Product review: Planter’s Five Alarm Chili Peanuts

My wife will tell you I’m a sucker for snack foods, particularly new snack foods. The marketing folks have me at “new” when it comes to anything salty and/or crunchy and/or crispy. Throw in spicy, and, well, they may as well have a my bank account number.

Such was the case last week when I saw the new Planter’s “Five Alarm Chili” dry roasted peanuts. I’m just now getting over a bad cold and haven’t been able to properly taste food since buying these, but now I can taste them, and man, are they good. I’ve always loved dry roasted nuts, but Planter’s does them especially well for some reason. Maybe it’s because nuts is what they do.

But I was especially impressed with the fact that these nuts boast a spicy flavor when called “Five Alarm” and, well, they aren’t messing around. On a scale of 1 to 10 as it relates to standard packaged spicy food, I’d say these nuts are about a 7.5 or 8. You novices will need a big glass of water. You pros won’t be able to stop eating them. Not only are they addictive based on taste, but the tingling in your mouth from the spice will also have you reaching for the jar several times.

So if you’re looking for a satisfying snack while watching college basketball this weekend, go for these spicy nuts….would Mikey steer you wrong?