So we cheated a little last week. With the taste of those yellow cherries still stinging our taste buds, everyone unfortunate enough to taste those decided it was a great time to try out something else. After all, with expectations set so low, anything even digestible would raise our spirits and faith in prepackaged food. We decided to break open the Yucatekas, which look like potato chips so can't be too bad, right? Plus, most of the packaging is in English, proclaiming things like "Vinegar & Hot Chilli Pepper Flavored" and listing ingredients I'm completely familiar with, like corn and MSG. We rip open the package, dump the contents on some paper in the middle of the office, and dig in.
The Yucatekas don't have a very strong odor, which is both a good and a bad thing. It's good because too often when something we open in the office has a strong odor, it's an overpoweringly awful one that sends people into a panic thinking a dead body has been unearthed. It's a bad thing because if these Yucatekas are supposed to have a vinegar and hot-chili-pepper flavoring, they should at least smell like one of those ingredients. Instead, there's a faint smell of salt and... well yucca. Thoroughly apathetic to the whole idea, I grab a couple of chips and toss them into my mouth.
I begin to chew before I taste the chip. I'm not sure if this an
indictment on how gross those yellow cherries were or how curious I am
to find out what these Yucatekas are all about. I notice they've got a
hearty crunch to them. Much crunchier than any potato chips (including
the kettle baked ones), or even corn chips. They're only a couple
millimeters thick, but they're almost as hard as pretzels. Along with
the satisfying crunch, the Yucatekas have a pleasant flavor, although
it's understated.
Just like the lack of smell, the vinegar and hot-chili-pepper seasoning
is barely there. It reminds me of those vile flavored water products:
not nearly enough flavor to trick anyone into thinking they're drinking
juice or a sports drink but just enough to think this bottle of water
has somehow been raped by a raspberry. These don't taste like plain,
salted Yucatekas. There's a hint of the vinegar and hot chilli pepper
sprinkled in, but I'm noticing it only because I'm looking for it. Had
I not read the packaging, I probably would have thought it was just
salted Yucatekas that had been contaminated on the machinery it was
processed on. Still, I had more than a handful of these Yucatekas, and
even the totally unadventurous eaters around the office managed to give
them a try without a single complaint.
Who should eat these: People who think eating hot foods somehow makes
you look tough but aren't ready to commit to actually eating those
types of food, those who like a very slight amount of flavor to their
chips, and anyone who's just eaten yellow cherries.
