Since George Crum invented the potato chip in 1853, Americans have been downing them by the bagfull. These days, people in the United States eat approximately 17 billion dollars worth of potato chips each year. That's more than a third of the snack industry by itself. Go down to any supermarket, convenience store or gas station and you'll find anywhere on the order of a dozen or more varieties of chip, be it in brand, texture, or flavor. It's a complicated enough issue that regulatory courts have had to formally define what exactly constitutes a potato chip. For example, a recent ruling declared Pringles to be a snack food adequate for human consumption, but not sufficiently within the bounds of potato-chipdom.
In recent years one particular style of chip, the kettle chip, has been gaining in popularity. Kettle chips are naturally very crunchy, have a distinct dark color, and tend to hold on to that much-desired potato flavor a little better than your average fried or baked chip. One particular brand of chips, Hawaiian, has started to appear in more places and in several new varieties around the Pacific Northwest. Hawaiian comes from Tim's Cascade Snacks based out of Auburn, Washington. There are four varieties of Hawaiian chips, but we'll only be looking at the three flavored types. Covering the Original Recipe chip would be a bit redundant.
Luau Barbeque
If there's one flavor of potato chip that fluctuates in quality between brands, it has to be barbecue. There are sweet, spicy, tangy, and all manner of salty versions. The Hawaiian Luau Barbecue chips are on the lower end of spicy. They've got a tiny kick to them, but they aren't anywhere near the zing of the recent "extreme" chip fad. The barbecue flavor itself is strong and full-mouthed. Coming from a smaller local company, I was hoping these would have a more authentic barbecue flavor. There's nothing quite like a chip that carries the sweet and smokey character of a good barbecue sauce. I'd sooner eat these than most big brand barbecue chips, but they still don't quite measure up to the best.
Sweet Maui Onion
Easily the best of the Hawaiian chips. It's a real challenge to make a convenient snack that tastes exactly like the thing it's imitating, so Sweet Maui Onion is a small triumph. These chips have the flavor of a good caramelized onion, only not overpowering. Most onion-flavored chips taste more like onion dip and other derivatives, so it's a real pleasure to bite into one that tastes genuine. These are particularly good alongside a sandwich. They bring a flavor to the meal that actually augments what would otherwise be a pretty mundane affair.
Teriyaki
The newest of the Hawaiian brand chips, Teriyaki is something of an oddball. At first, the experience is a bit disappointing. It begins with a nondescript sweetness followed by a simple saltiness with the first couple bites. Then something amazing happens. Maybe it's the warmth or the added moisture of chewing, but right in the middle the teriyaki flavor really comes out. It's not a cheap bottled sauce flavor, either. Rather, it's the taste of a good teriyaki chicken dish. I still wish that sensation was immediate, but when it finally does come it's nothing short of impressive. However, all the pineapples on the packaging make me wish for a pineapple flavor in the chip. In fact, it gets me thinking about why sweet flavors have been neglected in potato chips in general. A good fruit-flavored chip would definitely break up snacking monotony.
For now, I'm happy to recommend Tim's Hawaiian Kettle Chips to anyone who can find them. You shouldn't have trouble in the state of Washington and in the Western United States in general. For everyone else, you can buy all of Tim's Cascade products on their website.