Crown Caramel Corns and Peanuts Snack

The Corn Cowboy is back!

The Attraction

Like all great love stories, it all started rather unexpectedly when I picked up a bag of these scary looking corn puffs. Then after that, I tried Crown's new offering, Caramel Maple Corn. Then last week I stepped into different Korean grocery store and saw these on the shelf. Can Crown possible complete the trifecta?

The Review:
As much as I love Crown's Big Caramel Corn Choco (does that sound dirty?), I think I had my fill(that last bit didn't help). When I saw this flavor, which I believe may be the original flavor, I had to give it a shot.

I open the red bag and detect no obvious scent. Perhaps slightly oily, but what can you expect from a fried snack. I take a peek inside and see that these curls have a slight glaze on them. I suppose its from the sugar or caramel. I can't help but wonder will these just taste ordinary after trying the two other flavors? I also don't see any peanuts in the bag. Are these really peanut flavored as well as caramel flavored? (there are actually about 10 peanuts at the bottom of the bag)

These look harmless enough...

I pickup a caramel corn and bite in. These curls are crunchy, but are different from the chocolate and maple variety I had previously. These seem smaller and not as "puffy". Flavor-wise, they initially start off like a mild Cracker Jack, but not nearly as much caramel or sweetness, then as you continue to chew the peanut flavor notes become slightly more pronounced. Oddly enough it reminds me of Capt Crunch. What flavor is Capt Crunch?

Whoa...I'm so shiny!

The Sweet:
Not too sweet, not too caramel, not too much of anything.

The Bitter:
It's seems ordinary at first.

Conclusion:
It's difficult to explain how I feel about these Crown's Caramel Corns and Peanuts. Maybe the best way is like saying these are like Tom Hanks. He's not the planet's hottest man, nor the most buff, nor the flashest dresser, nor the most outspoken. He just quietly does what he does well and lets his acting speak for itself. In many ways these corn snacks are the same way; they don't wow you at first, you can't figure out why this would be so popular, but as you have a few more, you find yourself having another, then another...until there's almost none left in the bag.

Video of the Week 

And you thought the UPS wasn't great

I'm all for efficiency and as little wasted motion as possible when it comes to work...but these guys take it to a whole other level. They would probably call me a wuss and a slacker for only carrying two of those sacks...which is about all one could carry safely. (who needs that?)

Crown Caramel Maple Corn

Here we go again!

The Attraction

A few weeks ago, I reviewed another Crown product called "Big Caramel Corn Choco", and to my surprise, despite it's "unusual"appearance, I fell in love with that product. I have since purchased that snack multiple times, so it was only natural when Crown had a new Caramel Maple Corn offering, I was hot to try it out.

The Review:
The expectations were high when I brought this sucker home. I will say that the color difference really made a big impact in the way I viewed this snack. Seeing the chocolate version really turned my stomach, but the lighter color appearance of these corn puffs seemed way more palatable.

They look tiny 3/4 donuts

I crack open the bag and and sure enough, the scent of maple syrup fills the air. This was very similiar to the Choco version of this snack. This is looking good. I pickup a corn puff and take a bite.

Much like the first version I sampled, there is a tremendous crunch with my initial bite and as the flavor profile takes shape, the maple syrup essence comes screaming through. There is nothing subtle about these flavors. "Hi, I'm maple syrup flavor! What's your name, fool!?"

This could spell trouble!

The Sweet:
Crown just keeps on hitting it's stride, flavor-wise

The Bitter:
It's on the sweeter side, but's it's still damn good.

Conclusion:
Why should I have ever doubted this? With the amount that I loved the chocolate flavored version of this snack, was there anyway I wouldn't have enjoyed this maple syrup version? On it's own, it's solid and this review isn't about comparing the two against each other, but...

..if you had to twist my arm, the chocolate version is still the winner, but if Crown keeps cranking out new flavors, I will gladly be there to try them out in hopes of finding a new love.

Video of the Week 
Working on it!

Crown Big Caramel Corn Choco

I never thought I'd see the day
I'd meet a real turd wrangler!

The Attraction

I've walked by this snack many times when I've gone to the Korean grocery store and I've often wondered what on earth this was about. I mean, who would approve the look of this product, the packaging, the whole damn thing? Then finally this week, I was just too tickled to not give this thing a try to see if it was as much of a disaster as it looked.

The Review:
Occasionally I buy a snack for the wrong reasons. Usually it's because the packaging is so appealing or interesting, I could not resist. In the case of these Big Caramel Corn Chocos, it was more along the lines of what a trainwreck this product looked like. It's the same impulse that drove me to try Changheyuan Potato DJ Mix and boy did I call that one.

I open  the bag and a strong scent of chocolate quickly overwhelms me. "Wow, that smells great!", I think to myself, but then I take a look into the bag. "Whoa, these things look almost as bad as it does on the outside of the bag!" Talk about a push / pull relationship. It smells amazing, but it looks the way it does. It really put my appetite in limbo.

Boy, could this look any more appetizing?

You know, it's interesting how strong nature is. Everything in my body, including my stomach was screaming, "Put that in your mouth?! Are you crazy!?" Even looking at the photos now make me a bit uneasy, but after staring at the contents of the bag for a while, I knew what I had to do.

I finally reach in to the bag and pull out a Corn Choco. (even the name has a awful neuro-association to what the snack looks like). I take a whiff, which is also very counter intuitive, might I add, but was pleasantly reminded of that wonderful chocolate smell these snacks exude. I quickly just take a bite and, and, and....

...oh my gosh, it's so chocolaty! These Corn Chocos might be one of the most chocolaty tasting snacks I've ever had that doesn't actually contain chocolate. The flavor is like that of your favorite childhood chocolate cereal (think Count Chocula or Coco puffs) but with dry chocolate Nesquik sprinkled over it. The texture is also very similar to that of a puffed cereal, where it's just enough crunch,. They strike just the right balance.

Where have you been my whole life?! Then I take a look in the bag again and want to barf.

Umm...let's rethink this.

The Sweet:
Serious chocolate flavor. Like wow.

The Bitter:
It took some serious internal convincing to put something that looked like this to my mouth. They might have to fire their marketing department.

Conclusion:
I had my doubts. In fact, I'll take it a step further and say I just about wrote this snack off before I even took a bite.....but then when I did...wow. The flavor and texture was out of this world. I'm not even a super fan of chocolate and I enjoyed this snack. I know, it looks awful and the packaging doesn't help it's cause with a corn on the cob (for gosh sakes) lassoing a Big Caramel Corn Choco, but if you ever work up the nerve to taste one, you too will want to "wrangle" more of these.  

Video of the Week 
I really love this week's video because the woman in it is so animated in regards to a fire in her building. Thankfully she and everyone involved seems OK and we get to enjoy her excited retelling of how she learned about the fire.

"The building in on fire! Nahh..what?!"

Zetov Bamba

Will this be a hit or a "Bamba"? (Sorry)

 

The Attraction:
I recently started shopping at a supermarket that caters to the Jewish community. They happen to offer good pricing on fruits and vegetables, so while I was in there picking up a few items, I thought it would only makes sense to check out the snack aisle. While feasting my eyes on all these snack brands I had never heard of before, I came across this little treat. Having no mention of cheese flavor, I was intrigued as to what this treasure might taste like since it so closely resembles a Cheez Doodle, without the cheez.

The Review
I was really wondering what on earth this thing would taste like. For those of you that have had a Cheez Doodle before, close your eyes for a second. Imagine that crunch before the rush of cheese flavor hits your tongue. Now take away that cheese flavor. How would you imagine that same snack item would taste? I had certainly had no clue, but the idea that the packaging says "tasty corn snacks" somehow made me think it might be like a corn chip from a Mexican restaurant. Oh..the excitement!

I open the package and inhaled deeply from the bag. I didn't smell anything. "Even more curious", I think to myself. I take a peek in the bag and sure enough, the Bambas look like slightly smaller, naked Cheez Doodles. Enough of this foreplay. It's time to get to it.

I pick a lucky Bamba out of the bag and bite into it. Same type of a crunch one would expect from a snack that looks like this, but the flavor is subtle...and well, frankly unexpected. What is this flavor I'm tasting? It's familiar, but my mind is flipping out. I take another piece and my brain finally nails it; peanut! What!?

Am I high? Peanut flavor? There's no mention of peanut flavor on the front packaging!? I quickly turn the bag over to see the list of ingredients and there it is in black and white. "Peanuts". It even precedes corn on the list of ingredients, yet there's no mention of it or it's flavor anywhere in site, other than on the listing of ingredients. I'm not quite sure what to think...

I'm like a naked cheez puff

The Sweet:

The crunch is nice, yet didn't seem to have an oily feel like some fried corn snacks do. It also boasts about not having any artificial flavor or coloring adding. Perhaps even more impressively, this snack is comprised of only 4 ingredients; Peanuts, corn, palm oil and salt. It's mild flavor will let you polish off a bag without much of a thought. It is also amazing affordable. My bag cost only 50 cents.

The Bitter:
It's a total mind freak! Of all the flavors I was expecting, peanut was not one of them.When was the last time you had a fried chip of some sort that taste of peanuts? It wasn't bad, but frankly I think I may have it enjoyed it more if they turned up the peanut flavor.

"It's like you don't know me at all!"

Conclusion:
Zetov's Bamba is one of the many reasons why I love trying new and different snacks from other cultures and regions. Although this particular item didn't set my taste buds ablaze with excitement, it threw a curve ball to my expectations and after having so many snacks over the years, the unexpected can be a really good thing.

I won't be venturing out anytime soon to pickup a bag of Bamba for myself, but with it's short list of pronounceable ingredients and mild flavor, this would be a snack I would be comfortable giving to the little ones vs some of the main stream snack items lining the supermarket shelves.

Video of the Week
Here I am this American guy trying out all this snacks from other parts of world.

I wonder what, umm...let's say Korean girls think of American snacks? Wonder no more!

 (Thanks Grace for the video suggestion!)

"I would like to date Paul"
(not a direct translation)