One of the hardest parts of a low-carb diet is missing the potato chips. It’s my not-so-secret craving.

One of the best parts of this blog is the excuse to try new products, especially if the product includes potato chips. Yay!

Introducing the Chuao Potato Chip chocolate bar. This bar promised “crisp kettle cooked potato chips and a hint of sea salt mix and mingle in milk chocolate”. That’s verbatim off the package, so if it confuses you grammatically, you’re not alone.

Besides the unclear choice of words on the package, I was still excited to try this product.

Inside the bar was scored into little squares. This makes it easy to break off and eat a small piece. Thumbs up there. I also like the messages on the squares, which added a little extra fun to the bar.

What I didn’t like was the lack of potato chips. The chocolate was so sweet it covered any hope of the potato chip “crumbs” with that hint of sea salt ever coming through.

With a play on Lay’s “no one can eat just one” slogan, the Chuao bar says, “one is never enough”. I disagree. It should say, “one is too many”.

Ensuring I wasn’t too harsh on this potato chip chocolate bar, I turned to the group for a taste test. “Too sweet” and “I can’t taste the potato chips” were the recurring themes. Okay… so it’s not just me.

Together we decided the bar needed more potato chips, not mere crumbs, but large pieces of potato chips with extra salt. It also needed a deeper chocolate profile that added more bitter and less sweet… IMBHO.

I will say the story behind the brand is interesting and fun. Chef Michael Antonorsi left a tech career in Venezuela in his 30s and went to culinary school in Paris. “I have the privilege of living out my joy by crafting delicious, premium chocolate experiences for you. I hope they make you smile, maybe even giggle, so you’ll share the joy too.”

Sad… I really wanted to share that joy, too, but in the name of IMBHO, it’s a no… at least for the potato chip bar.

Check out the Chuao website for other interesting products. Maybe IMBHO will profile another chocolate bar, but one with dark chocolate. Tell us which one you’d like us to try. Here are a few of the options:

1.       Exploding Coal – popping candy and dark chocolate

2.       Snuggle Up S’Mores – graham crackers, marshmallows, and dark chocolate

3.       Firecracker – sea salt, chipotle, popping candy, and dark chocolate

4.       Pretzel Toffee Twirl – crunchy mini pretzels and buttery toffee in dark chocolate