Shamrock And Sour Cream: Dublin Family’s Paddy-Flavoured Crisps Hit UK Supermarket Shelves

Forget your prawn cocktail or your smokey bacon, there's a new flavour of crisps in town and they're just in time for Paddy's Day.

County Dublin family Keogh's are celebrating their family-owned shamrock and sour cream crisps hitting the UK supermarket shelves this week, the Irish Times reports.

The novelty-flavoured snacks have been on sale in 700 Tesco stores in the UK since last week after the giant retailer put an order in for a quarter of a million pounds worth.

Keoghs have now received smaller orders from high-end supermarket Selfridges. More have been exported to Hong Kong, China, Dubai, the USA and Germany.

The shamrock and sour cream crisps... Pic: Keogh's website. 

Shamrock tastes “like garlic”, Tom Keogh, a director and “crisp connoisseur” of the family-run firm, told the Times.

“It was an idea that I had at Christmas 2011 when I wanted to launch a range of seasonal flavours.”

Tom said it took a while to find a flavour to compliment the garlic, but when they tasted it with sour cream it "just worked".

Tom was at a Tesco conference in Clontarf Castle last year when a man approached the stall and asked to try a sample. He loved it, and it turned out he was the Tesco CEO.

The family-run business have also developed crisp varieties including roast beef and Dungarvan Irish stout; Dubliner Irish cheese & onion; and Atlantic Sea Salt and Irish cider vinegar.

“We sleep, eat, and breathe potatoes,” said Keogh.