Tyrrells Sea Salt and Black Pepper Crisps, 150g

Salt and pepper is the seasoning on every kitchen table, and on a hand cooked crisp it becomes a warm, peppery snack with a clean finish. This is the 150g sharing bag, which the label suggests serves five. The full product name on the pack is sea salt and black pepper seasoned potato crisps.

The ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the crisps are made from potatoes, sunflower oil, rice flour, ground black pepper, sea salt, sugar, yeast extract, natural flavouring and black pepper extract.

Pepper first

Ground black pepper sits ahead of sea salt on the list, which is why the pepper leads. It appears twice: as ground pepper, for the speckled look and the bite, and as black pepper extract, which carries the aroma and warmth evenly over every crisp. Rice flour carries the seasoning, and a little sugar, yeast extract and natural flavouring round it out.

How hot is black pepper

Black pepper's warmth comes from piperine, not the capsaicin of chillies. It gives a tingle at the front of the mouth that fades quickly, rather than the slow burn of chilli, so a pepper crisp tastes lively without being hot.

Salt

The label gives 0.65g of salt per 100g and 0.2g for a 30g serving, the same salt figure as Tyrrells Lightly Sea Salted. That is half the salt of Tyrrells Cheddar Cheese and Chive, at 1.3g per 100g.

Hand cooked and spun

The listing describes these as hand cooked English crisps, and the brand says they are hand cooked and spun. Hand cooking means frying the slices in batches, which gives a harder, more uneven crunch than a crisp fried continuously on a conveyor, with some slices curled and folded.

Red Tractor potatoes

The label says the potatoes are Red Tractor certified. Red Tractor is the British farm and food assurance scheme, which checks standards on the farm. The published listing gives England as the country of origin.

Numbers per serving

The label gives 152 kcal (637 kJ), 8.4g of fat, 0.7g of saturates, 16.1g of carbohydrate, 0.3g of sugars, 2g of fibre, 2.1g of protein and 0.2g of salt for each 30g serving. That is about 8% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake and 3% of the salt. Per 100g it is 508 kcal (2122 kJ), 27.9g of fat, 2.4g of saturates, 53.8g of carbohydrate, 1g of sugars, 6.7g of fibre, 7g of protein and 0.65g of salt.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 27.9g is red, as it is for fried crisps generally. Saturates at 2.4g are amber. Sugars at 1g are green. Salt at 0.65g is amber, towards the low end of its band.

Allergens and diet

No allergens from the UK list of 14 are highlighted in the published ingredients, but the allergy advice says the crisps may contain milk. The pack says they are suitable for vegetarians and carries a gluten free claim; the seasoning is carried on rice flour. There is no vegan claim. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

What the brand leaves out

The pack says Tyrrells never uses artificial ingredients such as artificial flavours, colours or MSG, and there is no colour on this list. Yeast extract, which is on the list, is naturally rich in glutamates, which is worth knowing for anyone who avoids glutamates altogether.

The pack

The navy bag uses a black and white vintage photograph, like the other Tyrrells packs we stock: an old sailor in a cap, sitting on a stone wall with an outsized red pepper mill.

Serving the bag

Pepper suits rich, savoury food. Serve the bag with a steak sandwich, a plate of cold roast beef, a pork pie or a mature cheddar, and with a glass of red wine or a dark beer.

In the kitchen

Crushed, the crisps make a peppery crumb for a steak and ale pie, a fish cake or a cauliflower cheese. The pepper is already in the crumb, so there is no need to season it again.

Storage and packaging

The pack advises a cool, dry place and, once opened, an airtight container. The bag is packaged in a protective atmosphere, and 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 Tyrrells flavours

In the same 150g bag we stock Tyrrells Lightly Sea Salted, Sea Salt and Cider Vinegar, Smoked Paprika, Sweet Chilli and Red Pepper, Cheddar Cheese and Chive and Roasted Chicken and Sage. For a ridged crisp with black pepper, we also stock Tyrrells Furrows Beef Brisket and Black Peppercorn.

Other 150g packs of Tyrrells 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.