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I have tried boiled peanuts in the past. At least 20 years ago, at some gas station in South Carolina, I think. I hated them. Since then, I have used them as a measuring stick to describe other items that were bland and mealy. I figured enough time has passed that it was time to give them another chance. I saw these Peanut Patch Boiled Peanuts in a can on the shelf and had to go for it.

I opened the can and gave it the sniff test. No real strong scent to speak of: mostly salt water with a hint of peanut. More of a grassy smell than what you may think of as “peanut”.

They didn’t look particularly good, but canned foods rarely do.

The can gave me a couple of options for my tasting pleasure. “Open can and eat” or “Open can, heat, drain, and then eat.” I went for both. I grabbed one out of the can, smushed open the shell, and popped it into my mouth.

I was completely unprepared for the level of salt. It wasn’t overwhelming, but I expected something completely bland, so any flavor was a surprise. Without roasting, it still doesn’t scream “peanut,” but it was not bad at all. The texture was still a bit mushy, but I think maybe it is the canning process that renders them more like a canned chick pea than fresh boiled peanuts. Which is to say, they had more of a firm bite to them them than the grainy, mealy texture I remembered. I took the remainder and heated them in the microwave for two minutes in their brine.

Heating and draining the brine made them even better. It didn’t change much in texture, but the heat enhanced the flavor and brought out a bit more of the taste of the peanut itself. I was really pleasantly surprised by these briny beauties. I can see adding them in to something like a 3 bean salad for an interesting textural element and a burst of salty flavor.

Peanut Patch canned boiled peanuts get a surprising “Try It.”

• Perhaps Wendy should have job shadowed Dairy Queen.  (via The Impulsive Buy)
• New McDonald’s Dollar Menu  items review orgy. (via Foodette)
• What the cluck?! Cock Diaper. (via Incredible Things)
• Dr. Pepper likes the cane. (via Bev Review)
• Could BK’s preformed pork patty dethrone the McRib? (via The Impulsive Buy)
• Surge 2.0 (via BevNerd)
• More like Dick-Fil-A. (via FoodBeast)
• Who’s her McManicurist? (via That’s Nerdalicious)
• Fiery Chicken Cool Ranch Dorito Taco? (via Huffington Post)
• Will the Paula Deen Museum will be made out of butter? (via Albany Herald)

Happy happy Monday, So Good Readers.  Just your friendly neighborhood Junk Food Guy here. A while back, over on JunkFoodGuy.com, I reviewed a couple of the new Cracker Jack’D items that I found at Walgreens – new, re-designed, on-the-go snacks from the makers of CrackerJack.  I remember being back and forth on them…some I liked a lot, some were just ok, some had caffeine, some didn’t.

Well, the folks at Cracker Jack’D decided they wanted my take on the entire line of their new “Snacks with Impact” line, and I came home to find this box:

…with these Cracker Jack’D items inside:

It was a veritable Cracker Jack’D Justice League of Flavors.  SPICY PIZZERIA! BUFFALO RANCH! SALTED CARAMEL! BERRY YOGURT! ZESTY QUESO! CHEDDAR BBQ! PB & CHOCOLATE!  ASSEMBLE AND FORM: SNACKS WITH IMPACT!

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Gone are the days of simple peanut butter and jelly. Toast spreading options used to be pretty limited, but with the European invasion of Nutella, Biscoff and the like, there are now many ways to coat your toast in delicious spread. What’s your favorite?

No jams or jellys are included here – I figured comparing jelly to peanut butter is an apples/oranges thing. Gathered below is a scattershot sampling of peanut butter-like spreads. Vote for your favorite and explain your choice in the comments.

• NY attorney general investigating Fast Food worker wage theft.
• The myth of healthy fast food.
• Just living near a fast food restaurant can make you fat.
• How food packaging steers us to buy.
• The latest farm bill doesn’t do much to address nutrition.
• Burger King is bringing back its summer BBQ menu.
• Finally an end of the Italian Salumi ban.
• Kroger uses spoiled food as a source for power.
• Demystifying grits.
• In case you hadn’t heard, bacon hotdogs exist now.

Who doesn’t have fond memories of Rice Kripsies Squares? The iconic ooey, gooey snack which became a staple of any Mom’s “This will shut them up!” repertoire? Nostalgia alone had me begging  my fellow So Gooder, Sam to mail a care package up to the Great White North to help  satiate my intrigue for a new snack mix on the market.

What if your Dollar Store could finance a super hero team?  Think of  Rice Krispies Treat Crunch Mix as “The Avengers” of knock off snacks, combining six lackluster components together, whose only special abilities are to leave a chemical taste in your mouth and a deep seeded resented towards Snap, Crackle and Pop for selling out.

Every single component in this bag is Hawkeye.

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As part of  a new line of franks rolling out to the wiener hungry masses, Oscar Mayer has obviously been garnering a bit of free press via drooling social media types,  thanks to their “Bacon Dog” offering.

Hitting shelves this week Nationwide, it’s the Power Ranger of  dogs,  combining turkey, chicken, pork and bits of smokey strips into one unstoppable force of porcine goodness.

Really, isn’t that what every hot dog has been lacking? Double oink?

That will do pig, that will do.

I think this is the last of my alternative summer beverage columns, because I’m not sure I can take anymore. St. Ides was one of the original 40′s of Malt Liquor that I was aware of. It is on the Mount Rushmore of 40′s alongside: Olde English 800, Colt 45 and Steel Reserve. St. Ides had commercials featuring an impressive line up of Rappers over time.

Wu Tang Clan

Snoop Dogg and Tupac [Read more →]