Blue corn tortilla chips are pretty, but don’t necessarily have the most intense corn flavor. These chips, from Salba, are an exception. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.
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KAREN HOCHMAN is Editorial Director of THE NIBBLE.
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May 2007
Last Updated January 2010
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Corn Tortilla Chips:
In Search Of The Best Gourmet Corn Chips
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Our tasting notes and our favorite corn chips. Organic and kosher brands are designated in the chart. This is Page 2 of a two-page article. Click on the black link below to visit Page 1.
Chip Notes
- The chips in our survey range from 130 to 150 calories per ounce. On the low side are Frontera Foods, because they are cooked in water with a bit of oil, rather than fried in oil.
- Having tasted so many brands of blue corn chips at once, we have concluded that blue corn chips are more of an aesthetic notion than a savory one. They are dusty-tasting and more bland than chips from the same manufacturer made of yellow or white corn (or a mixture of the two).
- Our favorites: the chips from Food Should Taste Good, Frontera Foods and Rosa Mexicano. Salba Smart is also excellent, but slightly different with added Salba (think chia) seeds. Food Should Taste Good is sold at Whole Foods Markets and other natural food stores nationwide. Frontera Foods, based in Chicago, is partially owned by acclaimed Mexican chef Rick Bayless, owner of Chicago’s Frontera Grill and Topolobampo Mexican restaurants. Rosa Mexicano has three restaurants in New York City plus restaurants in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Palm Beach Gardens. (Their guacamole, made at tableside with a basket of their warm fresh-made chips, is a highlight of the menu.)
- Prices will vary: Those listed are a mixture of chips that can be ordered online from the manufacturer, and those that were purchased at various specialty food stores in New York City. Even among the New York stores, we found a price differential of 20% for the same item. And, of course, prices are verified at publication but are subject to change.
If you have a favorite chip, we’d love to know about it—especially if it’s nationally distributed or available online. Use the “Contact Us” link on this page.
Tasting Notes
| Manufacturer |
Comments |
Cape Cod
All Natural White Corn Tortilla Chips
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- Decent but would have preferred a bit more corn flavor
- Average thickness, thankfully not salty
- Ingredients: Stone ground organic white corn flour, canola oil and/or sunflower oil, salt
- 8.5-ounce bag, $2.99*; CapeCodChips.com
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Food Should Taste Good
Yellow Corn Chips
Certified Kosher By OU
FAVORITE!
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- A tie for first place. Great corn flavor. There are several specialty flavors in this line (jalapeño, lime, olive, sweet potato, etc.), all excellent.
- Ingredients: Organically grown corn (yellow/white or blue), soybean oil, salt. The blue corn is cooked in water with just a trace of soybean oil.
- 6-ounce bag, $2.99; read our review, a Top Pick Of The Week.
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Frontera Foods
Blue Corn Chips
Yellow Corn Chips
Certified Organic
by QAI
FAVORITE! |
- A tie for first place. Consistently, our favorite line of chips. Numerous flavors—we’ll do a full review of the line next month. All are excellent; not surprisingly, the blue corn chip was the best one we tasted.
- Ingredients: Organically grown corn (yellow/white or blue), soybean oil, salt. The blue corn is cooked in water with just a trace of soybean oil.
- 9-ounce bag, $3.50*; FronteraFoods.com.
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Garden of Eatin’
Blue Corn Chips
White Corn Chips
QAI Certified Organic
Certified Kosher by Kof-K |
- Third place winner (White Corn Chips): beautiful texture visually, good mouthfeel and basic corn flavor, thicker chip, good for break-free dipping. The White Corn Chips have more corn flavor than the Blue Corn Chips.
- 18 other flavors.
- Ingredients: Organic blue or white corn, expeller pressed canola oil and/or safflower oil, sea salt.
- 9-ounce bag, $1.99; 16-ounce bag, $3.46*
GardenOfEatin.com.
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Plocky’s
Three Grain
Black Beans ‘N Rice
Red Beans ‘N Rice
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- Plocky’s is a specialty chip producer. Adding other ingredients to corn chips creates a more attractive appearance, but dilutes the flavor. Lots of crunch, but we couldn’t tell what we were crunching.
- Ingredients: All-natural corn, brown rice, non-hydrogenated soybean oil, natural turbinado sugar, sea salt, plus (for Three Grain) cracked whole wheat, (for Black Beans) black beans and seasonings, (for Red Beans), chili beans, beet powder, seasonings.
- 7-ounce bag, $2.59†, Plockys.com (no online sales).
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Rosa Mexicano*
FAVORITE!
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- Best corn taste, larger chip size, medium thickness. Tied for first place with Frontera.
- Ingredients: Stone ground whole kernel yellow corn, sunflower oil, water, salt and trace of lime.
- 14-ounce bag, $3.95*, RosaMexicano.info.
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Salba Smart
Blue Corn Chips
USDA Certified Organic
Certified Kosher by Kof-K
FAVORITE! |
- Blue and yellow tortilla chips both excellent; good corn flavor and just the right amount of salt. The extra zingy taste comes from Salba.
- 400mg of Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids Per Serving.
- Ingredients: Stone ground organically grown blue corn, organic expeller pressed canola oil, Salba® (Salvia hispanica L.), water, and sea salt.
- 7.5-ounce bag, $3.99; read our review.
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Xochitl Topos de Maíz
Yellow Corn
Blue Corn
USDA & QAI Certified Organic
Certified Kosher by Kof-K
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- Overall response: bland. The Blue Corn is even more bland than the Yellow Corn.
- An ultra-thin style chip. The delicateness works against dipping, and also results in a lot of broken chips at the bottom of the bag—not what you want at this high a price (or any price). One tester said: “It’s like crunching on air.”
- This “Mexican style” chip may reduce chip calories, but otherwise the style was not preferred to the heftier “American style.”
- Ingredients: Stone ground corn, water, lime, non-hydrogenated cottonseed oil, salt.
- 16-ounce bag, $5.00*; Salsa Xochitl.com (online sales plus store locator on website).
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*Online price †Standard Retail Price from manufacturer
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