MASA Chips by Ancient Crunch
Animal-based tortilla chips?? Let me tallow all about it!
Read about me and nutrition:
My story
When I went gluten-free, corn became my friend. My Dad had recently been diagnosed with Celiac Disease and I had similar gut issues. So out went my artisan loaves of multigrain (this was before SF and sourdough) — and in came corn tortillas.
I had long ago been introduced to the flavor of masa corn by a Mexican girl I met at a music camp. She brought special flour from Mexico and we fried tortillas in my electric wok.
Then I learned about GMO corn. Oh well! So much for carbs. Was organic corn safe? Did it have any nutritional value or was corn just for fattening up conventional cows?
This was well before the whole carnivore craze. Fast forward a few years and witness the rehabilitation of tallow, the reviled saturated fat from cows. Concurrent with this was the revelation that seed oils were the root of all evil.
How I learned about it
Warkitchen, a slickly-produced online magazine about food from an ancestral-foodie perspective, seemingly emerged from nowhere one day. In one of the first issues I saw an advertisement for a small startup selling organic masa corn chips made with sea salt and…tallow.
I ordered some..for science, not expecting much. But woah…I was impressed! This was a whole new level of corn chip. It had a bold corn taste almost like breakfast cereal (but real). (Like having fresh farm strawberries and realizing where the artificial flavor came from!)
And then there was the crunch…I had no idea that tallow could do that. Every bite is satisfying.
With strong chips that can withstand the shearing force of (store-bought) hummus, Masa makes dipping great again.
And the other great thing about tallow is that only a few chips can fill you up, so that means less carbs.
I became a subscriber. I tried the other flavors but haven’t enjoyed them that much. The best flavor — aside from original — is churro, but you have to not mind a little powdered sugar. It’s like breakfast cereal or dessert. Cobanero has a great pepper flavor but it overshadows the corn and was too spicy for me. Lime was overpowering even with the new formula, but I appreciate the effort to use REAL limes! Blue corn sounded enticing, but I found it a bit cardboard-like with surprisingly LESS flavor than original.
I just ordered some of the new white corn variety to try. They taste a bit cardboard-y at first, but for dipping they provide a good option with more crunch and less of a powerful corn flavor. Not the best for a snack, but next time I have hummus or guacamole, I would reach for the white corn.
How I use it
I eat them almost every day, grabbing a few straight for a salty, crunchy snack or as carbs with a steak for instance. When I feel like eating hummus, they are great to dip, but I can’t eat that much tahini I think. Sometimes I just mush up an avocado, maybe with some olive oil and salt, and enjoy it with some MASA corn chips.
Churro makes a good dessert! I recommend them if you are trying to get away from sweeter things and just need an occasional treat that doesn’t make you eat the whole bag.
How to get it
Once I did see the chips on the shelf in a grocery store, but they were insanely expensive at $15/bag! The way to do it is to order direct from the website with a subscription, and use the link below to get a discount and a referral for me:
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