At first when I got the email asking if I’d like to try The Good Bean’s snacks- I thought, sounds… interesting? But when she mentioned that there are NO NUTS in the bars and it’s something my kid could take to school in the strictly NO-NUT zone- I thought- excellent point, I’ll definitely try what you have to offer! What does a garbanzo bean bar taste like anyway? Also, I got excited because they make garbanzo bean crunchy snacks- and that may save me the trouble of making this baked hot wing sauce version I made a few years ago!
So the day they arrived in the mail my mom happened to be over and so I opened up the box and we ripped into everything before I could take a picture. We have no patience. I think we must’ve looked like animals- tearing our teeth into each bar and ripping open each crunchy snack bag to try each one. Pretty quickly, my son stole the apricot coconut bar! My mom and I both wanted more of that one but the five year old wins and ate the whole bar. After chewing a bit- the coconut flavor really comes out and you really can’t taste the “bean” in it. Our second favorite bar was the chocolate berry bar- if you like chocolate and fruit together, then this is a nice combo. The fruit and seeds bar- can’t quite put my finger on what I didn’t really like about it - it was decent.
The crunchy Chickpea (I prefer saying garbanzo, but this snack is officially called Roasted Chickpea Snacks…darn it) snacks were fun to sample. My husbands parents came over later that day so I got a bunch of opinions. The overall winner for the adults was just plain sea salt. It has a nice crunch to it and I think it’s a nice alternative to corn nuts- not as hard and your breath won’t stink up a whole room or car. People may like you a little better if you switch to these. With the exception of my mom, we all liked the pepper version as well. I think they should be together- salt and pepper snacks like salt and pepper chips- it’s the perfect marriage. The cinnamon ones were my kids’ favorite - and everyone else liked those as well - but I thought they were a tad strange - kinda liked them, but much preferred salt. Everyone’s least favorite was the smoky chili and lime - I think they should do away with this flavor and go my hot wing sauce flavor instead. But I’m sure someone out there whole-heartedly disagrees with me. The chickpea snacks may be nice on a salad too- although I haven’t tried it since it would be impossible to fork it - you’d have to spoon it up with your fork.
What I love about these bars and snacks is that they’re totally different. I love garbanzo beans and they took the mealiness out of them and made them into fun snacks. They’re non-GMO, Hexane-free and Fair Trade. I love that my son liked the apricot coconut bars as well- five year old approved! What I don’t quite get though, is why there has to be evaporated cane juice in the Chickpea Snacks - I eat enough sugar in the day that I don’t want it added to my crunchy salty snack too! However, all-in-all, for my family, I’d buy the apricot coconut bars again as well as the Salty Chickpea Snacks.