Bonnie: With February being American Heart Month, we decided to feature these lime-flavored Corazonas Whole Grain Tortilla Chips that actually are a heart-healthy snack. Seriously.
These chips are fortified with cholesterol-lowering plant sterols and contain 18 grams (or more than one of the three recommended daily servings) of whole grains. Corazon, by the way, is the Spanish word for heart. Although Corazonas has many flavors of the heart-healthy chips, this Squeeze of Lime is our favorite.
Plant sterols are the plant counterpart to cholesterol. Having a similar structure, these phytosterols (as they are also called), compete with — and inhibit the absorption of — cholesterol in the small intestine, reducing your LDL (bad) blood cholesterol.
To get the benefit of the plant sterols, the National Cholesterol Education Program recommends 2 grams of plant sterols/stanols daily as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol. That should be combined with managing your weight and increasing physical activity to lower LDL cholesterol.
Obviously, eating two servings of tortilla chips each day is not a good nutritional choice, as that would set you back 280 calories and 14 grams of fat and leave less room for more nutritious foods.
There are small amounts of plant sterol naturally in foods (not enough to achieve the LDL-cholesterol lowering), plus some foods are fortified with them. Those include Benecol and Take Control margarines, Minute Maid Heart Wise orange juices, and Kardea nutrition bars. (More to come about this in a future FeaturedBite. Stay tuned.)
Bryan: To be honest, I’m not really a big fan of the “hint of lime” craze currently sweeping its way through a number of different supermarket products. It seems that everything from beer to cookies is getting some sort of dose of lime flavor, and most of the time, at least to me, the flavor bears very little resemblance to anything actually lime.
That being said, you can imagine I was not overly excited to find we were testing Corazonas Tortilla Chips with a hint of lime. Argh… “Why,” I thought? But I have to give Bonnie credit: She has been testing food products for many years, and has got an eye for good stuff.
The Corazonas chips are, for all intents and purposes, regular tortilla chips, but they do have some particularly special features. The crackly crunch, standard in many tortilla chips, is softened slightly by the addition of whole oats to the flour. It’s not an overly chewy texture, but certainly a reminder of how different the raw ingredients of these chips really are.
Well, how about the elephant in the room? How about the lime flavor? The taste is thankfully very lime-like, though the tartness and intensity of flavor is a bit much for me on its own. I often use tortilla chips more like potato chips (a side dish, not necessarily dipped into anything), and find that the Corazonas are a bit too daring in such context. I find, however, that the Corazonas chips do couple perfectly with salsa, and particularly fruit salsas…. I had a mango/cilantro and a pineapple/tequila salsa to taste-test anyway. What timing!
The unusual texture of these chips is the real catch for me. I’m looking forward to some hearty nachos, thinking the Corazonas will hold up well to drippy toppings. Though Corazonas does promote their plant sterol uniqueness, there are more standard health notes to be aware of, as well. A two-ounce serving of Corazonas tortilla chips has 140 calories with only 6 grams of fat (0.5 gram saturated fat). Some 20 grams of carbohydrates (3 grams dietary fiber) and 2 grams of protein round out the show with the resulting chip certainly being a better fiber experience, though with about the same fat and calories of a “normal” chip.
Though you might expect a “healthy” chip to be baked, Corazonas tortilla chips are actually fried (using a proprietary process with sunflower and/or canola oil). So, though Corazonas tortilla chips will have the same amount of calories as a standard chip, Corazonas has only one-third the saturated fat, not to mention the whole oats and plant sterols which have been shown to lower certain cholesterol elements.
A good chip, and a better bite for you.
Eric: I nervously taste-tested these chips, accompanied by a spicy mango salsa, at our latest Super Bowl party. I write “nervously” because I, like my brother, am not a fan of the “hint of lime” craze. Ever since Diet Coke with Lime made its debut in 2004, every supermarket product vying for a spot in the Hispanic (Latin America/Caribbean) consumers’ cupboard has attempted to integrate the taste of lime. Not many have successfully done so. Back to the game.
My nervousness about people’s reaction to the Corazonas tortilla chips was quelled when I saw the empty bowl — hands digging-in, trying to get the crumbs. The crowd had spoken, but I myself was at a loss for words. The Corazonas chips won the taste test and a place in the annals of Bite of the Best.
These chips are now available in the Bite of the Best shop.
I tried the lime tortilla chips at the Fancy Food show. Delicious!
Interesting post. I have to agree about the lime thing … I like fresh citrus as much as the next person, but I don’t need lime in everything I eat. On the other hand, if I can have a snack food that’s tasty & reasonably good for me at the same time, I am certainly willing to try it, even if it is lime-laden!
On the topic of healthy snack foods, you mentioned Kardea nutrition bars, which at about 150 calories, also include 7g of fiber, 7g of protein, and 1g of plant sterols. No lime, but plenty of good taste. A friend on Weight Watchers told me that she feels like she’s cheating when she eats one! You can buy them on the Kardea Nutrition website or at many health food stores.
I enjoy a taste of lime (i grew up in hispanic and carribean cultures). I use to eat the Tostitos Hint of Lime chips but found that they are not consistent when it comes down to every chip being flavored and was also shocked to find that they contain MSG. Only the chips at the bottom of the Tostitos bag had seasoning. I thought there must be a healthy alternative with better, consistent quality! So, I strolled through the natural foods aisle at the super market and decided to give Corazonas Squeeze of Lime a try. I LOVE these chips!!! There currently are no more bags on the shelf at the store because I bought them ALL. I hope they order some more. If not, I’ll be in the market for a new super market–one that carries my new FAVORITE snack!