The familiar melba toast now has lots of
spicy flavor that lingers on the palate.

“New Bold Flavor” proclaims the box of All Natural Melba Snacks. No kidding: Old London has managed to make Melba Snacks taste like a spicy chip has fused with the familiar toast. The toasts have as long an aftertaste as we’ve found in a while: The spices dance on the palate for ten minutes after the last bite.

This is not your mother’s bland, diet melba toast, but a very savory and crunchy snack, accompaniment to soups and salads (try it as a giant crouton, with or without melted cheese), base for hors d’oeuvres or dipper. The three peppers are not specified in the ingredients list (only “spices”), but the toasts include oat fiber, pinto beans, molasses, garlic, onion, distilled vinegar, natural flavor and sesame oil.

Four rounds have 50 calories and 5g whole grain. The product is cholesterol-free and certified kosher by OU.

By the way, melba toast is named after Dame Nellie Melba, the internationally renowned Australian opera singer (born Helen Porter Mitchell, 1861-1931). In 1897, when the singer was unwell, the toast was made for her by chef Auguste Escoffier (a fan who also created the dessert, Peach Melba) at London’s Savoy Hotel. The bread was lightly toasted and cut longitudinally instead of diagonally; the pieces were then re-toasted to crisp the bread. Dame Melba liked it so much that the preparation became a staple of her diet. The hotel manager, César Ritz, supposedly named the toast in a conversation with his chef and partner, Escoffier. The following year, Ritz left the Savoy and opened the celebrated Hôtel Ritz in the Place Vendôme in Paris, with Escoffier.