Wheat Crunchies Crispy Bacon Snacks, 6 x 20g

Wheat Crunchies are crunchy wheat snacks from KP Snacks, and Crispy Bacon is the smoky, savoury one, with no bacon in it. This is the multipack of six 20g bags, 120g in all, and the pack gives figures for each bag. The full product name on the pack is crispy bacon flavour crunchy wheat snack, and the pack gives a freepost address for KP Snacks.

The ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the snacks are made from wheat flour (with calcium, niacin, iron, folic acid and thiamin), durum wheat semolina, sunflower oil, a crispy bacon flavour (dextrose, wheat flour, salt, yeast extract containing barley, sugar, dried yeast, natural flavourings, spices, citric acid and paprika extract), potassium chloride and salt.

Wheat tubes

Wheat Crunchies are little hollow tubes of wheat, with a hard, serious crunch. Wheat flour and durum wheat semolina, the wheat used for pasta, make the dough.

Bacon without bacon

There is no bacon on the list. The smoky, savoury taste comes from yeast extract, dried yeast, spices and the natural flavourings, and the pack says the snacks are suitable for vegetarians.

Dextrose

Dextrose, a simple sugar, leads the flavour and gives it a light sweetness, like a crispy bacon rasher. The label gives 4.7g of sugars per 100g, green on the front of pack scale.

Yeast extract

Yeast extract, made with barley, gives the savoury depth. It is naturally rich in glutamates, worth knowing for anyone who avoids them altogether; the pack says no MSG.

Potassium chloride

Potassium chloride sits beside the salt. It tastes salty but contains no sodium, and the salt figure on a UK label is worked out from sodium.

Protein

With wheat flour and durum semolina as the base, the label gives 10g of protein per 100g and 2g in a bag.

Numbers for one bag

The pack gives 99 kcal (414 kJ), 5g of fat, 0.5g of saturates, 11g of carbohydrate, 0.9g of sugars, 0.7g of fibre, 2g of protein and 0.36g of salt for each 20g bag. That is about 5% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake, 7% of the fat and 6% of the salt.

Numbers per 100g

Per 100g the label gives 495 kcal (2072 kJ), 25g of fat, 2.3g of saturates, 56g of carbohydrate, 4.7g of sugars, 3.3g of fibre, 10g of protein and 1.8g of salt.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 25g is red. Saturates at 2.3g are amber. Sugars at 4.7g are green. Salt at 1.8g is red.

Sunflower oil

Sunflower oil is the only oil on the list, and the label gives 2.3g of saturates per 100g, amber.

Durum wheat semolina

Durum wheat semolina, the wheat of dried pasta, gives the tubes their hard, glassy crunch.

Spices and paprika

Spices and paprika extract give the bacon flavour a warm colour and taste, and a little citric acid lifts it.

Salt

The label gives 1.8g of salt per 100g and 0.36g in a bag, red on the front of pack scale.

Carbohydrate and fibre

The label gives 56g of carbohydrate per 100g, of which 4.7g are sugars; the rest is starch from the wheat. Fibre is 3.3g per 100g.

Allergens and diet

The published ingredients highlight wheat, in the flour and semolina, and barley, in the yeast extract. The allergy advice says the snacks may contain milk. The pack says they are suitable for vegetarians; there is no vegan statement, and they are not suitable for anyone avoiding gluten. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

Fortified flour

UK wheat flour is fortified with calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin, and this list adds folic acid, which is why those five appear in brackets.

Six bags

Six 20g bags make a school week of lunchboxes with one to spare, and each bag is one serving.

No artificial colours or flavours

The pack says there are no artificial colours or flavours. The colour is paprika extract.

The pack

The maroon outer bag carries a black crack of a burst, the Wheat Crunchies name in large white letters, a few wheat tubes, a large 6 pack mark and the words crispy bacon.

Who it suits

A hard, crunchy, smoky wheat snack with no meat suits vegetarians who like a bacon flavour and anyone who likes a serious crunch. It is not suitable for anyone avoiding gluten.

In a lunchbox

A bag goes beside a cheese sandwich and a piece of fruit.

With a pint

A crispy bacon wheat snack goes well with a pint of bitter.

At a party

Tip a few bags into a bowl for a party beside a plain crisp.

With soup

Scatter a few tubes over a bowl of tomato soup for crunch.

Trade mark

The listing notes that Wheat Crunchies is a registered trade mark.

Distributor

As well as the freepost address for KP Snacks, the listing names Tayto Snacks, of Ashbourne in County Meath, Ireland, as a distributor.

Storage and packaging

The listing 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.

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.