Kroger Hot Crunchy Cheese Curls

Although the minus didn't affect our final score, these hot chips will make itself known as one of the best alternatives from the popular brand. The pieces themselves truly define that crunch taste as you eat. The application of the spices may be a bit much, but it depends on the bag.

If you like it, reproduce your own.

Doubtful that may be the reason why Kroger® released their own line of snacks coinciding with CHEETOS® but something is nice about this. Depending what area, city and/or state you live in, you'll find that these delicious black bags are priced much lower than that of CHEETOS®. It doesn't mean the taste is cheap, and it sure as heck doesn't mean it's low quality.

Prior to their bag redesign, I found the taste to be spicy, delicious but overboard in terms of spices. My dear, sweet sister actually prefers it like that, however, it can be too much for me. Also, depending how much heat you can handle, it's right up there with Cheetos' XXTRA Flamin' Hot Crunchy chips. As for the pieces themselves, Kroger wasn't kidding about the "crunchy" part. The crunchiness is blunt and firm—that blissful quality under the force you give your teeth in, ripping the molecular fibers of the crunch in the food in shreds, making you feel like you're giving your jaw a nice workout. I love that feeling, and crunchy food fans will find this an exciting trip.

After the new redesign, featuring a cheese curl doing stand-up, the flavors were cut down, I'd say, about 20%. The spicy heat was cut down too much to the point where it's "just tasty." The quality of the crunchiness is still there though. In addition, this brand is also less greasy as well.

Compared to the XXTRA Hot, this brand is crazy with its sodium content (about 70mg more than Cheetos XXTRA Hot). Despite the low price, it packs a wallop for those conscious about their salt intake. If anything, these chips are best served with something sweet. Snacking on this bag by itself is up to you, just be sure to clean it up with a brisk, bottle of beer, or water.

Advice to Kroger: Increase the heat, lower the sodium. Advice to you: give it a try!

Kris Caballero

Founder of KCU Network and KCU Plus, Kris has been writing since he managed a personal blog made back in late 2005. Officially back to doing computer programming (software development) and video production, Kris enjoys reading books on Mathematics, Quantum Computing, Philosophy, playing old video/DOS games, digital video archiving, and listening to sports, public radio and classical music.

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