Snack #181- KSK Boy Bawang Cornick Hot Garlic Flavor Fried Corn

KSK Boy Bawang Cornick Hot Garlic Flavor Fried Corn

This Filipino snack is puffed fried corn kernels coated with garlic powder and chili powder.  They are basically like corn nuts but lighter and fluffier.  They do still have good crunch though without being as hard as a typical corn nut.  The flavor is mostly garlic powder and only very minimal chili flavor so these snacks are way more savory than spicy but overall they are pretty tasty.  The flavors are subtle enough that you can taste the actual flavor of the corn kernel too which is nice.  Not spicy at all but overall a pretty good international snack.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 1/10

Bottom Line: Garlicky puffed corn kernels.

Available online: Hot Garlic Flavor Cornick (Corn Snacks) - Four 3.54 oz. bags.

Snack #125- Corn Nuts Chorizo Chipotle Flavored Crunchy Corn Snack

Corn Nuts Chorizo Chipotle Flavored Crunchy Corn Snack

These corn nuts are sneaky little devils. The first two of them tasted like normal Corn Nuts with a little spicy edge but once I had about 10 of them my mouth was burning! They have a slightly dry, bitter flavor that tasted like straight paprika was sprinkled on top of them (and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case). Corn Nuts are generally pretty crunchy and taste slightly like corn although the artificial flavors tend to overwhelm most natural corn flavors.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 4/10

Bottom Line: Spicy, artificial flavored corn nuggets.

Buy them here:

Cornnuts Chorizo Chipotle Flavored

Snack #95 - Inka Corn Roasted Corn Chile Picante

Inka Corn Roasted Corn Chile Picante

Despite having bought these at a gourmet food store, I still didn’t have very high expectations for these. And I was…not disappointed? They are weak in flavor, overly crunchy, and don’t taste anything like roasted corn. I don’t know why the package claims ‘light crunch’…a better tagline would be ‘extreme crunch’. Sometimes they have a faint flavor of popcorn kernels, like when you don’t have any real popcorn left and are forced to chew on the leftover bits to satisfy some remaining snack cravings. They have a hint of peppery flavor but it’s nothing unique or distinct. The only positive is the novelty factor because as stated on the package, this snack is made of Giant Corn! I’ve never seen corn kernels this big without being popped and I marvel at the genetics feat that created such huge corn. In all probability they are not exactly natural or sustainable treats but they are funny looking.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 1/10
Bottom Line: Funny shapes…lame flavor.

Snack #80 - Corn Nutz Chile Picante

From deep within the southern Midwest comes this rather weird corn nut variety. The bag says chile picante, but it tastes more like smoked paprika and lemon juice. And corn - the corn part of the nut really is a pretty dominant flavor once whatever flavor they sprinkle on it wears off. Unfortunately the flavor never gets very "picante" at all, and that weird lemony flavor persisted (I say weird because there is nothing in the ingredients that remotely looks like lemon or citric acid...). As far as texture goes, the nut(z?) are nice and crunchy, like accidentally crack a filling crunchy.

Rating of the Spice-O-Meter: 1/10

Bottom Line: a corn-nutty snack

Snack #43- Diana Elotitos (Cheese and Hot Sauce Flavored Fried Corn)

Diana Elotitos (Cheese and Hot Sauce Flavored Fried Corn)

These snacks are like corn nuts, and they are SUPER crunchy. Pretty much the most appetizing part of them is the super hard texture, although some testers thought they might break teeth on them. They don’t have a lot of flavor, it is pretty hard to discern the flavor of the cheese or the hot sauce. They also claim to have tomato, onion, garlic, and hot chili pepper flavorings but those are not very apparent either. They also don’t have much heat at all, although when about 10 or so are eaten there is mild heat felt in the back of the throat. They just taste slightly sweet, slightly spicy, and slightly like hot sauce. But the subtle flavoring and hard crunch is pretty fun for a snack overall. Some of the testers love it and some are turned off by how hard they are.

Rating on the Spice-O-Meter: 1/10

Bottom Line: Very hard, very crunchy, mild flavor and basically no spice.