Seabrook Crinkle Cut Variety Crisps, 6 x 25g

Seabrook's Variety box puts three everyday crisp flavours in one pack: two bags of sea salted, two of sea salt and vinegar and two of cheese and onion, six 25g bags and 150g in all. Every bag is a ridged crinkle cut crisp. The pack names Calbee Group UK Ltd as the maker, and the published listing gives the United Kingdom as the country of origin.

What is in the box

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

Sea salted

The sea salted bags are made from potatoes, vegetable oils (sunflower and rapeseed, in varying proportions) and sea salt, nothing else. With no seasoning blend, what you taste is the potato, the oil and the salt, and the ridged cut gives a plain crisp more texture.

Sea salt and vinegar

The sea salt and vinegar bags are made from potatoes, the same oils, rice flour, sea salt and two acidity regulators, sodium diacetate and citric acid. Sodium diacetate is a dry form of the acid in vinegar, so it brings the sharpness and smell of vinegar while keeping the crisp dry.

Cheese and onion

The cheese and onion bags are made from potatoes, the same oils, onion powder, lactose (milk), salt, cheese powder (milk), yeast extract, sea salt, garlic powder, flavouring, lactic acid, white pepper and a spice extract. Onion leads, cheese and lactic acid bring a tangy dairy note, and white pepper adds a little warmth.

Numbers bag by bag

The labels give, for each 25g bag: sea salted 128 kcal and 0.33g of salt; sea salt and vinegar 125 kcal and 0.6g of salt; cheese and onion 127 kcal and 0.3g of salt. Every bag is about 6% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake; the salt runs from 5% of the reference intake for cheese and onion to 10% for sea salt and vinegar.

Per 100g

Per 100g, the labels give sea salted 514 kcal, 28.9g of fat, 2.8g of saturates, 0.4g of sugars and 1.32g of salt; sea salt and vinegar 499 kcal, 28.7g of fat, 2.5g of saturates, 0.2g of sugars and 2.5g of salt; cheese and onion 510 kcal, 29.1g of fat, 2.8g of saturates, 2.8g of sugars and 1.3g of salt.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, all three flavours are red for fat, as fried crisps generally are, amber for saturates and green for sugars. Salt differs: sea salted and cheese and onion are amber, while sea salt and vinegar, at 2.5g per 100g, is red.

Allergens: milk in one flavour

The published ingredients highlight milk in the cheese and onion bags only, in the lactose and the cheese powder. The sea salted and sea salt and vinegar bags list no allergens from the UK list of 14. If someone in the house avoids milk, keep the two cheese and onion bags aside. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free

The pack carries a gluten free claim with the Crossed Grain symbol, the gluten free mark licensed by Coeliac UK, and says the crisps are Vegetarian Society Approved. Flavour by flavour, the listing marks sea salted and sea salt and vinegar as suitable for vegetarians and vegans, and cheese and onion as suitable for vegetarians. As a box it is vegetarian, and four of the six bags are vegan.

What crinkle cut adds

All six bags are crinkle cut: sliced with a wavy blade that leaves ridges on both faces, which gives a firmer crunch and grooves that hold more seasoning. It suits all three flavours, from the plain salt to the sharp vinegar powder.

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. Seasoning is tumbled on while they are warm, and the pack says the bags are packaged in a protective atmosphere.

Who the box suits

A small mixed box suits a household that cannot agree on one flavour, or a week of lunches where the same crisp every day would grow dull. The sea salted bags suit younger children, and the vinegar bags anyone who likes a sharp crisp.

Serving ideas

Pair the sea salted bags with any sandwich, the sea salt and vinegar with a cheese or egg sandwich, and the cheese and onion with ham. For a small gathering, tip all six into a bowl beside a dip.

The pack

The front of the pack lists the flavours under the Seabrook roundel, which reads since 1945, on bands of red, pale blue and yellow, with two crinkle cut crisps below.

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.

Each flavour on its own

All three flavours are sold in their own six bag packs, which we stock: Seabrook Crinkle Cut Sea Salted, Salt and Vinegar, and Cheese and Onion. We also stock the twelve bag Seabrook Crinkle Cut Meaty Variety, with Canadian ham, beefy, prawn cocktail and sea salted, and Seabrook 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.