Purplesful Snacking – Plant Based Cheddar Popcorn

Popcorn is a snacking paradox for me in many senses. It’s supposed to be a lighter snack that is less guilt riding, but the way I do it I end up consuming just as much, if not more in terms of quantity and total caloric intake. All this to say, I gorge myself on popcorn far more than something more filling like potato chips and other, heavier snacks.

This is interesting for a few reason – the popcorn itself seems to have a slightly different colour. Not quite blue or purple, but it has a colder colour tone than the usual popcorn, so not sure if that’s the kernels itself or something else. Also of note is that these kernels are smaller and not as puffy looking as the typical popcorn either. It seems to have a small pop, and is less round, for lack of a better term.

On initial sniff you might assume this is some sort of white cheddar, but what you taste it’s not quite cheddar, but still tasty nonetheless. Surprisingly so, in fact. The flavour is what I would describe as cheddar adjacent – it’s got some of the qualities of a cheddar seasoning to it, but it’s lacking that dairy quality to it, and has a noticeable sweet tang to it. It’s like if you combined onion and cheddar, but took out the dairy. I love my white cheddar flavour, but this is an interesting take and I find myself eating a lot more in one sitting than I had hoped. Diehard cheddar fans may not appreciate this as much, but I’m really digging it.

The texture is pretty standard for popcorn, though I will note that because of the shape, they aren’t as puffy and round so they don’t feel quite as airy as some of the styles I’m used to. That isn’t to say these aren’t good, only that they are different. To me eating popcorn is what I imagine eating edible Styrofoam is like – it’s soft, melts in your mouth and feels like you aren’t eating much in the moment. Yet another contributing factor to me binging on popcorn versus other snacks.

I have said multiple times before that to me if snacks are healthy or use alternative methods to create them, it’s secondary to how they taste. For me this is one of those snacks that manages to pull off both, and I can definitely see myself trying them again. While I wouldn’t say it’s exactly cheddar, it’s close enough if I didn’t know I might think it was. And yet, it’s tasty enough to be it’s own thing. It really is something you just have to try.