Monday, January 19, 2015

Bland, But All Right, Blue Diamond Roasted Salted Almonds Are A Decent Baseline Nut Snack!


The Good: Does not taste bad, Good ingredients
The Bad: Indistinct flavor, Fatty, Fairly expensive
The Basics: Blue Diamond makes a good, if boring, Roasted, Salted Almond.


When it comes to snacks, I am a fan of nuts. I like a wide variety of flavored nuts and lately I’ve been finding almonds on clearance for some strange reason. Blue Diamond, which is one of the more consistent brands (quality-wise) of nut producers, has been clearancing almonds of various flavors locally and as a baseline, I figured it was time for me to try and review their Roasted Salted Almonds. And what I discovered in trying their basic almonds is . . . almonds are pretty unexciting and lightly salted almonds are pretty boring!

Basics

Blue Diamond Roasted Salted flavor Almonds are a ready-to-eat snack that more or less rises to the best expectations of salty snack consumers. Packaged in a 6 oz. cardboard canister, the Almonds are well protected. After removing the safety seal, consumers have access to the almonds that are dusted with a very fine salt powder that gives them their Roasted Salted flavor. The Blue Diamond Roasted Salted flavor Almonds come in a resealable container that seems to work adequately to keep other flavors out.

Despite the occasional dusting of salt, the Roasted Salted Almonds look pretty much like ordinary almonds. Each 6 oz. container has six 1 ounce servings easily dispensed through the wide mouth of the container.

Ease Of Preparation

These are roasted nuts, so preparing them is as easy as opening the canister they come in and consuming them. There is no trick or work needed to eat Roasted Salted flavor Almonds.

Taste

The Roasted Salted Almonds have almost no smell to them. In fact, they are virtually odorless.

In the mouth, the Roasted Salted Almonds are pretty bland. Outside the faint flavor of salt, the Roasted Salted Almonds are perfectly ordinary almonds. Almonds taste like almonds; they are buttery and dry. They are nutty and the dryness is cut by the salt.

The Roasted Salted Almonds have a buttery, dry, slightly salty aftertaste that stays in the mouth for about five minutes after they are consumed.

Nutrition

Blue Diamond Roasted Salted Almonds pass themselves off as a healthy snack, but the fat content in them makes it hard to get too enthusiastic about using them for “part of a healthy diet.” That said, I was surprised by how the Roasted Salted Almonds were comparatively low in Sodium and actually possessed some much-needed vitamins and minerals. A serving is considered 28 grams which is about an ounce (an estimated twenty-eight nuts). One serving is 170 calories, with 140 of those calories coming from fat. With the standard recommended serving size, the nuts have 16 grams (24% RDA) of fat! 6% of one’s RDA of fat comes from the one gram of saturated fat! With 8% of the RDA of calcium and six grams of protein, these nuts are full of nutrients. In addition to potassium (190 mg) and a reasonable amount of salt (only 85 mg – 4% RDA - sodium!), these nuts have iron, Vitamin E, and Magnesium in reasonable quantities.

The ingredients list for the Roasted Salted flavor Almonds is exceptionally short. Blue Diamond are made primarily of almonds, vegetable oil and salt. There is nothing unpronounceable in these nuts.

Storage/Clean-up

Just as with the preparation, Blue Diamond Roasted Salted flavor Almonds are low stress when it comes to storage and cleanup. Storage is simple when the nuts are kept in their canister at room temperature or cooler. Kept sealed in their canister, these nuts would not have expired until March 31, 2017 (though they did not last that long because I ate them!).

Blue Diamond Almonds are easy to clean up after as well. Simply wash your hands after eating to get any stray salt off. There should be no other residue, but if there is, it may easily be wiped away with a damp cloth.

Overall

Blue Diamond Roasted Salted flavor Almonds are incredibly average nuts. While they are good, they are so average and underwhelming that – in a world filled with flavor – they are tough to recommend and not one I’d be keen to stock up on.

For other Blue Diamond nut reviews, please visit my reviews of:
Strawberry Almonds
Dark Chocolate Almonds
Salt ‘N Vinegar Bold Almonds

4/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Random Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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