Seabrook Crinkle Cut Cheese and Onion Crisps, 6 x 25g

Seabrook makes crinkle cut crisps, and this multipack puts its Cheese and Onion into six 25g bags, 150g in total. The full product name on the pack is Cheese and Onion Flavour Potato Crisps, and the pack names Calbee Group UK Ltd as the maker.

What a crinkle cut does

Crinkle cut crisps are sliced with a wavy blade, which gives each slice ridges and grooves on both faces. The ridges make the slice stiffer and a little thicker than a flat crisp, so it gives a firmer crunch, and the grooves hold more seasoning. They also catch the light and the powder differently, which is why a crinkle cut crisp often tastes more strongly seasoned than a flat one of the same flavour.

The ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the crisps are made from potatoes, vegetable oils (sunflower and rapeseed, in varying proportions), onion powder, lactose (milk), salt, cheese powder (milk), yeast extract, sea salt, garlic powder, flavouring, lactic acid, white pepper and a spice extract.

How the flavour is built

Onion powder leads the seasoning, so onion is the first flavour. Lactose, the natural sugar in milk, gives a gentle sweetness and carries the powder; cheese powder gives the savoury dairy note. Yeast extract adds depth, garlic rounds it out, and lactic acid, the acid that gives cheese and yoghurt their tang, sharpens the cheese. White pepper, milder and earthier than black, adds a little warmth at the end. It is a savoury, onion forward cheese and onion rather than a sweet one.

Gluten free, with the Crossed Grain symbol

The pack carries a gluten free claim and the Crossed Grain symbol, the gluten free mark licensed by the charity Coeliac UK, with a licence number on the pack. For households managing coeliac disease, that symbol is the one to look for. None of the ingredients is a gluten containing cereal. The pack also says the crisps are Vegetarian Society Approved.

Numbers for one bag

The label gives 127 kcal (532 kJ), 7.3g of fat, 0.7g of saturates, 13.4g of carbohydrate, 0.7g of sugars, 1.6g of protein and 0.3g of salt for each 25g bag. That is about 6% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake and 5% of the salt. Per 100g it is 510 kcal (2128 kJ), 29.1g of fat, 2.8g of saturates, 53.6g of carbohydrate, 2.8g of sugars, 6.4g of protein and 1.3g of salt.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 29.1g is red, as it is for fried crisps generally. Saturates at 2.8g are amber. Sugars at 2.8g are green. Salt at 1.3g is amber, in the upper part of the band.

Allergens and diet

The published ingredients highlight milk, in the lactose and the cheese powder. The published listing gives no may contain advice. The pack carries a gluten free claim with the Crossed Grain symbol and says the crisps are Vegetarian Society Approved. They are not vegan, because of the milk. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

How the crisps are made

Potatoes are washed and cut with a crinkled blade, rinsed of surface starch, and fried in the sunflower and rapeseed blend until the water has cooked out and the ridged slices set firm. The seasoning is tumbled on while they are warm, and the grooves fill with powder. The pack says the bags are packaged in a protective atmosphere, which keeps oxygen away from the oil.

Six bags for the week

Six bags cover a working or school week with one to spare. The crinkle cut slice is sturdier than a thin flat crisp, so it arrives at lunchtime in better shape. It suits a ham or cheese sandwich, a flask of soup, or a lunchbox for someone who avoids gluten.

In the kitchen

A crushed bag makes a savoury, gluten free crumb for the top of a cauliflower cheese or a macaroni cheese. The ridged pieces stay crunchy in the oven.

Storage and packaging

The pack advises a cool, dry place away from bright light. The published recycling guidance says the whole packaging can be recycled with carrier bags at large supermarkets and should not go in home recycling.

Other Seabrook flavours

In the same six bag format we stock Seabrook Crinkle Cut Sea Salted, Salt and Vinegar, Beefy, Prawn Cocktail, Cream Cheese and Chives and Tomato Ketchup. The Seabrook Crinkle Cut Variety box has two bags each of cheese and onion, sea salted and sea salt and vinegar.

Other 6 x 25g packs of Seabrook 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.