Qancha Air Roasted Peruvian Corn Snacks

World of Snacks has spent the last 15 months searching for the best snacks in the world.  So far we’ve reviewed candy, cookies, and chips from 33 different countries.  One country we have yet to visit is Peru.  So today we are going to sample a Peruvian Snack that is produced in San Francisco. 

Typically we strive to highlight imported foreign snacks or much loved American snacks.  Recently we’ve been contacted by a handful of start-up companies looking to get word out about their products.  Being we are still in the early years of our snack empire, we feel taking a look at these unique items is definitely worthwhile.  We also love testing new flavors with our panel.  So when Nazqiz sent us a few of their Qancha Air Roasted Peruvian Corn Snacks we were so excited we moved them to the top of our review list.

Our sample from Nazqiz arrived quickly and included all three of their current flavors- Original, Chimichurri, and Picante.  The packaging is fresh, modern, and very fitting for the product.  This Peruvian snack comes in a resalable black bag, with a small amount of the product pictured in the center.  Centered along the top is the Nazqiz logo, to the left of the logo it reads “Tasty Latin Crunch” and to right “Made in California”.  The packages also mentions that this snack is gluten-free, contains no trans-fats, and is made of all natural ingredients.  On each of the Qancha flavors there is a colored bar along the bottom that mentions the flavor and has a fun line drawing.  Our favorite is the Picante Latin Spice, the drawing is of a spider and it reads “Wild and Wicked like The Spider.”  Enough of how these look, let’s get on with our taste test of this brand new snack!

Being Nazqiz took the time to reach out to us and provide the items under review we decided to utilize a large taste test groups of 7 adult US males aged 25-35.  All except myself are US born and are from the South Eastern portion of the country. We sampled each flavor individually.   

The first was Qancha Chimichurri Garlic Herb Mix.  This was our first impression of the snack and had very little idea on what to expect.  The overall initial reaction was very positive.  The snack is corn from the Peruvian Andes that is imported to the United States and then is air toasted and seasoned in San Francisco.   It’s light and fun to eat.  One tester mentioned the Chimichurri flavor had a pesto taste to it.  Nearly all the testers mentioned the snack reminded them of a healthier version of the American snack Corn Nuts.

The next Nazqiz snack we tested was the Qancha Picante Latin Spice.  This was by far my personal favorite.  It was spicy and flavorful.  Several others noted this flavor as their favorite as well but only the members of the group who enjoyed spicy foods enjoyed this flavor of the corn snacks.  It was too hot for some, which made the fans of hot snacks enjoy them more!

Our last sampling was the Qancha Original Lightly Salted Corn Snack.  Maybe we should have started with this version.  Being we went with the more exciting flavors first, the original was just mildly appetizing.  This version alludes to a slightly un-popped pop corn kernel. Everyone enjoyed the lightly salted flavor, but none of our testers ranked this version above the other flavors.

Will World of Snacks offer Qancha Air Roasted Peruvian Corn Snacks in our international snack store?  Not at the moment.  Right now we are focusing on carrying classic snacks from a handful of countries.  So where can you buy Nazqiz Qancha?  If you live in California there is a list of locations on their site.  If you are looking to buy this snack online their homepage also includes details for that.  If you are looking for other unique snacks we encourage to check out our featured country this month and take a look at our German Snacks.  Each month this year we are adding a new country and their best cookies, cakes, candy, and chips to our store.  If you would like to be notified as we expand be sure to like us on facebook or leave your details to the right.  Keep on snacking world!

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