Garbanzo Bombay Firecracker Dry Roasted Chickpeas (Holland & Barrett)

I can easily promise you now that I wouldn't have even considered buying a pack of these Garbanzo dry roasted chickpeas if it wasn't for instagram. I've been seeing them pop up all over my feed for months now with plenty of people saying they're addicted to them. This piqued my interest enough to start a search. I tried Hereford, Birmingham, Worcester and Cardiff Holland & Barretts to no avail, before I gave in and placed a rather large order with the health store (who happen to have a buy on get on half price deal on all of their stock at the moment FYI). 

What are the benefits of dry roasted chickpeas? Well according to Garbanzo:

"they release their energy slowly over time leaving you satisfied for much longer than most other low calorie snacks. Its low rating on the Glycaemic Index means that this underrated super food is good for your heart and truly plays a part in maintaining a healthy diet. In addition we avoided any preservatives, additives or indeed any common allergens creating a truly wholesome snack to be enjoyed anytime of the day".

The savoury chickpeas come in three flavours: bombay firecracker, tomato garlic & herb, and sweet chilli. As tomato and chilli are more commonplace flavours than anything Indian I decided to give the Bombay Firecracker a go. Each 65g bag contains only 88cals and -as far as I can tell- is suitable for Vegans.

I was surprised by the size of the chickpeas, they were much smaller than the tinned variety, but what Garbanzo lost in size they made up for in abundance and flavouring. There were seemingly hundreds of the little seeds (I always thought they were legumes) generously dusted with aromatic spicy coating. For reference the photo below shows about half of what was in the bag. 

Ouch. I've mentioned before about the poor state of my fragile teeth, and once I took my first bite I really thought I'd struggle to eat the rest of the chickpeas. They were seriously crunchy, taking an awful lot of energy to eat -which I imagine would be a good thing for dieters! The problem was, the flavouring was absolutely delicious, and it was this moreish curry-like taste that kept me munching. I think it took me a good 20 minutes to eat them all (and I'm by no means a slow eater) but I felt satiated once I'd reached the end. 

At £1.29 per bag I don't think I'll buy them regularly, but I might have to eat my words as I've just discovered that the sleepy little market town where I've recently started working has a tiny Holland & Barrett, which strangely stocks Garbanzo! 

7/10