Scoops are perfect for scooping salsa:more dip with less drip

I love tortilla chips and salsa. Most chips are too big to dip into a salsa jar, and it can be a pain to have to use a spoon to scoop out the salsa and spread it on a chip, which will probably break apart in your hand and drip the salsa all over.

Back in 2001, Frito-Lay, maker of lots of terrific crunch foods, extended their Tostitos Tortilla Chips product line with Tostitos Scoops, which can hold a heaping teaspoon of salsa or other glop or goo with its unique bowl-shaped design.

Tostitos have been around since 1981, and the Frito folks say the Scoop is "the most significant innovation" in the history of the Tostitos brand. "Tostitos Scoops! is the ultimate dip lover's chip," according to Andrea Thomas, Frito-Lay Marketing Director. "The unique shape empowers chip-and-dip lovers to scoop up more dip with less drip."

Company research shows that nearly 70 percent of consumers eat tortilla chips with a dip or salsa.

Frito-Lay designed a proprietary "form and fry" technique to create Tostitos Scoops. The technique first shapes the masa (corn meal dough) into a bowl-shaped design and then quickly fries the Scoops.

Scoops can be scarfed down with salsa or dip, or can be filled with a topping and served as hors d'oeuvres. I've eaten them just about anything I can find in the fridge, including cold spaghetti sauce, hot baked beans, cocktail sauce, melted cheese, baked beans with melted cheese, onion dip, chopped clams, and chopped liver (not together). I've only found one thing that doesn't go well with Scoops: sauerkraut. My dog loves Scoops, too.

Frito-Lay goes back to 1932, and has been part of Pepsico since 1965. It sells $11 billion worth of snack foods each year, including Lay's and Ruffles potato chips, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips, and Cheetos. YUM!

Editor's Note: Frito-Lay spells the Scoops name with an exclamation mark (Scoops!). It's OK for a package, but I think it looks silly in the blog.

Editor's Tip: All kinds of tortilla chips will break in the bag, and by the time you get to the bottom, you're bound to find pieces that are too small to dip or spread -- but they're too good to waste. Put the small pieces in a bowl, smash them with a spoon, pour in some salsa, mix it up, and eat with a spoon -- or a SCOOP.