Review: Morrisons Salt and Vinegar Twirls (“the twisted snack with extra crunch”)
I remember listening to the presentation of a paper at the 33rd International Snack Gathering of Experts a few years ago entitled “the third dimension: what role should It play in flavour construction?”. The thesis was that ever more elaborate maize architecture (think Ringos, Monster Munch and Skips) were little more than displays of a warped imagination and technical prowess, that detracted from really mattered to crisp aficionados, namely the taste of a standard potato chip.
This has never been a position I have fully accepted — although I concur it can sometimes go too far (think Big Hula Hoops). For me, mouth feel is a core part of the flavour experience. Crunch-styles really do matter and different shapes, densities and artistic ambitions do masticate differently. This is why there is more to this crisp than The Gathering understood.
Few know that The Twirl (other names include Vinegar Twists, Salt Spinners and Helter Skelter Vinegar Belters) was patented by Francis Crick’s wife in the late 50s. Whilst he and James were enjoying the fame of discovering their DNA, Janet Crick was becoming increasingly isolated and bored. One day at home, surrounded by innumerable models of the double helix, she had a sudden realisation that she could capitalise on his discovery by finding a way to create the DNABites.
(It is also true she thought this might create some envy by Francis to make him realise how much time he was spending away from home, and their young children, at the laboratory and rekindle their marriage. Sadly, Francis was so embarrassed by his wife’s attempts to join the workforce and make a name for herself at a time when superstar academics needed a proud and servile stay-at-home wife to provide sufficient respectability within the stuffy and snobbish attitudes of the Senior Common Room, that he eventually filed for divorce in the mid-60s taking up with his youngest research assistant who had to leave her career behind her.)
The name didn’t catch on, but she worked over the next three years with her cousin, who at that time was a junior executive at Golden Wonder Foods, and they eventually patented what we now know of as The Twirl. Originally they were ready salted but, in a moment of accidental inspiration, during an alcohol fuelled New Year’s Eve in 1958, James Watson was pretending to imitate Conway Twitty’s “It’s Only Make Believe” (№1 that week) by using a bottle of vinegar as a microphone, but one martini too many led to him tripping on a rug and smashing his glass microphone over one of several bowls of DNABites brought by Janet, lovingly spread about his split-level Cambridge townhouse.
The rest is history.
The patent expired in the mid 2010s since when most supermarkets developed their own version of The Twist. After much testing, I have found only two matter: Marks and Spencer’s and the Morrison’s variety under review.
And to that review. The immediate hit of vinegar is awe inspiring. Think of standing in an incorrectly-earthed electric shower or falling over naked in the snow. The effort required to shatter the savoury double helices is immense. It results in a sudden oral cavity collapse that’s one part roller-coaster-ride scary and one part let’s-stay-up-for-one-more-episode fun. A heady and addictive combination. There’s a reason they come in 120g bags.
Whilst prolonged use can lead to a numb mouth and aching jaws, it’s not enough to put you off. If you can bear to, sharing the bag avoids such an outcome. Fingers are left slightly sticky but its nothing a good licking cannot remove.
All in all, the history, the noise, the ferocious implosion of these scaled up genetic code books combine to produce a snack worthy of any party.
It’s this reviewer’s contention that there is a place for the third dimension in snacks when sufficient thought and reason is used to creative effect. Enjoy yours.
Review: Morrisons Salt and Vinegar Twirls (“the twisted snack with extra crunch”) was originally published in trenchantly on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.