Seabrook Crinkle Cut Sea Salted Crisps, 6 x 25g

Sea Salted is the plain Seabrook: ridged crinkle cut crisps with sea salt and nothing else. This multipack holds six 25g bags, 150g in total, each a sealed single serving.

Three ingredients

According to the published listing, the crisps are made from potatoes, vegetable oils (sunflower and rapeseed, in varying proportions) and sea salt. That is the whole list. With no seasoning blend, what you taste is the potato, the oil and the salt, and the crinkle cut gives it a texture that a flat plain crisp does not have.

Why crinkle cut suits a plain crisp

A crinkle cut slice is made with a wavy blade, which leaves ridges on both faces. That makes the slice stiffer, so it gives a firmer, more pronounced crunch, and it gives the salt more surface to cling to. On a plain crisp the texture is the whole point, and the ridges make a sea salted crisp feel more substantial than a flat ready salted one.

Sea salt

Sea salt is made by evaporating seawater. Chemically it is mostly sodium chloride, like any other salt, so it counts towards the salt figure in the same way; the differences are in the crystal and in traces of other minerals, not in how much salt you eat.

Plain is not always the least salty

On the published labels, Seabrook Sea Salted has 1.32g of salt per 100g. That is a little more than Beefy at 1.19g and Cream Cheese and Chives at 1.29g, close to Cheese and Onion at 1.3g, and much less than Salt and Vinegar at 2.5g. A flavoured crisp can carry less salt than a plain one, because its seasoning brings taste from other ingredients.

Numbers for one bag

The label gives 128 kcal (537 kJ), 7.2g of fat, 0.7g of saturates, 14g of carbohydrate, 0.1g of sugars, 1.4g of protein and 0.33g of salt for each 25g bag. That is about 6% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake and 6% of the salt. The published listing gives these per bag, and the per 100g figures, worked out from them, come to about 512 kcal, 28.8g of fat, 2.8g of saturates, 56g of carbohydrate, 0.4g of sugars, 5.6g of protein and 1.32g of salt.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 28.8g is red, as it is for fried crisps generally. Saturates at 2.8g are amber. Sugars at 0.4g are green. Salt at 1.32g is amber, in the upper part of its band.

Allergens and diet

No allergens from the UK list of 14 are highlighted in the published ingredients, and the listing gives no may contain advice. The published listing says the crisps are Vegetarian Society Approved, including its vegan approval, and carries a gluten free claim. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

How the crisps are made

Washed potatoes are sliced with a crinkled blade, rinsed and fried in the sunflower and rapeseed blend until the ridged slices are firm. Sea salt is scattered on while they are warm. The oils are listed in varying proportions, the standard wording when a blend can change.

Six bags for the week

Six bags cover a working or school week with one to spare. A plain crisp goes with every sandwich filling, has no heat and no strong smell, and a sturdy crinkle cut survives a lunchbox well. For a household that avoids gluten or animal products, the published statements make it a simple choice, with the usual allergy check.

The dip crisp

A ridged plain crisp is a good dipper: firm enough to scoop houmous or guacamole, and neutral enough to let the dip carry the flavour. Tip a couple of bags into a bowl beside a dip for a small gathering.

In the kitchen

Crushed, plain crinkle cut crisps make a gluten free crumb for coating fish or chicken, or a crunchy topping for soup or a salad. Add herbs or spices to flavour the crumb.

Storage

The pack advises a cool, dry place away from bright light. Keep the bags in the outer pack until needed and finish each bag once it is opened.

Other Seabrook flavours

Sea salted is in both Seabrook variety boxes: the six bag Crinkle Cut Variety, with sea salt and vinegar and cheese and onion, and the twelve bag Meaty Variety, with Canadian ham, beefy and prawn cocktail. In the same six bag format we stock Seabrook Crinkle Cut Cheese and Onion, Salt and Vinegar, Beefy, Prawn Cocktail, Cream Cheese and Chives and Tomato Ketchup.

Other 6 x 25g packs of Seabrook we stock

Figures as published on each pack's label.

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