Utz "The Crab Chip"

Mmmm. Utz. Just their name invokes tastes of homey, crispy, summers with days at the sprawling playground I called home for most of the season. Even plain, the chips are amazing. A really distinctly thin and crispy chip. No ruffles. Nothing fancy. Just good potato.

This particular chip worried me, as I am no connoisseur of seafood or crustacean-like delicacies. They remind me of bugs, quite frankly, and that fishy taste is just plain gross. But this chip, upon eating it, delivers a tasty smack of paprika and Old Bay seasoning that one might use on a crab instead of a fishy, crabby taste.

For starters, I have to applaud Utz on their packaging and resilience. These potato chips made it all the way from a grocery in Thurmont, MD, to my house in the middle of a large, stuffed backpack. And when I opened the package, not a chip was crushed! Imagine that. Of course, this might also be due to the fact that they're rather small in stature and uniform in shape, carrying the ability to stack one on top of another for the quintessential "chip sandwich."

Utz's chips are crispy and transparent, and this particular flavor boosts a healthy dusting of bright red powdering, with intermittently shaded flecks all across the chip. The first thing one tastes when eating this is paprika, and then a boost of hot flavoring and a sour, salty taste underneath. The ingredient list says there's honey, but I didn't taste any.

These are pretty hot for a crab chip. Having never had Chesapeake crabs or Old Bay, I can't tell you if they resemble either, but that it's a nice flavor. Were I to make a comparison, it would be to a barbecue chip, if anything. I still like them, though. After so many chips, your mouth does sort of numb to the entire experience, rendering taste buds useless.

7/10- CRABALICIOUS