"corn chips" news and stories

Thinking of switching from a classic potato chip or corn chip to one that claims to be healthier? Before you give up the Fritos, have a look at Healthcastle.com's amazingly helpful nutritional comparison of 40 top brands, reports NPR. You may be surprised at what those "better-for-you" chips actually save in the fat and calories departments.

Take Lay's Classic potato chips (ok, I admit it, they're my personal fave, so that's where I looked first) compared with Corazona's Slightly Salted Chips. Corazona's chips have 30 fewer calories for a one-ounce serving (let's just pretend we eat only an ounce), and 4 fewer grams of fat, but both have zero trans fats and sugars. And Corazona's are higher in carbs by 3 grams. So if it's a calories-and-fat battle you're waging, you might as well stick with the Lay's. But sodium? Lay's has double, with 180 mg. to Corazona's 90. (And yes, corazón, means "heart" in Spanish.)

My father's college degree is in the History of Country Music (truly). I grew up with a lot of country, bluegrass, folk and other roots music playing in the house. Because of this early childhood conditioning, to this day I am a huge fan of old-timey music. However, I've never had much of a tolerance for currently popular Country music (although, Dolly Parton can do no wrong in my eyes).

So, when a PR person for the Fritos company offered to send me a couple of bags of Tim McGraw's new Spicy Jalapeño Fritos, I was skeptical. I was curious what the chips would taste like (being a lover of all things spicy) but had a scornful reaction that went something along the lines of,"What's a Country music star doing lending his name to chips? Jimmie Rodgers would never have done something like that!" It did nothing to elevate my opinion of current Country music.

However, after tasting the chips, I am forced to admit that they are darn tasty. They aren't actually all that spicy, but they capture the heat and greenness of a jalapeño pepper in a way that is addictive and delicious. And, they can't be that terrible for you, since the Frito was originally invented as a health food!

These chips are currently available in select areas around the country and will be for sale nationwide soon.

One of the podcasts I subscribe to is Hidden Kitchens, produced by the Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva). Typically what happens to me with podcasts is that I let them build up for a while and then I go through a binge, listening to one after another. This is what happened while I was sitting in the Chicago airport around 5 am on Sunday morning, waiting for my connecting flight that would get me back in Philly. I was looking for something entertaining and interesting and so started listening to the back log of Hidden Kitchen episodes on the pod.

I listened to several episodes, but there was one in there that I think that every food lover should check out. Originally aired in October 2007, this one is all about the invention of the Frito. It is fascinating because it consists almost entirely of interviews with the daughters of the man who innovated Fritos. He was something of a health food evangelist and was trying to create a side dish, not a snack/junk food. It is an interesting listen and made my wait in the airport far more interesting than it could have been.

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Baked chips, when compared to regular fried chips, lack a certain something. They don't have the flavor or texture of regular chips and this is especially true in the case of tortilla chips. Eating Well set out to taste test some healthier chips and noticed, when reading the labels, that not all fried chips are equally "bad" for you - and many had more fiber and less sodium than their flavorless baked counterparts, with only a few more grams of fat. Out of 20 different chips tested, they picked out their top choices.

• RW Garcia Stone Ground (140 cal., 4g fat/.5g saturated, 4g fiber per 1-oz serving) - This brand got the "smart choice" award from the reviewers, who described them as being "authentic" and having a "great corn flavor." As an added bonus, each serving only had 40mg of sodium, the lowest in the test group.
• Santitas White Corn (130 cal., 6g fat/1g saturated, 1g fiber per 1-oz serving) - Salty, corny and crunchy, these chips actually had less sodium than most of the chips in the taste test. They weren't high in the fiber department, though.

Frito Lay is releasing a new version of its popular Tostitos tortilla chips: Multigrain Tostitos. The new chips are made with four whole grains, including corn, oat, buckwheat and wheat, contain no trans fats and little saturated fat. When compared to the classic Restaurant Style Tostitos, which are made with whole, white corn, the Multigrain have 65mg of potassium and more dietary fiber, though they actually contain slightly less calcium. The fat and calorie counts are very similar.

A nuttier, multigrain taste will probably enable the new chips to compete with crackers as a dipable snack food, good for things like cheese spreads and hummus. The regular corn tortilla chips will still be tops for salsa, though, since there isn't enough nutritional benefit to be gained from making a switch to give up that classic taste.

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