Bottom Line: Sweet Chaos Jalapeno Blue Cheese Popcorn definitely delivers on the blue cheese flavor and brings a slight kick as well.
There are plenty of spicy chips out there (or at least those that claim to be spicy), but sometimes you might find yourself looking for something different to snack on, and maybe a bit healthier. Popcorn has become a go-to substitute snack of late and there are quite a number of bags of the stuff on the shelf these days, some of which add a spicy kick. I recently stumbled across a bag of Jalapeno Blue Cheese Popcorn from Sweet Chaos while at World Market (a good destination for products that bring the heat), and as a lover of spicy things as well as blue cheese, I had to give them a try.
When you pop several pieces of this popcorn in your mouth you notice immediately that they have a strong blue cheese taste, almost to the point of being overpowering. But then the saltiness kicks and counterbalances the sharpness so that each bite finishes off quite nicely. As with most bagged popcorn, there’s not quite as much crunch as you would get from the freshly popped stuff, but these are far from stale and they hold up their texture.
Heat-wise they are mild at best. There is a slight bite amidst the saltiness, but nothing that really packs a punch or lingers for long. But it still adds just the right amount of zing to the popcorn and works well with the other flavors to make this quite addicting. This may not satisfy your heat cravings, but it certainly fulfills on the blue cheese promise with a bit of a kick added in for good measure.
Sweet Chaos boasts on their website that their popcorn kernels are Non-GMO and hand-popped. And their products contain no artificial ingredients. Whether these truly count as healthy, though, is debatable. 180 calories and 15 grams of fat is higher than a serving of most chips, but then 2 cups of the popcorn is a pretty nice portion. After downing that, I may not be as quick to go grab seconds as I usually am with chips. But then this popcorn is pretty darn addicting . . .
As mentioned, I found these at World Market, but I don’t know if they had them in stock for a limited time only. I see that they are also available on the Kroger website, so you may be able to find them in their stores as well. If you are a lover of blue cheese, I certainly recommend these, even if spicy is not your thing as these should appeal to even those with a low tolerance for heat. Sweet Chaos also has a Honey Chipotle flavor, and if I see that one I will certainly grab a bag.
Tale of the Tape:
Ingredients: Popcorn, sunflower oil, blue cheese jalapeno seasoning (whey powder, salt, corn maltodextrin, sugar, spice, blue cheese powder (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), onion powder, garlic powder, natural flavor, buttermilk powder, cheddar cheese powder (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), silicon dioxide, tricalcium phosphate, disodium phosphate, annatto extract for color, tumeric extractives (for color)), coconut oil. contains milk.
Serving Size: 30g (About 2 Cups)
Calories: 180
Fat: 15g (4.5g Sat/0 Trans)
Protein: 1g
Carbs: 11g
Sodium: 400mg