Planter’s 5 Alarm Chili Dry Roasted Peanuts

Posted on 05 July 2011

Hello guys! I was out shopping this weekend and spotted something on the shelf, I’d never even heard about it before, but it is Planter’s Peanuts product: Planters Five Alarm Chili Dry Roasted Peanuts. I decided to give this a whirl because I do like planters dry roasted peanuts and also because this was priced exactly the same as the store brand of 16 ounce peanuts. What could I lose?

Let me just say – wow, they are not kidding when they say that this is a “Five Alarm Chili”. It is hot! True, there are hotter things, and those of you who really love hot foods, this may not be quite hot enough, but for the masses of hot loving food, this will do. Those who don’t like heat, probably should skip it.

I made the mistake of purchasing this product in July, in the south. It was 100 outside when I drove home and decided it’d be a good idea to pop this open and try some. Whew. Water, please! Honestly the first bite you think it is tasty with a good spicy flavor. Then you swallow and try another, and then another. Then if your tongue rubs your teeth you’ll notice just how burning your tongue really is! Needless to say, the moral of this little tidbit is don’t eat these in your car, especially without water. Problem is that the spice gets on your fingers, and while driving it is very easy to end up rubbing your eyes or other places where the powder can start burning or irritating.

Despite the burning sensation in your tongue and throat these are strangely addicting! I found myself going back for a handful more several times even though my tongue was still in pain!

Another thing I noticed, was that at times some of the peanuts didn’t seem to be as “hard” if you will as regular dry roasted peanuts. I wondered if that chili flavoring was so effective it was making the peanut wimp out and be soft, almost like the chili peppers were cooking the peanut. But, I know that when I thought that I’d been through five or six handfuls and with my mouth on fire I couldn’t accurately judge that. Just now I tried a single peanut or two at a time and haven’t noticed the same effect.

Planter’s Peanuts, owned by Kraft, also has a label on the jar pertaining to the age old question, “are nuts good for you” and it says that eating 1.5 ounces of nuts (not just peanuts, but any kind) per day along with a diet low in saturated fats may lower your risk for heart disease. Eat our peanuts and get healthy, yes!

How Long Does It Keep: My jar of peanuts, and I have no real way of knowing how long ago they were produced had a “Best By” date that is over 1.5 years away! 18 months from now I could eat these and they should still be good. Surely the glass Planters jar (featuring Mr. Peanut!) and the effective sealing lid play into this somehow.

Nutritional Info: The suggested serving size is 1 ounce, and this is a 16 ounce jar, so you’ll get 16 “servings” from the jar. A single serving, 1 ounce or 39 peanuts, will run you 160 calories – 120 of those from fat and this seems similar to other dry roasted peanuts nutrition. It also has 7% of your daily sodium, something I found surprising since I understood dry roasted peanuts to have more than their fair share of salt, guess I was wrong. 7% of daily protein. Some of the ingredients you’ll find as Peanuts … hey!, along with brown sugar, dried onion, dried chili peppers, spices, and tomato.

Final Decision: This product exceeded my expectations and is one of the best roasted peanuts I’ve had in a while. It garners a “thumbs up” that it is worth a try!