30 May 2012

Reggae Reggae Peanuts and Cashews (@Reggae_Reggae_S @Sainsburys) [By @SpectreUK]


“Put some music into your food” was the phrase on the front of the rather colourful bag of Reggae Reggae Peanuts and Cashews that caught my eye in the local supermarket. Unfortunately I was in an open plan office at the time of eating these nuts and couldn’t blast out a few UB40 or Bob Marley songs.

These were oven baked nuts, covered with Reggae Reggae Seasoning and Reggae Reggae Sauce, by Levi Roots, who famously put some fiery interest back into the Dragons in their Den on TV. Produced by Humdinger, in Hull, these Reggae Reggae Peanuts and Cashews’ ingredients included; 54% peanuts, 32% cashew nuts, 6% Reggae Reggae Seasoning, 5% Reggae Reggae Sauce, Red Scotch Bonnet chilli (eek! Help!), black pepper, paprika, ginger, nutmeg, all spice (wait… isn’t that some sort of aftershave? Oh! Old Spice…), cinnamon, malt vinegar, molasses, tomato, onion, garlic, coriander, basil, thyme, caramel, citric acid amongst other things. Packaged in a 90g bag with 572 calories per 100g, 7.9g of fat, and a whopping 16.8g of sugar, these nuts really aren’t all that good for you and it was pretty obvious they were made as a sharing treat rather than a regular in my lunchbox. I figured I’d have to run around the block a few times after eating them. Allergy advice on the back of the packet stated that these Reggae Reggae Peanuts and Cashews contained nuts (I’d want my money back if they didn’t), gluten, and barley, and that they were produced in a factory that handled sesame seeds. With so many varied ingredients and the added scarily hot Red Scotch Bonnet, I was slightly apprehensive on what these Reggae Reggae Peanuts and Cashews would taste like.

On opening the bag there was a decent spicy smell from the heavily dusted nuts. There was also a decent spicy taste to these nuts, I tried to identify flavours, but at first no single flavour stood out as the ingredients were mixed well together. After eating a few nuts I noticed the subtle heat building on my tongue. After quite a few more nuts the subtle heat turned into a pleasurable burn that made my nose run a little through its intensity. I began to worry a little about stopping eating the nuts, and then I remembered the yoghurt I had waiting in my lunchbox for dessert. One flavour that did begin to stand out amongst the tasty chilli heat was the black pepper. After half the bag I began to revel in a peppery chilli fuelled haze, not wanting the nuts to finish and forgetting momentarily about my waist size and their calorie content! It amused me, in a sardonic way, that if she were here, Cinabar would have hated the thick peppery flavour of these nuts, but she wasn’t, in fact no one was in my little alcove apart from me. I had the 90g bag of chilli peppery nuttiness to myself… Mwah hah hah… (Oh my, may have got a bit carried away there!). The only disappointment I found was when I ran out of nuts and came back down to Earth (and thankfully… the yoghurt!). These Reggae Reggae Peanuts and Cashews have all too quietly nudged their way into the chilli nuts market with the added differentiation of their unusual spicy peppery Caribbean style. I would definitely have these again…. And you just know that I won’t share a single one! ;-)
By Spectre

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