Junk Food Nation, Happy Sunday!  Star Wars was just on TV this morning as I was brushing my teeth, and it reminded me of my favorite YouTube video currently.  I can’t stop watching it. (Also, SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t seen Empire Strikes Back):

PRICELESS, right? Yeah this is the type of stupid stuff that I watch ALL THE TIME.  I am one of those people who can spend hours watching banned commercials with scantily clad women, cartoon cat videos, music covers of pop hits, and original sketch comedy – all of YouTube.  Personally, I think it makes me a better human being, but whatever – I’m also a person who uses toenail clippers to cut my fingernails, so what do I know?

Today’s junk food: What-a-ya Nuts ?! Cracked Parmesan Pepper & Jalapeño Hysteria!

The other two flavors of What-a-ya Nuts?! that I’ll be trying to today are of the SAVORY-variety: Cracked Parmesan Pepper & Jalapeño Hysteria! I reviewed this company’s sweeter offerings yesterday. I’m not going to re-hash any company bio today; if you’d like to learn more about the company, check out my previous blog post, or just visit their site at www.whatayanuts.com.

What-a-ya Nuts ?! Cracked Parmesan Pepper sounds interesting because, frankly, I enjoy cheese and I enjoy black pepper.  I mean, who doesn’t? I’m definitely one of those who can come home and eat slice after slice of cheese while I’m making dinner.  Add these flavors to a healthy snack? I’m sold.

What-a-ya Nuts ?! Cracked Parmesan Pepper has almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, garlic, cracked pepper, and parmesan cheese.  The picture on the front of the bag makes it look like there are big ole kernels of black pepper present.  We shall see.

Interestingly, these What-a-ya Nuts ?! Cracked Parmesan Pepper still has honey as a top four ingredient – perhaps to bind everything together? This snack just shifted from interesting to REALLY interesting.  Sweet and savory?  With cheese?  Say Whaaaaaaaa

The smell from this bag of What-a-ya Nuts ?! Cracked Parmesan Pepper was…non descript.  Honestly it just smelled salty.  Time to crunch!

What-a-ya Nuts ?! Cracked Pepper Parmesan, you are a very interesting nut.  Very easy crunch; not tooth breaking at all. Definitely crunchy, not chewy.

When I first put a cluster into my mouth, it did, indeed, initially taste sweet – must be the binding honey.  The sweetness of the honey then morphed into a rich nutty flavor as I chewed…the almonds and seeds really took the stage. Then as I savored the nuts, a faint cheesiness did come out and washed over everything.  The cluster finishes with a soft black pepper finish.  In essence this snack cluster morphed from slightly sweet to slightly savory as I chewed.  VERY unique – I liked it.  Definitely a snack worth eating slowly to get all those flavors; they don’t jump out immediately.

As a spicy snack addict, I was most excited about What-a-ya Nuts ?! Jalapeño Hysteria! I mean, JUST LOOK AT THE BAG. Bright green!  It triggers JALAPEÑO JALAPEÑO JALAPEÑO in my head!  I really hope these live up the hype.

What-a-ya Nuts ?! Jalapeño Hysteria contains real dried jalapeños. That’s dangerous…and exciting.  The salsa I make has a very delicate balance…I usually fall somewhere in between the 3-4 jalapeño range. If it’s 3 in salsa, it’s not spicy enough, but 4 makes my head sweat. I was curious to see if these snacks would make my head sweat.

I was surprised to see dried cheddar cheese as an ingredient in this What-a-ya Nuts ?! Jalapeño Hysteria. They really have this honey and cheese thing down.  I guess it makes sense though – people eat wheels of brie with pecans, honey, sugar, etc…

The smell of these What-a-ya Nuts ?! Jalapeño Hysteria was…also non descript.  I guess that’s good – no artificial flavor added.

WOW!  What-a-ya Nuts ?! Jalapeño Hysteria is DEFINITELY jalapeño-y, but not unpleasantly so.  Like the Cracked Parm Pepper, the first taste was sweet, like honey….then the nuttiness came out.  But unlike the previous snack, there was no “soft” finish of jalapeño here, it came right out and smacked me in the tongue!  But (for me) it wasn’t unpleasantly spicy at all – instead I got a nice spicy kick with a nice mild flavor of jalapeño vegetable. In fact, now that I’m eating a few more clusters, this was definitely sweet and spicy right off the bat.

I’ve often said that spice is more a sensation rather than a flavor, so this snack made sense to me. Sweet and savory, nutty, and spicy ALL AT THE SAME TIME!  A hit in my book.  Really REALLY enjoyed these.

So, if you’re keeping track at home, I rank the four flavors:

1. Jalapeno Hysteria

2. Maple Cinnamon Madness

3. Cracked Parmesan Pepper

4. Stark Raving Chocolate.

Thanks again to What-a-ya Nuts for making this happen!  I’m happy to try another addition to the healthy yet flavorful snacking world!

Thoughts? Hit me in the comments below or hit me on Twitter @junkfoodguy or on my Facebook Page.

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy