Earlier this year, I had my first experience with Virginia peanuts, courtesy of a family trip to the East Coast. Virginia peanuts are a crunchier kind of peanut, and as a peanut fan myself I was instantly impressed. Strangely, I discovered that Virginia peanuts aren’t available in most Virginia grocery stores; my attempts to get them at Kroger, Walmart, and Aldi proved fruitless.
Fortunately, I ended up picking them up at a delightful little store in western Virginia. Even more fortunately, I discovered that Trader Joe’s carries Virginia peanuts in my part of the Midwest.
Aldi doesn’t typically carry them, but this holiday season Aldi did sell a variation on them as part of its ALDI Finds selection.
Choceur Milk Chocolate Covered Virginia Peanuts are only in stores for a limited time, so once they’re gone, they’re gone. The 10-ounce bag of peanuts costs, at the time of this post, $1.99. Depending on the store layout, they could be in a number of places; at our store they were on an endcap by the checkout aisles.
According to the packaging, these are a product of Canada. The peanuts are dry roasted and salted, and the cocoa is fair trade certified, like some other Aldi products. The ingredients note that the package contains peanuts (not surprising), soy, and milk, and it may also contain tree nuts.
Nutrition and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
How you feel about the rest of the ingredients will depend on your preferences, as they contain a few processed ingredients.
In terms of taste, they’re really good. The chocolate is excellent, with a creamy sweet flavor, and the peanut taste is there, too, with just the right amount of saltiness.
The texture, meanwhile, is fine … but they don’t feel like Virginia peanuts. There’s no crunch. This wouldn’t be an issue, except that these are branded as Virginia peanuts, and one of the hallmarks of Virginia peanuts is a crunch beyond the typical peanut. I can only assume that the process of covering them in chocolate takes away some of that crunch, but the end result is a treat that, while good on taste, is a softer texture than I would have expected given the name.
The Verdict:
Choceur Chocolate Covered Virginia Peanuts are a tasty treat, with a lovely bend of sweet, smooth chocolate and fine peanuts. Unfortunately, the signature crunch of a distinctly Virginia peanut isn’t here, so if you’re a fan of those kinds of peanuts you might be a little let down by the texture of this product. On the other hand, if you like peanuts and chocolate regardless of whether they’re Virginia crunch or not, these are good.
