Taste testing battery-flavored tortilla chips

I get a lot of odd pitches in my inbox, but “9V battery-flavored corn chips” still stopped me in my tracks. My mind was ringing with questions (What? Who? Why!?!), but most importantly: What are they going to taste like?

This limited edition flavor comes from Rewind, a new brand launching in Europe, starting with the Netherlands, promising to blend “nostalgia with exciting flavors.” Most of these sound pretty normal — cheese and onion, sriracha, paprika — but their nod to the “weird universal memory” of licking a battery was guaranteed to get my attention.

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It’s been a while since I last licked a battery, so in the name of science I bought my own. Licking a 9V battery is probably safe, though Rewind is clear that it does “not recommend or condone licking, biting, or otherwise ingesting real batteries.” But I figure if it’s good enough for my colleague Sean, it’s good enough for me. I found the experience pretty unpleasant: a small, sharp shock and a lingering metallic aftertaste. Not what I usually look for in tortilla chips. 

Rewind’s take is a little less intense. There is a sharp, acidic flavor at first, but it’s milder than I expected. I love salt and vinegar chips, and I’ve had packs that make me wince much more than these. What stands out a little more is that there is a mineral taste underlying it all, an odd tanginess that isn’t a million miles from battery metal. The chips themselves are a little thinner than I like — I prefer a more substantial crunch from tortilla chips — but aren’t bad at all.

“It was definitely an unusual brief,” says Mattias Larsson, the chef who developed the flavor. “We used a blend of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate to create the tongue-tingling effect, and balanced it out with mineral salts which give the chips a metallic tang.”

The 9V battery chips are limited edition, but if you’re curious then Rewind has a form where you can request a sample pack, which ships worldwide.