carbohydrate and protein

The label gives 61g of carbohydrate per 100g, of which 5.1g are sugars; the rest is starch from the potato and the rice. Protein is 4.7g per 100g.

Maker

The label names Dr. Schär AG / SPA as the maker, and the Schär logo on the tube carries the crossed grain and the words gluten free.

Potato starch

Potato starch, fifth on the list, helps the dough hold together without wheat.

Allergens and diet

No allergens from the UK list of 14 are highlighted in the published ingredients. The allergy advice says the chips may contain milk. The pack says they are gluten free; the listing makes no vegetarian or vegan statement. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

The tube

The band around the top of the tube reads resealable package and 98% recyclable, so the lid goes back on between servings.

Storage

The listing advises a cool, dry place, with the best before date on the bottom of the tube.

For coeliac guests

A gluten free tube of crisps is useful at a party where a guest needs to avoid gluten: set it out separately, with its own bowl, so it is not mixed with wheat based snacks.

The pack

The tube is yellow at the top and deep blue below, with a green new flash, the red Schär logo with its crossed grain and the words gluten free, the name Curvies Original in blue, two small marks for fibre and no palm oil, three curved chips, and the 170g weight.

Who it suits

A plain, salted, gluten free chip suits anyone avoiding gluten who misses a stacked tube crisp, and anyone who likes a light, even crunch. Anyone avoiding milk should read the may contain advice.

Serving ideas

Serve the chips with a soured cream and chive dip, a guacamole or a cold beer, and keep them apart from wheat based snacks.

In the kitchen

Crushed, the chips make a gluten free crumb for fish or chicken goujons, or a topping for a fish pie.

With dips

A curved chip scoops a dip neatly: try a soured cream and chive dip, a salsa or a hummus.

In a lunchbox

Tip a handful into a small pot for a gluten free lunchbox, and put the lid back on the tube.

With drinks

A plain, salted chip goes with almost anything: a cold beer, a cider or a glass of fizz.

No serving size

The listing gives no serving size, so tip a handful into a bowl rather than eating from the tube.

Other Curvies

Schär Curvies also come in a BBQ flavour tube.

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