…and on that farm he grew some spuds, e-i-e-i-o.
More to the point, though, is what young Ed O’Donnell did with those potatoes. With a crunch, crunch here and a crunch, crunch there, he made crisps – and some really rather fine kettle-cooked crisps at that – a fact which I have verified by means of some, eh, selfless personal testing.
Fuelled by no small amount of determination – and featuring crisps flavoured using locally sourced ingredients, like Mt. Callan cheddar from Co. Clare and cider vinegar from Con Traas’ nearby apple farm in Co. Tipperary – O’Donnells Crisps have, since their launch in 2010, achieved an impressive level of distribution here in Ireland. You’ll find them, among other places, in SuperValu, Centra, Londis, Dunnes Stores, Superquinn and Tesco and also in Selfridges in the UK – so it’s here a crunch, there a crunch, and, really, everywhere a crunch, crunch for O’Donnells these days.
And now for the best part...
The other place where you might find the crunch of an O’Donnells crisp this Christmas is in a box, delivered to your door. I have 5 such boxes to give away, and I will be resisting the temptation to eat them myself, so that I can, instead, bestow them, Santa-like, upon 5 lucky Daily Spud readers. Each will contain 20 packets of O’Donnells crisps in the readers’ flavour of choice – either mature Irish cheese and red onion, Irish cider vinegar and sea salt, or their more recently added sweet chilli flavour. Full details below.
Getting straight to the crunch:
If you fancy getting your Christmas mitts on a box of O’Donnells crunchiness, leave a comment below and let me know, flavourwise, whether you’re a cheese ‘n’ onion, salt ‘n’ vinegar or sweet chilli type of eater (or simply whether you’re salty, sweet or cheesy). Feel free, also, to speculate about the two new flavours that O’Donnells are bringing out in the new year – so secret that even I don’t know what they are yet.
I’ll pick 5 winners, and each will receive their Christmas crisp fix in the form of a box containing 20 packets of O’Donnells crisps in their chosen flavour. In a bit of good news for those living across the water, O’Donnells will deliver the prizes, not just to addresses in Ireland (either North or South), but to addresses in the U.K. as well.
I’ll leave this open until midnight GMT next Sunday, December 9th, and notify the winners of their incoming bounty of crisps thereafter.
Update 15/12/12: and so the winners have been chosen and O’Donnells crisps are winging their way to Keith Bohanna, Sara Wilson, Gareth Saunders, Imelda Kinsella and Lauren Bicocchi. Congratulations all and happy Christmas munching!
ohh please pick me…I’m going to Kenya for 5 months in January to do voluntary work and those 20 packets would be rationed out at one packet a week :D the crisps over there are not up to Irish standards at all at all!!! i am a crispaholic however my allegiance does lie in Camp Cheese & Onion!!!!
Strikes me as a very worth entry Nicola, will see what we can do :)
S ‘n V !!!
Ahh, salt ‘n’ vinegar – a man after my own heart, Mark, and O’Donnells S ‘n’ V are champion in my book
Fab… there is nothing like a bag of decent salt and vinegar crisps with a mineral while watching Christmas movies!
I LOVE O’Donnell’s crisps, best cheese and onion crisps around, and I’ve tried pretty much all of them!
Idle speculation re: crisp flavours….
Em, tuna & sweetcorn, and… Bacon & egg. :)
Love cheese and onion, but hoping you will be bringing out a BBQ flavour.
@Sue salt and vinegar + a mineral + some Christmas movies sounds just about perfect!
@Muireann I love an oul’ bit o’ tuna & sweetcorn – never thought about it as a crisp flavour, mind… nor bacon & egg for that matter :)
@Belinda I reckon you wouldn’t be the only one who’d like to see a BBQ flavour – or maybe some smoky bacon…
Oh please send me cheese ‘n’ onion, it might take my mind off my bunion :) As for the new flavours next year I think Bangers and mash and roast chicken.
Happy to help take your mind off the bunion Val! And sounds like you’d be getting your dinner in crisp form with those bangers & mash or roast chicken flavours :D
When I posed the question of new flavours to the 3 boys, they came up with: Olive; Chocolate icecream; and Banana. Think I’d stick to Cheese n onion myself ;-)
Janey mac Orla, your boys have some, eh, interesting flavour ideas there! Think I’d be sticking to something more traditional myself too (though I’m kindof intrigued by the idea of an olive-flavoured crisp all the same…)
Salty! Most definitely! THE best hangover cure ever!
Had the cheese & onion recently & they were fab!
I’m an ‘anything but salt n vinegar’ kinda gal
Salty please!! xx
I actually love all 3 flavours! My favourite is probably irish cider vinegar and sea salt….my mouth is watering even thinking about them :)
Salty and vinegary here. And ready salted cooked in Olive Oil does it for me as a New Year treat :)
K
Oh god, how could I choose just one :( The cheese & onion are the only filling for a Blaa, the S&V are a kick for the drives up/down from
Dublin & the Sweet Chilli, well they’re for the telly :)
As for the new flavour… Have always wondered what peanut butter crisps would taste like…
@Alison I hear ya!
@Elaine salt ‘n’ vinegar seems to be like that – you either love ’em or steer well clear!
@Sadhbh duly noted
@Fiona I love all three too, though I’m ultimately a salt ‘n’ vinegar girl at heart too
@Keith ready salted cooked in olive oil sounds like an excellent treat, sir
@Helen tricky to choose indeed and I’d also be dead curious about peanut butter crisps – I have been known to dump salted peanuts into cheese & onion crisps before consuming the lot, washed down with lucozade or something stronger…
Cheese & onion for me please!! Love O’Donnell’s crisps
Oh….think of the children! They would love this treat :0) Salty or cheesy here and I really do hope it is a a roast chicken flavour. Or marmite…that would work?
I haven’t found a flavour of crisps I wouldn’t eat, as for a new flavour? Scampi??? Nom!
Ooh, riffing on the boys’ idea, I think vegemite & banana crisps would be just swell :-)
But as you may know, in the regular flavor area I am firmly in the chili camp
Only cheese and onion for me, love them. Only girl in a house though with 3 men who are all salt and vinegar die hards!!
@Joanne you are clearly a woman of great taste :)
@Mona agreed – it is important to think of the children when it comes to something like this :) as for marmite flavour, I reckon that would be one of those divisive ones like salt ‘n’ vinegar – I’d be all for it myself (or its vegemite equivalent, even better!)
@Owen ooh scampi, I could go for that bigtime!
@Tim ah yes, your preference for chilli is no great surprise; on the vegemite and banana front, I’m not *entirely* sure that O’Donnells would go for that one :D
@Aine well then, cheese & onion it would have to be and let the lads fend for themselves
I’m a C&O girl as I mention at http://www.freefromguru.com/odonnells-authentic-hand-cooked-tipperary-crisps/. Converted my fussy son this week, unfortunately!
My guess is next year could be a roast chicken & thyme flavour and a sweet chilli (or maybe sour cream & chives).
Look forward to finding out!
Ooooh, anything that’s not salt and vinegar, I still don’t know why S&V is a flavour.
would love a sweet chilli crisp sandwich now yum
Cheese and onion definitely. I let each one melt on my tongue and savour the taste.
Cheese n onion for me a new flavour would be oxo x
lovely treat and i love salt and vinegar
@FreeFromGuru ah, they already have a sweet chilli flavour (which I can highly recommend); I can see how roast chicken & thyme would go down well, though, and sour cream and chives is, of course, a classic – who knows what the new flavours will turn out to be…
@Triona it’s an each to their own kind of thing I guess – the main thing is that there are enough flavours to keep everyone happy :)
@Niamh now that you mention it, wouldn’t mind one of those myself…
@Peter spoken like a true appreciator of a good crisp!
@Des hmm, beefy oxo crisps – a good robust flavour suggestion that
@Hilary a lovely treat indeed
Got to be traditional cheese n onion
I’m a cheese n onion kinda gal, tasty :)
New flavour, hmm. I think a turkey and ham flavour to keep the Christmas spirit around a bit longer. And as for me, Cheesy and Salty both float my boat
What flavour? Oh god! All the flavours! Especially cheese and onion with added cheese and onion.
I hope that one of the new flavours would be like a BBQ beef, or Worchestershire sauce or something. I remember getting Worchestershire sauce and tomato flavoured crisps as a kid, and I haven’t seen them since!
@David nothin’ wrong with traditional
@Amy tasty is what O’Donnells do best :)
@Claire turkey & ham you say? who knows, could be the start of a whole line of seasonally seasoned crisps
@Avril cheese & onion with added cheese & onion? I like how you roll! throw in some Worchestershire sauce and it gets even better :)
I’m a huge cheese and onion fan – think chilli chocolate crisps would be great!
I love all of the flavours but i really love salt and vinegar! With a nice bar of dairy milk and a glass of coke and an xmas film – perfect! :)
love sweet chilli flavour yum yum. How about a roast chicken flavour, would be delicious! :)
@Garrett ooh, chilli chocolate crisps – I’d be all over those
@Eimear crisps and dairy milk, one of *the* classic Irish food combos…
@Lorraine roast chicken flavour seems to be a popular choice alright
OOh Salt & Vinegar all the way, except for a crisp sandwich which has to have cheese and onion for some reason…
Has to be salt and vinegar for me, especially if it’s going to be cider vinegar. Although there might be some household arguments about this if I win.
Chocolate crisps is an amazing idea. I’m going to try dipping crisps in melted chocolate and see if they stay crunchy. If they do, that’s my girlfriend’s Christmas present sorted.
If we’re going after stereotypical Irish flavours, what about chef sauce? My other vote right now would be for sage and onion – what could be better than a stuffing-flavoured crisp?
Would love to try O’Donnells crisps as I haven’t tried them , love crisps with a glass of red.
Cheese and onion, all crushed in the bag and tipped in my mouth – delicious! Plan b is to layer them on cheese sambos with a cupa. Feck, now I’m hungry!
@Claire y’know I’d have to agree with you on the crisp sambo front – I’d go with cheese & onion every time
@CookingWithLarousse I keeping meaning to try the choc dipping thing myself – sounds like a good use for my next bag of crisps; and much respect for the chef sauce suggestion – it’s so retro it just could work
@Mary Theresa well then, you should try them – even if you don’t manage to win a box!
@Colin eh, sorry ’bout that!
I have never tried O’ Donnell’s believe it or not would love to. I love cheese and Onion.
I would share them around and give friends and family a taste too, SHARING IS CARING :-)So I would share :-)
Oh i’m a salty one! but my other half is cheesy! Would ye be making a sour cream and onion flavour, that would be delicious!
oh i am a salt n cider vinegar gal love the crunchy crisp with the zing of vinegar sooo yummy best salt n vinegar crisps ever
maybe its irish stew flavour or even egg sandwich crisps lol
Mmm yum yum, the crisp would be a very dull place without O’Donnells crisps. I absolutely love the salt n vinegar, and buy at least once a week :-)