By Johnny Inama

     One of the most commonly consumed foods in the entire world are chips. America alone consumes well over one billion pounds of chips per year, and it is one of, if not the most popular snacks on the entire planet. However, there is a question that sparks from this: what is the best chip dip? This study was conducted with a specific type of corn chip, Tostitos Scoops. The five dips that were tested were avocado salsa, salsa, creamy spinach, salsa con queso, and queso blanco dip, all of which are Tostitos brand.

     Twelve students rated each dip on a one to ten scale of how much they enjoyed each one. Before the test, the one expected to win was definitely avocado salsa. Many expected it to taste like guacamole, which was far from the truth. It netted a score of an extremely low two out of ten. “The avocado salsa was not great, it just didn’t taste right,” said sophomore, Ben Black. Another dip that did not perform as expected was the queso blanco dip, with a  score of three out of ten. “The queso blanco wasn’t warm enough. It had potential, but the salsa con queso was better,” said sophomore Landon Rogers-Neubarth.

     The salsa con queso was also rated lower than expected, but was able to obtain a higher score than the queso blanco, with a five out of ten. This would give the salsa con queso the third overall spot in the group of five dips. One that was expected to have a solid score was the salsa, as many people worldwide consume the dip. It ended up with an acceptable score of seven out of ten. Sophomore, Vincent Jackson noted: “The aftertaste of the salsa was really good. Texture was solid, didn’t mind it,” who rated it a nine out of ten, the highest of anyone on the survey.

     The dip that not many expected to do well – the creamy spinach dip – came out on top as a huge underdog. Many people liked the dip, as it acquired a score of eight out of ten. However, not everyone was as fond of the dip, especially sophomore, Sasha Crowe, who rated the dip as a three out of ten. “It was too fake, it tasted like fake spinach.” However, the dip would end up with the highest rating of any dip on the list, and was able to get three people to rate it as a ten out of ten, a perfect rating.

     After the survey, many aspects of the taste test were surprising to see. The avocado salsa was terrible, and the spinach dip was great. The salsa was also rated high, and the queso blanco was considered awful by most of the taste testers. One conclusion drawn from this is that the Tostitos brand dips don’t compare to any homemade or restaurant made chip dips.