Review: Smolbol Peanut + Cassava Snacks

Peanuts are one of the most iconic bar snack items of all time. They’re also one of the most boring bar snack items of all time. Brazil figured out how to spice them up, wrapping the shelled nut in cassava starch, compressing it into a crunchy shell.

Say hello to Smolbol, the cleverly named snack that you can add to your happy hour regimen if you’re looking for something a little different.

Smolbols vary in size from about the size of a “Goobers” chocolate-covered peanut to a gumball, and they’re available in five (largely self-explanatory) flavors: sea salt, garlic parmesan, barbecue, chili lime, and cheddar cheese. Each comes in 6 oz. packs for about 8 bucks a pop. The sea salt flavor was not nearly salty enough, but enjoyed all the others, with either cheddar or BBQ my favorite, depending on the day.

The Smolbol experience is a curious one: After a quite satisfying crunchy pop — which releases the peanut inside — the Smolbol’s cassava shell quickly dissolves. That shell then solidifies in your molars, almost like a paste, and getting it out can be either a fun afterparty to the main event or a real pain, depending on your perspective.

In the end, after eating nearly two pounds of Smolbols, I found that they really did grow on me. The flavors are surprisingly mild: Every one of them could have used at least twice as much seasoning, and the sea salt expression really didn’t taste like anything at all, unfortunately. Despite that, I found myself gravitating to the spherical oddities at snack time more often than not — invariably with a hearty, liquid chaser to help with the teeth cleaning.

each $8 per 6 oz. bag [BUY IT NOW FROM AMAZON]

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