Blazing Foods – Ghost Pepper Ranch Crack Balls
When I first heard about ‘crack balls’ I was intrigued, both by the name and the concept. Blazing Foods, also known as Death Nuts, makes a variety of extremely spicy challenge products such as the Death Nuts challenge and the Tube of Terror. They also make a great line of spicy snacks meant to be enjoyed instead of used as macho means of inflicting pain on yourself or others, and their Crack Balls line is one of these.
The lineup comes in six flavors, Hatch Green Chile, Habanero Ranch, Ghost Pepper Ranch, Carolina Reaper Ranch, 7 Pot Primo Lemon Pepper, and a brand new Jalapeno Bacon flavor (the only one I haven’t been able to try yet). I will eventually put up reviews of the other flavors, but I wanted to start with my favorite – the Ghost Pepper Ranch.
Sitting right smack in the middle of their lineup in terms of heat, I find that Ghost Pepper Ranch offers both the best flavor of the entire lineup, with the smoky flavor of the ghost peppers being a natural compliment to the savory cheese and the cooling ranch spices, but also a great level of heat that’s noticeable but not debilitating so they’re great for snacking any time (though I do recommend washing your hands after eating them). These are quite a bit spicier than any spicy snack you’ll find at the grocery store.
Light and crunchy as good cheese balls should be, the initial flavor that hits your palate is of the cheese, with the ghost peppers coming in behind adding their heat and robust exotic and slightly smoky flavor, and at the tail end the ranch spices. They’re addictively tasty and you’ll find yourself going through a bag rather quickly, so I do recommend buying several at a time.
If you crave spicier snacks than what you can find at your local grocer, these are ones I can easily recommend.
Ingredients: Cheese Balls (Corn Meal, Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of the following: cottonseed oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, or canola oil), whey, maltodextrin, cheese (semisoft & cheddar [pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes]), milkfat, salt, whey protein concentrate, buttermilk solids, natural flavor, sodium phosphate, lactic acid, yellow #6, autolyzed yeast extract, yellow #5, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, artificial flavor), Bhut Jolokia (Ghost) Pepper, Spices
Heat Level: 4/10. These have a nice building spice that can catch you unaware if you start eating them one after another
