Well my loyal Chile Padawanz, the yuletide season is here and the yule celebration is upon us..ever been to a party where the host leaves out little bowls of peanuts or cashews? ever find them a LITTLE bit boring/bland?? Yup, me too and obviously Ben Calder of “WhyNotHot” clearly feels the same way and as such has decided to jazz up peanuts and cashews in a way all of his own!
Why Not Hot - Hot Peanuts and Cashew Snacks
Ingredients:
Hickory Smoked Salt and Pepper Cashews: Cashews, Smoked Salt and Pepper.
Smoked “Unhinged” Peanuts: Peanuts, Unhinged Chilli Sauce, Chilli Powder, Salt.
Smoked Naga Cashews: Cashews, Fresh Naga Chilli, Naga Chilli Powder, Salt.
(Review samples kindly supplied by www.whynothot.co.uk)
Soooooooooo let me start this off by saying that I know many sauce makers these days do “hot” snacks, but these are handmade and not just the usual “dipped in chilli powder and spices” that you get with many other mass market nuts, Ben and his wife put their all into making their products and these nuts are no exception tot hat rule. They all come in 100g pots that are clear and have a label on top that is simple and clearly tells you exactly whats inside, albeit with a bit more black and red thrown on, alongside the whynothot logo of course!
Lets start from the mildest then, the “Smoked salt and pepper” cashews are by far the mildest of the bunch but what they lack in heat they more than make up for in flavour..i dunno how Ben smokes these but they taste divine, and you all know how much I LOVE smoked things!! The cashews themselves have a nice crunch to them that i certainly never find in supermarket bags, these are definitely for the chilli heads among you who are happy to munch at the mild level of things!
Right now onto the more insane nuts..The “Unhinged” peanuts as you can see from the ingredients list contain the “Unhinged” sauce that i did a video review of last october, so due to the MADNESS of that sauce, i was a little apprehensive when I popped a couple of these badboys into my mouth..fortunately my apprehension was not necessary as these peanuts tasted amazing! The flavour of the unhinged sauce was definitely present but only at a fraction of the heat, the heat does however build up as you eat more of them but the flavour makes it very much worth it, the peanuts themselves are a little softer i suspect due to the unhinged sauce being baked into them, but nonetheless they supply a satisfying munch when you eat them!
And last but by no means least we hit the jewel in the “WhyNotHot” snack crown that is the “Naga cashews” now these also proclaim themselves to be “xxx hot” but after the last two snacks I wasn’t holding up much hope…I was pleasantly surprised! The flavour that immediately hit you when you bite down on one of these is of smoked Naga and nothing but! It’s quite frankly fantastic, and when you think you’ve gotten away with the heat level, it rises out of nowhere and gives your tongue a good smack across the back of the head, only one of these was necessary to give me a strong back of the tongue burn, a couple more later and the sweat was pouring down my brow and i had to give in and reach for the milk!!
I think that Ben has done us all proud with these smoked nuts, and it certainly adds a new dimension to the already complex flavours of the chilli’s used! You can pick these up from www.whynothot.co.uk or email info@whynothot.co.uk for a list of all the products they sell along with prices!!
Until next time my Chile Padawanz, may the sauce be with you, always!!
| Flavour |   (9/10) |
| Heat | (7/10) |
| Packaging | (7/10) |
| Value | (7/10) |
| Overall | (8/10) |
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