Herr’s – Carolina Reaper Cheese Curls
Growing up in the Mid-Atlantic region Herr’s chips were ubiquitous. I remember the television commercials with company founder Jim Herr and his tagline “Make Herr’s Yours”. After moving to Florida it wasn’t as easy to find Herr’s snacks until the greatest convenience store chain in America, Wawa, finally made its way down here to our sunny shores, and of course brought the bounty of Pennsylvania down with it including Herr’s chips (plus Tastycake of course).
Paradoxically it wasn’t at a Wawa that I first stumbled upon these chips, but rather at a 7-11, though after that one time I never stumbled upon them in another. That one taste was enough to get me hooked however, and I began looking for these in any convenience store I could find, alas with no luck, until I finally broke down and ordered a case online.
The bag makes big claims about the heat level of these cheese curls. Those claims aren’t met with the contents within, but these curls are still dang delicious if not particularly spicy. The first hit of flavor on these is cheese, which since these are cheese curls is great, and it’s a savory more natural cheese flavor than you get from the Cheetos brand. There is actual Carolina Reaper flavor as well, however it comes in on the back end of the flavor wave. It’s enough to freshen up the taste considerably, and that bright floral reaper flavor is a nice play against the savory cheese.
As far as the heat level goes, these can build a bit if you keep eating them curl after curl, but it never amounts to more than a low fuzzy warmth. Don’t be afraid of the “extra hot” and claims on the back of how hot reapers are, these aren’t any hotter than the “Flamin’ Hot” versions of various snack foods already available, and may even be a little bit milder.
While the ingredients list does predictably include plenty of mystery chemicals and processed foods, these aren’t health food by any means, I will give Herr’s credit for using actual Carolina Reaper powder in the ingredients. Oftentimes when we see mass market snacks that claim Ghost Peppers or Carolina Reapers they just use an extract of that pepper instead of the real pepper itself, so I’m glad to see Herr’s sprung for the real deal.
These are an easy recommendation. If you love cheese curls and you love great flavor, make Herr’s Carolina Reaper Cheese Curls yours.
Ingredients: Corn Meal, Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of corn, cottonseed, palm, sunflower), Cheese Blend (maltodextrin, whey, sunflower oil, cheddar cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes], salt, monosodium glutamate, sodium phosphate, butter [cream, salt], natural flavor, citric acid, lactic acid, yellow 5, yellow 6, enzymes), seasoning (corn maltodextrin, salt, spices, garlic powder, onion powder, sugar, paprika, gum acacia, corn syrup solids, natural flavoring, citric acid, Carolina Reaper Chile Powder, natural smoke flavor), salt
Heat Level: 2/10. Some warmth that can build but not very hot overall.
