Tesco Mocha Peanut & Dark Chocolate Mix

This Tesco snack looked as though it might be rather a tasty packet of fancy peanuts and chocolate. It reminded the Chef and me of the fabulous KP Honey Roast Peanuts (sadly we think this is no longer available). But it’s nothing like so tasty.

For a start, I don’t much fancy chocolate coated peanuts. Nothing like so tasty as chocolate coated raisins or honeycomb. And then I really wasn’t taken with the chocolate cappuccino malt balls: I could manage without another ever again. And finally, there are far too many nasty little (sort of leftover) plain peanuts which if you ask me do not add to the experience.

Looks a glamorous tasty snack. Not sure it really is. Bit of a disappointment. On the other hand, the Chef absent mindedly ate almost the entire packet.

Tesco Crispy Coated Peanuts Pigs in Blankets Flavour

I wonder if you’re already thinking “hmmm... I bet she bought this packet of nuts because she couldn’t believe this flavour would work”? I wouldn’t be a bit surprised, because I kind of did.

And if you ask me; we were right.

Oh dear. The pigs in blankets (cocktail sausages with bacon wrapped around them) flavour isn’t really a flavour at all. It’s two different flavours smashed together and it’s hard to say if the Tesco crispy snack department have got the mixture right because the flavour just doesn’t work.

And hang on, was this meant to be a Christmas flavour? There’s nothing at all to stop you eating pigs in blankets at any time of year, but the market, and (whisper it) the American influence, has conned us into believing this is a dish/side (horrid expression)/flavour for Christmastime.

The bad thing is the peanuts don’t shine through because the alleged pigs in blankets flavour gets in the way. Even where the crispy coating has fallen off you can still taste it. So you can’t really appreciate the nuts.

What were they thinking? This Christmassy combo doesn’t work. And I don’t really like the way the crispy coating just comes off. The whole concept really doesn’t do it for me.

The Chef didn’t like these nuts either. Which is not a good sign because he simply loves peanuts.

Choco Frutas GoNuts! Triple Berry Fruit & Nut Mix

This name as shown on this packet is not the same as the name given on the website. I can't find Triple Berry on the packet but this interesting snack from Costa Rica does contain freeze dried strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. So definitely three fruits.

Brought back specially from Costa Rica by Tall Elegant Taste Tester this isn't really a crispy snack. But it does contain nuts so I think we can stretch a point. As well as the chocolate coated fruits there are pecans, almonds, peanuts, and cashew nuts. And quite a lot of cinnamon.

This is another snack brought back from a far flung country (far flung from North London - look I don't want to get into trouble the way the folks behind Star Trek: Deep Space 9 did because that area of space didn't feel particularly deep to any of the locals) with a really interesting packet.  It says Please Recycle. It feels kind of papery on the outside but I'm not certain what it's actually made of so I don't know if it is recyclable, but the interesting thing is that it is genuinely resealable; unlike practically everything allegedly resealable in the UK. Why don't snack producers in the UK make properly resealable packets?

The packet design features a charming sloth on the front named Henry and a bird, I think perhaps a toucan (but it has a spot on its breast which I'm not sure toucans do, nor toucanets) on the back. And slightly oddly the text is mostly in English. There's a banana version of this snack in a yellow packet that has a cute monkey in place of the bird.

You can buy Henry merch (cuddly sloths, T shirts and much more) from the Choco Frutas website which is partly in English and partly Spanish. Or, obviously, you can buy their snacks. Importantly this packet tells us that 50% of the profits are donated to wild life and rain forest conservation. I couldn't find out more about that on the website but I did notice the organisation is involved in planting trees, helping to clean polluted rivers and rescuing macaws.

To tell you the truth, this is not the snack for me not least because I only really like nuts covered in salt, and I'm not mad about cinnamon. The nuts would (for me) be better if they were a bit more like KP Frosted Maple Syrup Roast Peanuts & Cashews with pieces of Belgian Milk Chocolate Honeycomb  (which we loved) but instead we have cinnamon.

However, there's no denying this is an interesting option. Take a look for more Choco Frutas products next time you're in Costa Rica.