Nutty for Nutty Puffs
With my mother being severely allergic to peanuts,
I was worried about introducing any peanut product to my tiny little human.
When my son turned the recommended age of 6 months, it was time to start introducing real food. Before I started with the basic puree baby food, I was feeding him the Gerber Puffs, and the apple cinnamon flavor was his favorite (and mine too). Gerber Puffs were a great first snack, they melt in your mouth, so I wasn’t worried about him choking on them.
But what I noticed with baby snacks is they are not very flavorful. Perhaps babies have the palates of puppies—an intense ability to taste even the most minute flavor notes. Just a theory, but it does answer the question as to why baby foods on the market are often nearly bland in flavor.
Although my son is no longer a baby (and I most certainly don’t plan on having anymore), I wanted to find a snack for my friends’ babies that had better flavor and was a healthier alternative to the Gerber Puffs.
I sat for a minute and wondered why I had not heard of this brand. As it turns out, MightyMe Nutty Puffs hit the market in March 2020, the very same month I had my baby boy. And as we know, this is also when COVID-19 became a thing.
Ah-ha! So that’s why I didn’t know this brand. It all made perfect sense, especially with me leaning away from peanut products for my son.
But here’s what I quickly discovered with the purchase of these nutty puffs. They are a much better alternative to Gerber, and they introduce peanuts to babies in the right way—small doses—which helps decrease the risk of developing a peanut allergy.
Winner-Winner-Chicken Dinner. No.... that doesn’t really work. Ha!
Life is better when you’re a little nutty! Ding! Ding!
The whole idea behind MightyMe’s mission is that NOT introducing allergenic foods early on in our infants’ diets is the sole reason we have so many kids today that have many different allergies.
““Research (led by our co-founder) shows actually including peanut foods in infant diets, early and often, can reduce the risk of peanut allergy by up to 86%””
Okay… that makes sense to me.
Of course, as with any great snack for my kiddo, it’s off the chain expensive for a 1.5 oz pouch.
Yes, it is packed with 7 grams of protein, but is it really worth $5.75?!
Just for the sake of introducing peanuts to an infant and avoiding the dreaded peanut allergy, I’d say,
“IMBHO-yes, they’re worth it. Mom approved!”
For kicks and giggles, I compared nutrition labels between the two products: Gerber Puffs and MightyMe Nutty Puffs.
The Gerber Puffs had 1 gram of sugar and absolutely no protein in them. So honestly, they had no nutritional value. The Nutty Puffs had 1 gram of protein in every serving (7 grams per pouch), and absolutely no sugar added.
IMBHO… that’s an even BIGGER yes from me!
On to the taste test.
I stood in front of my kitchen counter with the Nutty Puffs just staring right at me.
For some reason, the flavor of peanut butter with strawberry just didn’t sit right with me… it took some time and I struggled to work up the courage to try them.
“Maybe it is going to be an IMBHO- no, afterall,” I thought.
I opened the bag of Nutty Puffs and smelled a very strong whiff of fermented peanut butter (which, initially, I labeled as the smell of wasabi, which was a strange thing to smell out of a bag of supposedly sweet baby snacks).
After the bag had been open for a minute, the fermented smell disappeared and the savory smell of peanut butter came through, though not a single hint of strawberries.
I know why the word “strawberry” is written so small on the package--because it is nonexistent.
I popped one puff in my mouth and chewed.
Hmmm. It didn’t really taste like anything at first…
I ate a couple more…
and then a handful.
In the handful, I could taste a few ingredients, the sweet, but not too sweet, peanut butter, peanuts, and sea salt.
They did not, however, melt in my mouth like the Gerber puffs.
And I must say, they are quite the acquired taste, but then
I found I could not stop eating them.
After eating the entire bag (nearly),
it occurred to me that I might actually be enjoying this baby snack, and one might even claim that I’m now addicted to these MightyMe Nutty Puffs.
So interesting, because I do not have the palate of a toddler, I like lots of flavor, but these puffs drew me in—in a big way. And now I need another bag!
IMBHO--a big, fat, and MIGHTY YES from me!
