2Armadillos -- Crispy Roasted Chickpeas

Crispy, crunchy, deliciously flavored chickpeas -- that is the best way to describe 2Armadillos' new product.  Quite simply, they make roasted chickpeas. It isn't a novel idea as others have done it before, but I was impressed with the fresh and abundant flavor that bursted out of these chickpeas at first bite.

Currently, there are four flavors available. I tried two of them. My favorite of the two was the Red Cayenne chickpeas as they are covered with a perfect mix of garlic powder, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and salt. This snack is incredibly satisfying and quite spicy.

The other flavor, Rosemary, had tons of dried rosemary covering the chickpeas.  I was surprised to see the dried rosemary in the bag as it just seemed so much fresher than most other snacks I see in the stores. Yum!

The other two flavors that are available are Tomato & Basil and Cinnamon Toast.

Besides the flavor, another reason I wanted to review them is that they are locally based right here in DC. They are made in the Union Kitchen by hand as they toss the chickpeas in olive oil then coat them with spices and seasonings. The founders, Jimmy and Greg, created the company because they wanted more options for healthy on-the-go snacks and they found that healthy snacks often weren't tasty. So if that was their only goal, I'd say them met and exceeded their goal! Jimmy is a businessman who is also a certified personal trainer and nutritional consultant while Greg spent four years working as a personal trainer prior to heading off to med school -- what a great combo.

I also love that all of the flavors are gluten-free, vegan, organic, non-GMO (though not Non-GMO Project Verified), packed with protein, and high in fiber. The 8-ounce bag sells for $11.95 and the 2.5-ounce bag sells for $3.95. When I asked them about the higher than average prices, they stated, "We use high-quality ingredients and organic chickpeas to produce our hand-made product that is packaged with high recycled content in an urban environment. Scale will lower our costs and therefore our prices, but currently we are boot-strapping our growth." The snacks can be found in several markets in DC as well as others in Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia. For more information and to buy products online, click here. And with that, I leave you with yet another snack option to tempt your palate.

Full Disclosure: Although the products were provided to me for free to review, that in no way influenced my veracious opinion.