Skips Salt and Vinegar Snacks, 6 x 13g

Skips are the light, melting snack from KP Snacks, made from tapioca starch rather than potato or corn, and Salt and Vinegar is the newer flavour next to the classic prawn cocktail. This six pack holds small bags, labelled at 13.1g each, one serving per bag. The full product name on the pack is salt and vinegar flavour tapioca snack, the pack gives a freepost address for KP Snacks, and the listing says Skips are made under licence from Meiji Co., Ltd. of Japan.

The ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the snacks are made from tapioca starch, sunflower oil, maize flour, a salt and vinegar flavour (natural flavouring, maltodextrin, citric acid, salt, potassium chloride, dried spirit vinegar and dried yeast extract), rice protein, sugar and salt.

Tapioca

Tapioca starch comes from the cassava root. It puffs into a very light, airy snack that melts on the tongue, which is the whole point of a Skip: the pack calls them light, melty and zingy.

Zingy

The zing comes from dried spirit vinegar, the clear vinegar used for pickling, with citric acid for extra sharpness and natural flavouring leading the seasoning.

Maltodextrin

Maltodextrin carries the seasoning so the vinegar powder and salt spread evenly over each Skip.

A soft salt and vinegar

Most salt and vinegar snacks are hard and crunchy. A Skip melts, so the vinegar reaches the tongue quickly and fades fast.

Less sweet than the prawn cocktail

There is sugar in the base, but none in the seasoning, so Salt and Vinegar Skips carry 3.6g of sugars per 100g, against 6.5g for Skips Prawn Cocktail, green rather than amber on the front of pack scale.

Meiji

The listing says Skips are made under licence from Meiji Co., Ltd., a Japanese food company, and the light, airy tapioca snack has more in common with Japanese puffed snacks than with a British potato crisp.

No MSG

The pack says no MSG, and none is on the list. Dried yeast extract is naturally rich in glutamates, worth knowing for anyone who avoids them altogether.

Potassium chloride and the salt figure

Potassium chloride sits in the flavour beside salt. It tastes salty but contains no sodium, and the salt figure on a UK label is worked out from sodium. The label gives 1.8g of salt per 100g and 0.24g for each bag, the least salty Skips we stock.

Numbers for one bag

The pack gives 73 kcal (305 kJ), 4.3g of fat, 0.4g of saturates, 7.6g of carbohydrate, 0.5g of sugars, 0.5g of fibre, 0.7g of protein and 0.24g of salt for each bag. That is about 4% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake, 6% of the fat and 4% of the salt. Per 100g it is 557 kcal (2326 kJ), 33g of fat, 3g of saturates, 58g of carbohydrate, 3.6g of sugars, 1.2g of fibre, 5.2g of protein and 1.8g of salt.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 33g is red. Saturates at 3g are amber. Sugars at 3.6g are green. Salt at 1.8g is red. The small bag keeps each portion to 73 kcal, the figure on the front of the pack.

Tapioca, maize and rice

Tapioca, maize and rice are not among the 14 allergens on the UK list, so no allergen is highlighted in the ingredients.

Allergens and diet

No allergens from the UK list of 14 are highlighted in the published ingredients. The allergy advice says the snacks may contain cereals containing gluten, milk and soya. The pack says they are suitable for vegetarians; there is no vegan statement and no gluten free claim. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

What the pack leaves out

The pack says there are no artificial colours or flavours, and there is no colour on the list at all.

Rice protein and maize

Rice protein and maize flour join the tapioca in the base, with sunflower oil, the only oil on the list.

Sunflower oil

Sunflower oil is the second ingredient and the only oil on the list; the label gives 3g of saturates per 100g, amber.

Six small bags

Each bag is a small portion, 73 kcal. Six bags cover a school week with one to spare.

The pack

The light blue outer bag carries a red new flavour flash, the red and white Skips name in a white cloud, a 73 kcal roundel, a big 6 and the words salt and vinegar, with one of the small bags in the corner.

Who it suits

A light, melting salt and vinegar snack suits anyone who likes a sharp flavour with a soft bite, and a small bag suits a lunchbox.

Serving ideas

A bag goes with a fish finger sandwich or a cheese sandwich; for a party, tip a few bags into a bowl beside the prawn cocktail.

In the kitchen

Crushed, Skips make a fine, sharp crumb for the top of a fish pie or mushy peas.

Storage and packaging

The pack advises a cool, dry place. 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 Skips

For the classic flavour, we stock Skips Prawn Cocktail in a six pack, a 35g grab bag and a 90g sharing bag.

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