In 2007, we were one of the first to discover Popchips and make it a Top Pick Of The Week.

Over the years, we’ve had many a potato chip, but none as guilt-free and delicious as Popchips. They have half the fat but all of the flavor. Super-crunchy, they’re fun as well as fabulous.

Instead of frying potato slices to make chips, Popchips are made with proprietary process. The potatoes are cut into small pieces, then popped under heat and pressure—no fat.

After the chips are popped, some fat is required for the seasonings to adhere. That’s why these delicious chips have half the fat of conventional chips. Compare one-inch servings:

Popchips are available in eight flavors: Original Popchips, Barbeque Popchips, Cheddar Popchips, Jalapeño Popchips, Parmesan & Garlic Popchips, Salt & Pepper Popchips, Sea Salt & Vinegar Popchips and Sour Cream & Onion Popchips.

Read the full review and TRY THEM! The line is gluten-free, non GMO and certified kosher, and is available at retailers nationwide.

Potato Chip History

The first potato chips were born in the U.S.A.—by accident, in the course of a “food fight” between a fussy restaurant patron and a cranky chef. Check out the story.

What Are The Best Conventional Potato Chips?

Our favorite conventional chips are the original Saratoga Chips, first made at the Moon Lake Lodge in Saratoga Springs, New York.

A few years ago, local entrepreneurs began to produce Saratoga Chips. Small, curly and elegant, they’re terrific for everything from snacking from the box to nibbling with a Martini.

The company’s luscious dip mixes are also noteworthy. Packaged in a reproduction of the original chip box, Saratoga Chips are a great gift for the chip lover. Small, individual-portion size makes a great party favor or stocking stuffer.

People are coming over for drinks—just drinks. What should you serve as a nibble?

Our favorite from-the-bag cocktail snack has got to be Japanese rice crackers, specifically the chic little rolls wrapped in seaweed. They’re called nori maki arare in Japanese: seaweed roll cracker.

While we’ve never met a rice cracker we didn’t like—they are a delightful change of pace from bowls of nuts, pretzels and chips—these look and taste different.

The super crunchy crackers are high on texture and nuances of flavor. In addition to the ocean-brininess of the seaweed, the soy sauce, used instead of salt, adds sophisticated flavor. There is a tiny hint of heat and the faintest taste of sweetness.

Consider these Japanese rice crackers a gourmet crunchy snack.

And they’re not just for cocktails. A few crackers make a tasty snack with beer, green tea or straight black tea. (We drink our tea Asian-style, without milk or sugar. For sugared tea, a cookie is a better companion).

These sophisticated rice crackers are our
favorite crunchy cocktail snack. Photo by
Jaclyn Nussbaum | THE NIBBLE.

As with any seductive salty snack, it’s easy to polish off an entire bag while enjoying one’s wine or beer.

You can also find fancy rice crackers (as opposed to the round, flat crackers) flavored with wasabi or shrimp, among other varieties. If you love this type of rice snack nugget, keep trying different types in order to discover your favorites.

If your supermarket has a Japanese products section, look for them there; you can also find them at Asian products specialty markets or online.

Find more of our favorite salty, crunchy snacks in our Gourmet Snacks Section.

Most people can enjoy an ice cream sandwich without a second thought.

But people with gluten sensitivity can’t have that cookie sandwich. And people with lactose intolerance can’t have the ice cream or frozen yogurt. Unless they reach for Beachy Cream.

 
Beachy Cream of Malibu, California solves the problem by offering a classic ice cream sandwich: lactose-free vanilla ice cream sandwiched between gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.

Made in small batches with locally sourced, sustainable and organic ingredients, Beachy Cream’s other flavors include candied ginger ice cream on a molasses spice cookie, “hot” chocolate ice cream on a brownie cookie, Key lime ice cream on a coconut oatmeal cookie, strawberry balsamic swirl ice cream on a sugar cookie, and traditional vanilla bean ice cream on a chocolate chip cookie.

Beachy Cream’s handmade ice cream
sandwiches include a gluten-free, lactose-
free option. Photo courtesy Beachy Cream.

If you’re not local to Malibu, you can order the ice cream sandwiches from the company website. It’s a generous gift to soothe someone who is new to dealing with gluten intolerance.

The online store carries only an assortment of the regular line, but you can contact the store at youscream@beachycream.com, or 1.877.299.7557.

Other Ideas For Enjoying Gluten-Free Ice Cream Sandwiches

 
See our favorite gluten-free gourmet food products.

Here’s a salsa to enjoy while listening to Donna Summer belt “Hot Stuff.”

It’s the first salsa we’ve tried from an artisan producer that uses the world’s hottest chile pepper—the ghost chile, or bhut jolokia.

Salsa is a billion dollar industry in America, with consumer preferences trending to hot. Lots of people think that, for food, heat can’t be beat. If you’re one of the many who like it hot-hot-hot, get some of Mrs. Renfro’s Ghost Pepper Salsa. It recently won at the 2011 Scovie Awards, the world’s leading competition for hot and spicy products.

Ghost Pepper Salsa is the fastest growing product in the company’s 71-year history. It’s also one of Mrs. Renfro’s three best sellers, along with two other hotties: Habanero and Green (jalapeño) Salsa.

How hot is ghost pepper?

Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot stuff, baby! Photo by River
Soma | THE NIBBLE

 
The “explosive” Mrs. Renfro’s Ghost Pepper Salsa is available at retailers nationwide, or online at RenfroFoods.com. The cost per 16-ounce jar is $3.25 (prices will vary by market); online sales from Mrs. Renfro’s are in four-packs.

Try it at your own risk. Says Mrs. Renfro’s: “This Ghost Pepper Salsa is scary hot!”

The second Annual Hemp History Week ended yesterday.

The national grassroots education campaign aims to renew support for hemp farming in the U.S. Although illegal today, hemp was traditionally grown in the U.S. by many farmers—including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper!

In addition to edible hemp seed, hemp has long been used to make fiber for rope and textiles.

The growing of hemp as a food and textile crop was banned in 1957, due to federal confusion over industrial hemp and marijuana.

While there is pending legislation to change the situation, currently no live hemp plant (specifically, leaves and stems) can enter the U.S. But the seeds and end products containing them can be imported.

Shelled hemp seeds are a delicious addition
to salads. Photo by Elinor D. | Wikimedia.

Hemp seeds are one of the most nutritious foods around. Hemp, along with quinoa, is one of the few plant foods that are a complete protein (containing all the essential amino acids). Hemp seed is packed with protein, omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids (the highest levels of any plant source) and magnesium. The flavor is mild, similar to sunflower seeds.

If only hemp were legal, it would add inexpensive protein to our diet. Instead of appearing only in niche health foods, large manufacturers would use it to add protein to cereal, milk and other foods.

Currently, Americans can purchase hemp seed powder to add to smoothies and other foods; shelled hemp seeds to sprinkle on salads, soups, veggies, yogurt and hot and cold breakfast cereals (very tasty!); and hemp seed oil for salads.

Beyond nutrition, an excellent reason to legalize hemp growing is that it can be a salvation to many of America’s farmers.

It is difficult for many American farm families to earn a living from farming. Farmers earn $25/acre for growing corn. Hemp would yield $200/acre, giving them the income they need to keep their family farms.

Now that you know, support hemp farming. Write to your state and federal representatives. Not only does the federal government need to legalize hemp farming, but each state must also legalize it in order to allow its farmers to grow hemp.

Learn more at VoteHemp.com and follow the link to send a pre-written email, fax or letter to your legislators to let them know how you feel about the status of hemp in the U.S.

And don’t forget to enjoy the benefits of hemp as a high protein nutritional supplement. Start with sprinkling the tiny seeds onto your salads. If you typically eat a low-protein vegetable salad for lunch, it’s just what the doctor (or nutritionist) ordered. Two tablespoons of hemp seed provides 11 grams of protein, as much as a chicken drumstick.

Our favorite hemp food: the hemp bagels from French Meadow Bakery.

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with tortilla soup,
and enter the Gourmet Giveaway. Photo
courtesy Wolfgang Puck.

Fans of the Gourmet Giveaway know that our gourmet food giveaway went on hiatus in February, as we were building its new home on TheNibbleGourmetMarket.com.

The Gourmet Giveaway is back, with three gift baskets from Chef Wolfgang Puck.

All you need to do is enter your email address. To enter, go to TheNibbleGourmetMarket.com, scroll down, and click the box right underneath the shopping cart.

The gift basket is filled with Chef Puck’s Signature Tortilla Soup—which we’re going to enjoy again on Cinco de Mayo—plus other gift items from Chef Puck.

The Wolfgang Puck soup line is delicious, certified organic and has several gluten-free choices. You know from the first taste that you’re dealing with top-quality ingredients.

You can purchase the Wolfgang Puck soup line at fine retailers nationwide and online.

We liked the three varieties we tried—Classic Minestrone, Signature Tortilla and Tomato Basil Bisque—so much that we can’t wait to try the rest of the 17 varieties of soups, including Creamy Butternut Squash, French Onion, Old Fashioned Potato, Roasted Red Pepper with Tomato, Thick Hearty Vegetable and Vegetable Barley.

The gluten-free soup varieties include Black Bean, Hearty Lentil Vegetable, Free Range Chicken With White And Wild Rice, Signature Tortilla and Tomato Basil Bisque. See the full list.

Beyond spaghetti and meatballs: Teriyaki
Meatballs With Grilled Pineapple. Recipe
below. Photo and recipe courtesy Al Fresco.

If you’ve been watching America’s Next Great Restaurant on TV, you know about Saucy Balls, the restaurant concept of contestant Joey Galluzzi of Brooklyn, New York. His idea is to serve a menu of different meatballs and sauces.

Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow, co-owners of New York City’s The Meatball Shop, actually beat Joey to the punch. But they already have a restaurant, so they’re not in the competition to get their concept funded by Chipotle founder Steve Ells, Bobby Flay and two other chef-investors.

If meatballs are calling your name, just head to your supermarket and pick up the first two flavors of the new Al Fresco chicken meatball line:

 
Here’s the store locator. Look for the meatballs in the refrigerator section.

Al Fresco is known for its all-natural chicken sausages, fully cooked and ready to heat and eat. The all-natural chicken meatballs are similarly delicious and easy to prepare.

Made with lean chicken meat, the chicken meatballs contain 60% less fat and 40% less sodium than beef and pork meatballs. They’re a healthy option: all natural (no preservatives, nitrates or MSG) and gluten free. Enjoy them with pasta or rice, in a meatball hero or as an appetizer.

APPETIZER RECIPE: GRILLED PINEAPPLE WITH TERIYAKI CHICKEN MEATBALLS
Ingredients

 
Preparation
1. Spray pineapple slices with cooking spray and grill or pan brown.
2. Lightly brush both sides with hoisin sauce. Cut rings into bite size pieces about 1 inch wide (just big enough for the meatballs to sit on).
3. Spray a separate medium skillet with cooking spray. Brown meatballs over medium high heat on both sides.
4. Add water, cover and fully heat meatballs.
5. Skewer meatballs on top of pineapple and lightly brush with the hoisin sauce to give a glaze.
6. Set on a platter or individual serving plates. Garnish with fresh mint. Place remaining hoisin sauce in a small dipping bowl. Serve immediately.

Super Bowl Sunday is February 6. If you win this week’s Gourmet Giveaway prize, you will be well prepared for a football party.

Two lucky winners will each receive two bags of every flavor of Laurel Hill Tortilla Chips, including:

Made with all-natural ingredients, no preservatives and a selection of healthy ingredients like chia seeds, flax seeds, quinoa and pumpkin, these chips taste as good as they sound. They’re also gluten-free, kosher and vegan. With a thick texture and unusual rectangle shape, Laurel Hill tortilla chips will have you dipping away.

Open the bag of Sea Salt & Lime tortilla chips
and you’ll smell the natural lime oil flavoring. Photography by Hannah Kaminsky | THE
NIBBLE.

We have a new cracker passion: Blue Diamond Natural Nut-Thins.

You may be familiar with Blue Diamond nuts, produced by a California co-op of 3,200 growers. Their almonds have been sold since 1910—one hundred years of health almonds.

In addition to almond butter and Almond Breeze almond milk, the company makes nut thins that are well worth a try (unless you avoid potentially addictive healthy snacks).

The snack cracker line comprises seven flavors of all-natural, crunchy, baked nut crackers that are wheat-free and gluten-free (and certified kosher by OU). We haven’t tried all six because we’re addicted to the Barbeque, but they include Almond, Almond Cheddar Cheese, Country Ranch, Hazelnut, Pecan and Sea Salt.

Loaded with healthy nuts (see the health benefits of nuts), the crackers have 2g of protein per serving, no cholesterol or sugar and are low in sodium.

We’re as happy as squirrels.

Nut thins are a great crunch—and they’re
gluten-free and kosher. Photo by
Katharine Pollak | THE NIBBLE

Where’s the beef?

It’s been replaced by chicken, in these tasty meatballs from Coleman Natural, ready to heat and eat.

Coleman Natural’s Gourmet Chicken Meatballs are antibiotic-free, hormone-free, preservative-free and vegetarian-fed. They’re gluten-free and soy-free. They’re better for you than conventional beef or pork meatballs.

See all the different things you can do with chicken meatballs in hors d’oeuvre, appetizers, lunch, dinner and snacks. Learn why chicken meatballs are a better choice than beef or pork meatballs.

And decide which flavor you’d to start with: Buffalo Style Chicken Meatballs; Chipotle Cheddar; Italian Parmesan; Pesto Parmesan; Spinach, Fontina Cheese and Roasted Garlic; or Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Provolone.

Beef? Fuggedaboudit and go for a chicken
meatball hero. Photo by Jill Chen | IST.