Cocoa, Chocolate and Chickpeas

Chocolate is so popular and seems to go with so many different flavors and types of food, that it seems like almost any food company has to dabble in chocolate.  The folks from the Nutty Bean Co. sent us two bags, 7oz and 2oz, of their "Cocoa Choco Chunky Nuggets", dried chickpeas covered in semi-sweet chocolate and then in cocoa powder as well.  As you can see on the bag, they have a little yellow chick as their logo; his color background helps mark the various flavors they offer.

"Cocoa Choco Chunky Nuggets" are one of six flavors I counted on their website and the only chocolate related one.  The website includes the nutritional information but I'll repeat it here to make this revelation complete as previous ones try to be.  1oz is one serving containing 140 calories made of 2.5g saturated fat, 15mg sodium, 3g fiber, 12g sugars, 3g protein, with 15% iron an adult needs daily.  This photo shows how many nuggets are in a single serving, about 26 pieces.  As you can see they are round, having on average about 1/2 inch radius.    They have both semi-sweet chocolate and cocoa powder in them along with milk fat and soy lecithin in case  you have allergy concerns.

This photo is of the entire amount in the two ounce bag or two servings worth.  The nuggets released a strong cocoa fragrance as soon as I opened the plastic bag which took a bit of work but I was able to do it with just my hands.  Warning: the cocoa will get on your hands and your clothes so be careful.  When I bring on piece closer to my mouth and nose I can smell a deeper chocolate under the cocoa.  Now I've never had roasted chickpeas before so bear with my attempts to describe the flavors when I popped one in my mouth.  It is very crunchy and continues to be crunchy with each chew.  The cocoa is the first flavor then a nice bitter chocolate blooms while under them both is a grainy nut like flavor that does not overpower the chocolate.  After I pop a few more to try I notice that the cocoa powder starts to dry out my mouth so have a drink handy, preferably water so you don't detract from this treat's flavors.

Some folks don't like chickpeas.  Others may be afraid to try them.  While promoted as nuts, there are more like beans really.  How do I know?  Well, our Milk Chocolate Acolyte tried these and he is very allergic to tree nuts.  He thought these were good and had no negative reactions.  I urge you to check out the Nutty Bean Co. and look around their website.  If you see them in a store, give them a try.  These was very tasty, very chocolaty in two different ways and overall just a fun snack to eat.  These are certainly a worthy choice as Sacrament.