Frankie’s Organic Clouds – White Cheddar
In my quest to find strange and interesting snacks, I sometimes come across some really strange products that attempt to use alternative or healthier ingredients to substitute for classic, tasty but unhealthy snacks. And then you end up with complete scams like kale chips. I mean really, why are you trying to make something like that substitute chips? I feel like it defeats the purpose of kale, and chips at the same time. The worst of both worlds, if you will. In order to make kale taste good, you’d end up modifying it so much that it would probably be unhealthy anyways.
I didn’t get that impression from today’s product though, so I felt safe giving it a try. When I was shopping, I was drawn to this product by it’s packaging. I’m sure normal people would be drawn to it by the interesting looking cloud shapes, or the calming, palate of colours on the bag. No, for me it was the picture of an older, gentle looking man, and the words “sprouted” in the top left corner. I couldn’t tell you why, but there it is. After seeing that the snack was made from sprouted quinoa and brown rice, and it was baked, I was sold. I know baked snacks get a bad rap for being too dry or boring compared to its fried counter parts, but I actually have quite the positive outlook on baked snacks and goods. Plus, I love rice based snacks. And another plus, it’s made in Canada.
These puffs are supposedly a healthy version of those cheese balls/puffs that we all know and love, the ones that are nice and fluffy and sort of melt in your mouth. Being that this is made from rice instead of corn, and baked instead of fried, I’m not expecting too much, but I’m also optimistic.
The bag smells faintly of cheddar. Not an overpowering aged cheddar, but a mild, perhaps fresh cheddar. I for one welcome this, as I tend to not enjoy being blasted by the smell of cheese, especially the strong, orange, artificial stuff we usually find here. This one is more of a tap on the shoulder, like a gentle old man trying to get your attention. This is opposed to the angry, orange old man screaming obscenities and manhandling you. The puffs are pretty much what I consider standard size, similar to the generic cheese ball, but slightly bigger.
The flavour is quite similar to what I expected, they aren’t an overpowering white cheddar flavour, but not weak either. They’re coated in a white cheddar powder that reminds me of the popcorn coating you would get in a theatre or popcorn store like Kernels, but a little less salty. A bit on the mild side, but I much prefer that than something on the wild side. I’m adventurous, just not in that kind of way, ok. Once you get past the coating, the flavour is a very mild, very slight almost wheat flavour to it. But it’s barely perceptible.
The texture is where things really shine. If you’ve ever had a cheese puff or ball, you’ll know that chewing these is like chewing on air, because they sort of melt in your mouth and leave behind a little something similar to cornmeal. These are surprisingly no different, and they leave behind what I can only describe as rice meal. It’s got a nice crunch to it, but it’s very similar to what you get when you eat the tiny pieces of those cheesy corn snacks. The overall experience is very light and fluffy, and you end up eating a lot more than you think. Before you know it your bowl is empty and your reaching back into the bag. Boy these are dangerous.
I try to work on portion control and keep what I eat in any one given sitting to a maximum. Sadly, this was not the case with this bag. I finished all 140g of this bag in on sitting, and boy do I feel like a fat ass. Well, not quite. Usually when I eat that much in chips, I feel kind of awful. But I guess because this is a baked snack and it’s puffed, I still feel like I could go for some more. Probably a good thing there isn’t any. Everything in moderation kids.
That being said, I would absolutely do this again, and I’m exploring their other flavours as we speak, assessing the fastest way I can get these shipped to me. Really the only cons I can think of is that these may not be widely available to everyone, and they are a bit on the pricier side. For the same price of your standard cheese balls/puffs for a bag double the size, you could sate twice the amount of cravings. But that being said, I would rather pay for this because it feels like superior quality, and how can you say no to the kindly old man on the bag, whose supposedly Frankie? That’s what I thought.
