DAAL Snacks – Extreme Heat Savage Ghost Pepper

Bitter: ⭐⭐✰✰✰

Salty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰

Sour/Tangy: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰

Sweet: ⭐⭐✰✰✰

Umami: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰

Heat: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰✰✰✰✰✰

Quick Flavor Notes: Earthy, savory, umami, sweet

Recommended: Yes

Texture: Crispy and crunchy

Ingredients: Mung beans, palm oil (RSPO), seasinong blend (sugar, salt, onion powder, ghost pepper chili powder, garlic powder, yeast extract, natural flavor, citric acid (acidity regulator), silicon dioxide (anticaking agent)).

Every so often I’ll just peruse Amazon to see what new spicy snacks are out there. Los Angeles, CA based DAAL Snacks focuses on blending Indian and American flavors together in healthy yet delicious snacks. The name of the company comes from “dal” the Indian name for legumes which are a staple in the Indian diet. DAAL uses legumes, specifically mung beans in these snacks so that they’re both high protein and high fiber. After seeing the “Savage Ghost Pepper” flavor I knew I had to try it.

Mung beans are an ancient crop, first domesticated in India before 2,000 BC. They quickly spread throughout Asia and are now a common ingredient throughout the region prepared as stewed legumes such as Moog Dal in India, ground and fried into crispy pancakes such as Bindaetteok in Korea, made into desserts such as Tao Suan in Thailand, in moon cakes in China, and in Japan the fresh sprouts of the mung bean are used in a variety of ways. Mung beans are high in protein and nutrient value making them a healthy as well as delicious food. In these DAAL snacks the mung beans are fried in RSPO palm oil. RSPO is a certification for sustainable palm oil harvesting that guarantees no deforestation, negative impact on wildlife, or human rights violations in its production. I was happy to see that the seasoning blend in these contains actual ghost pepper as well as a nice blend of other seasonings including onion and garlic though there is a mystery unexpanded “natural flavor” listed, I always prefer to see full disclosure of ingredients. These also contain yeast extract which is a natural umami booster full of glutamates similar to Marmite and Vegemite.

The texture of DAAL Extreme Heat Savage Ghost Pepper is amazing – super crispy and crunchy and give you that junk food chips type of vibe but in a much healthier package. The mung beans themselves are quite small, about the same size of individual Rice Krispies. The aroma is savory with a bit of a tang and some earthy notes below it. The mung beans themselves have a nutty earthy and a slightly sweet flavor that still comes through even with the seasoning. The savory onion and garlic compliment the natural flavor of the mung beans and there’s actually some good ghost pepper flavor as well with its signature smoky earthy burn. There is some sugar in the seasoning which doesn’t turn these sweet but does help balance out some of the heat. The yeast extract does add a lot of umami depth just as it does in Heat Hot Sauce’s Habanero Umami seasoning. There’s also a subtle tang to these, perhaps from the citric acid. These also have some real actual heat. While ghost pepper isn’t the primary ingredient in the seasoning there’s enough there that these cause some legitimate burn, and burn that lasts for quite a while. In terms of heat vs other spicy snacks I’d rate these hotter than the Blazing Foods Ghost Pepper Ranch Crack Balls but milder than their 7 Pot Primo version.

DAAL Snacks Extreme Heat Savage Ghost Pepper gets my recommendation. It’s healthy compared to any other crispy snacks, it’s delicious, and it does have some real heat. After trying these I’ve ordered the other flavors the company makes and I will post reviews of those in the future.