Blue Diamond Almonds – Mike’s Hot Honey
Bitter: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
Salty: ⭐✰✰✰✰
Sour/Tangy: ⭐✰✰✰✰
Sweet: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
Umami: ⭐✰✰✰✰
Heat: ⭐✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰
Quick Flavor Notes: Dusty, sweet, almond, honey
Recommended: No
Texture: Crunchy and dry
Ingredients: ALMONDs HOT HONEY SEASONING (CANE SUGAR, HONEY POWDER [SUGAR, HONEY], SEA SALT, NATURAL FLAVORS, SPICE, APPLE CIDER VINEGAR POWDER [MALTODEXTRIN, APPLE CIDER VINEGAR], VEGETABLE OIL [ALMOND, CANOLA, SAFFLOWER, SUNFLOWER])
Blue Diamond Almonds traces its history back to 1910 where it began as a cooperative of California almond growers and now represents over 3,000 family farms in the state. They’ve released a number of spicy almond products in the past including their Carolina Reaper almonds which were legitimately spicy. I personally don’t care for almonds but I received this as a gift from a family member so I felt it was only right to review them.
Mike’s Hot Honey is the brand that really popularized the whole hot honey trend. It’s a product I’ve tried a few times and while I don’t see the appeal on pizza as its often applied it’s not bad on fried chicken, though my personal preferences lean towards savory vinegary heat vs sweet honey heat. In terms of ingredients these are fairly simple featuring almonds (obviously) and then the hot honey seasoning which is apparently made of mostly sugar with some dried honey, sea salt, and apple cider vinegar powder. There is a “natural flavors” line item which I’m never overjoyed to see, I’d much rather brands fully disclose what’s going inside. Other than that it’s just a bit of oil. Interestingly there’s no listing of any chile peppers in this, they must be part of the “natural flavors” or “spice”. These have a sweet aroma with a hint of honey and winter spices. The texture is typical of almonds – dry and crunchy.
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, I don’t care for almonds. They taste like crunchy dust. They’re easily the worst nut out there and it baffles me how something known for taking tremendous amounts of water to grow can end up tasting so dry. The actual hot honey seasoning on these has some light honey flavor but tastes more generically sweet than of pure honey. There is a tiny tiny bit of warmth but again nothing I’d classify as coming anywhere close to “hot”. There may be some of those winter spices like cinnamon and nutmeg in there that I pick up in the aroma but again they’re very subtle. I do wish the seasoning were stronger so that I didn’t have to taste the flavor of the almonds. I wish the apple cider vinegar powder flavor was stronger as well. At least some tang could help improve these.
Needless to say I can’t recommend Blue Diamond Mike’s Hot Honey Almonds. Part of it is due to the fact that they’re almonds, and part of it is due to the fact that the seasoning itself tastes neither strongly of honey nor of heat. Take this idea and make honey the sole sweetness source (get rid of the generic sugar additions), and some real chile pepper flakes or powder in there, and make them with peanuts or pecans and you’d have a real winner here.
