It has come to my attention that some of you are salty that I focus so heavily on sweets.

Let me talk about that a bit. Believe it or not, I actually prefer salty snacks – like the BEST IN THE WORLD Extra Toasty Cheez Its – over sweets. Really, I do!

But the fact of the matter is – I don’t have nearly as fun dissecting and telling a story about potato chips, crackers, etc. If you want an over-analysis of Sour Cream & Onion Chex Mix, there are plenty of other snack blogs on the Internet or social media that will tell it to you straight.

Me? I much prefer to tell my reviews by coloring a picture of a teddy bear going down a slide, using ice cream.

Tonight, I’ll meet you halfway with something both sweet & salty. Plus the entertainment value in this one is organic… the product name is literally a punch line.

Popchips Nutter Puffs

Popchips Nutter Puffs! One of the most whimsical product names and certainly the most fun to say aloud and giggle at that I can recall.

Nutter Puffs are a new line and a change of pace for Popchips, the makers of air-popped potato chips that are healthier than your standard potato chip. These are similar to Bamba – a peanut butter flavored corn snack that is intensely popular in Israel and a few other countries – but Popchips has taken the concept to another level with multiple flavors.

All of which, I will review now:

Popchips Peanut Butter Nutter Puffs

Consider the Popchips Peanut Butter Nutter Puffs as the introductory flavor most like traditional Bamba. The ingredients couldn’t be more simple: peanut butter, corn, and peanut flour.

My first observation is that these are a little sweeter than Trader Joe’s Bamba. I suspect there’s more peanut butter involved in production. They’re airy and crunchy like a Cheez Doodle without any cheese, and the peanut butter flavor is real.

A huge product strength is that these are a mostly healthy snack – 27 pieces is only 130 calories with 7g of fat and 2g of sugar. They’re also non-GMO, gluten free, and contain no artificial ingredients, but you don’t follow me for that health stuff; you follow me because I dip my sandwiches into Cool Whip.

The sweet & salty is very balanced here. Very enjoyable and terribly addicting, but I also feel that I could use a bit more of one or the other – the sweet or the salt – to really make these pop a bit more.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Popchips Peanut Butter & Chocolate Nutter Puffs

The Peanut Butter & Chocolate Nutter Puffs add an additional layer that I think we can all get behind: chocolate.

I immediately know that I like these more. They add a chocolate seasoning consisting of sugar, cocoa, whey, natural flavors, salt, cream, and nonfat dry milk. At the same time, the chocolate flavor isn’t as pronounced as you might expect if this was the first flavor you tried. A direct comparison to the original peanut butter flavor is when you really notice the slight upgrade.

With the addition of chocolate comes a reduction in serving size: you can afford only 20 pieces for the same caloric penalty as the original. But again, you’re probably not counting your calories when you visit this blog; you’re counting how many caramels I could review in one sitting (the answer is 12).

Rating: 8 out of 10

Popchips Peanut Butter & Honey Nutter Puffs

Yup, this is the one right here. Popchips Peanut Butter & Honey Nutters Buffs is the knockout.

My point about craving a little more sweet or salt with the original Peanut Butter flavor? Issue solved with Peanut Butter & Honey. This one adds a honey seasoning made with sugar, honey powder, brown sugar, natural flavors, and salt. It adds a very mature, refined sweetness synonymous with honey without overpowering the base peanut butter flavor. It’s kind of like if Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch was made by a real person and not a late 18th-century naval captain. But better!

Another bonus: the serving size returns back up to 26 pieces, but it might as well read: “I’ll Tell You When I’ve Had Enough, Dammit.” But I promise you: any calories saved here will go towards the real reason you follow me…

Because I put Oreos in my Fruity Pebbles.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

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