I've visited Whole Foods probably 20 times in the last year, mostly looking for tinned fish and taking advantage of sales when they occurred. Occasionally, I notice this Scout Tuna Snack Kit, but haven't given it much thought. Given the recent uptick in my interest in chili crisp, I decided to take a chance and see what it was about.
Initial impression upon opening the can carton: Intrigued.
Peeling back the plasticized paper covering, we find a tin lodged halfway down the carton, and a small bio-degradable spork. Underneath that, we find a crumpled packet containing, we assume, the chili crisp topping. There's a definite, but strangely familiar aroma emanating from it.
Opening the can, we find it packed nicely full of yellowfin tuna. It has a fresh tuna aroma. A taste of it is mild, but with the slightest metallic taste tuna sometimes has. It seems like there's a good bit of headroom filled with oil, listed as EVOO.
The topping is in a compostable plastic envelope, which defies being torn open by hand. You could try, but if you succeeded, I'd bet you'd be vacuuming most of it up off the floor.
Creating the Snack
The instructions say to spork the tuna from the can into the container and add the "desired amount of olive oil for healthy fats and flavor". I thought it wouldn't require the entire contents of the can, but in the end, I added it all. In retrospect, I should have just dumped the can over into the carton.
I cautiously mixed the topping in a little at a time, as it seemed like a lot for the amount of tuna. I stopped at about two thirds of the packet. And I continued to try to identify the aroma.
Most of the topping's "crunch" is courtesy of coarsely crushed peanuts. The rest consists of aromatics including chili flakes, dried onion, dried chili pepper, cumin seed, dried sichuan pepper, candied ginger, sugar and star anise powder.
Main Takeaways
- Once mixed in, the flavors of the topping overwhelmed the taste of the tuna. Since the topping didn't really have time to marinate in the oil, the impression was somewhat akin to the raw taste that powdered "instant" mixes can have.
- I found myself wondering why I didn't just add my own chili crisp to a can of a favorite mid-level tuna instead. Instead of $7, I could have spent more like $3 to $4, maybe even less.
- I also thought that, regardless of my opinion of the product, it needed something else, like to be eaten on bread, with crackers or over rice.
Other Thoughts
Maybe marketing or product development decided it was the way to go, but I kept thinking there was a lot of empty space in the carton. And that it could have been eliminated by slightly different dimensions and a re-thinking of the order of packing. That the tuna/topping mix ultimately took up merely about a third of the carton only served to reinforce that impression.
Oh, and I finally figured out what the aroma reminded me of. There's a large international market I frequent, which offers products from a wide variety of cultures. Among them are a vast array of packaged spices and seasonings in bulk. Altogether, they contribute to a particular aroma permeating the air there.
Not competitevly priced at Amazon.
Brand: Scout Canning
Description: Scout Tuna Snack Kit - Chili Crisp
Species: Yellowfin tuna
Country of Origin: Mexico
Skin/Bones: No/No
Net Wt: 4.6 oz.
Price Range: $7