Garden Harvest Toasted Chips

 A while ago, I had signed up for a free sample of Nabisco’s Garden Harvest Toasted Chips.  The box arrived in the mail and had two 1-oz packs of Apple Cinnamon and Vegetable Medley.  For some odd reason, I thought to try the Apple Cinnamon first.

I don’t know what the deal is with all this new “sneaking fruits and vegetables into diets” program.  There are discussions abound over Jessica Seinfield’s cookbook on sneaking veggies into kid food.  Now we have Nabisco giving you things that look like chips but are made with fruits and vegetables to give you an astounding 1/4 of your recommended daily equivalent per 1-oz serving.  Are people really not eating fruits and vegetables?  I mean, even if you eat a banana or apple a day, or munch on some carrots with dinner, that’s got to be better than eating chips.

Now, because I signed up for the samples (as opposed to being sent unsolicited goodies), I give you this review honestly and openly and urge you to just not buy them.  Chow seemed to like them; I do not.

These little chips look like triangular Wheat Thins and smell of apples and cinnamon.  They taste vaguely of dried apple chips, but with a crackery texture.  They’re slightly sweet, but not sweet enough to fulfill a sugar craving – I was expecting something like the coating on Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.  It’s an odd marriage of sweet dried fruit and (what should be salty) crackers.

I ate the entire 1-oz bag out of some strange compulsion to keep going.  Like, if I got to the end I’d realize that I really do like them and wish I had more.  Instead, I wish I had been able to eat a handful of real Wheat Thins.  In the meantime, I would suggest just eating some dried fruit mix (the dried mango from Costco is quite yummy) or going for the salty chip/cracker/pretzel type of snack.  These Toasted Chips just aren’t going to cut it.

Out of sheer curiosity, I opened the bag of Vegetable Medley chips to try them.  They’re actually worse than the Apple chips because I’m not even going to eat more than one.  They’re definitely not salty or tasty, so if you were craving chips or crackers or pretzels, this would just make your tastebuds very sad.  Have you even made Cup o’ Noodles?  The one in the styrofoam cup with the packet of “seasoning” and “vegetables”?  Have you ever tasted the freeze dried vegetables before adding them to the cup (you know you have)?  Well, these Vegetable Medley chips taste kind of like that, only without the overload of sodium.