Carolina Gold Nuggets Microwave Pork Puffies Bake-N-Puffs, Original, 16 Ounce

When done wrong, these are hot, greasy rocks.. When done right, these are a tasty, crunchy and addictive treat. Fingers crossed for the latter. 🤞🏽

They’re really just OK. Nothing special.

You do need a stronger microwave, or cook them for a longer time, otherwise you’re going to have many unpopped pork rinds.

They certainly _taste_ healthier than your typical pork rind! Much less fat, much less oily, much less salty. Unfortunately, also much less taste. I read one reviewer write that this had an abundance of porky flavor. I found quite the opposite. The pork flavor is slightly muted. On the other hand, if you’re on a keto diet, you’re probably going to die of a heart attack at 65 anyhow. Might as well use these as your go-to snack and die at 70 instead (hey — no disrespect… I’m going to die right with ya!)

As with all microwave pork rinds, no need to add oil. You literally put them on a paper towel and nuke them. I nuke them for 2-2.5 minutes, but that number will definitely depend on your microwave.

I’ve found that scattering them on the paper towel is helpful in getting them to pop. If you space them out far enough, you tend to get a much higher pop rate.

I’ve also tried the bag method of cooking these, and it was less than satisfactory. It sounded like a good idea, but like 99% of all good ideas, it simply doesn’t work.

They lose their heat quite fast. This is because a) you pop them "out in the open" instead of in an enclosed bag, like you do with most other pork rinds, and b) they’re not drenched with oils with high heat capacity that pork rinds usually have. They’ll become room temperature within 30 seconds.

However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Another thing I don’t like about this pork rind is that it’s not really crispy. Oh, yeah, sure, it’s a little crispy. But compare it to any other pork rind, and it’s almost mushy in comparison. If you wait until they’ve cooled down to room temperature, you’ll get a much crispier / crunchier rind. Hot or crispy. Choose one.

I try to eat a low carb/keto type diet. I discovered pork rinds make for a nice breading when crushed, which lead me to go pick up a bag from the local grocery. Having never tried them before I did not know what to expect — and I was greatly disappointed when I popped open the bag and nearly gagged from the smell alone. The taste was off-putting as well, but I still found value in them when used for other purposes (breading substitute, or to make LC "cinnamon toast crunch" cereal).

It was much later that I had an opportunity to try some "gourmet" apple cider vinegar dusted skins that I received as a gift from a family member. Wow! Those were incredible, but prohibitively expensive. This is what lead me to buying these Carolina Gold Nuggets — in an attempt to reproduce the apple cider vinegar variety myself. I am still waiting for my ACV powder to come in, but until then, here are my thoughts..

PREPARATION: Despite reviews stating these tend to not puff up properly in the microwave, I tossed several pieces onto a folded paper towel and threw them in my microwave. In around a minute and a half, all of the pieces had puffed up to near perfection. I watched as they progressed and one lone nugget took it’s time to fully fluff and I did end up with one or two small hard corners on other pieces. In the future I will try these in the oven because most likely the results will be more even and predictable, but I was surprised to have little issue with the microwave test.

TASTE: I have only had a few different types of pork rinds, but these are most definitely better than the first variety I ever tried in a bag from grocery. I did not find them overly salty one bit and find it difficult to understand how anyone would find them as such. They are on the crunchy side, so if you like a softer/fluffier mouthfeel you may want to look elsewhere. There are no odd off putting flavors you may get from additional flavors or additives that are found in prepackaged varieties.

SUMMARY: Overall happy. Flavor is mild with no surprises. Great crunch and no problem cooking them up. Love that I can make the serving size of my choice and will never have to deal with staleness. Excited to try adding my own seasonings and using to supplement low carb recipes.

I like crunchy snacks. I’m eating low carb because my doctor advises it, and this helps fill the “popcorn spot” in my life.

There are a lot of things to like about this product. It’s economical. They cook up fresh whenever you want them, and they taste fresher than the ones you buy pre-popped in a bag. They don’t have MSG like the Lawry’s brand, and they don’t come with a lot of extra packaging.

If you are a low carber looking for pork rinds to cook with, these aren’t heavily seasoned, so they won’t influence your recipe’s flavor. I like their clean flavor, but it’s not hard to add seasoning if you want to experiment or you like more variety. A little bit of oil or butter will serve as the “glue” to hold your Parmesan cheese, seasoned salt, etc.

There is a bit of a learning curve involved in terms of discovering how long they take in your microwave, but by now I know by feel what size handful to grab and how long to nuke them. It’s worth the effort to get to know these. Highly recommended!

IF you had an ax to grind with a vegetarian friend, you could trick him or her into thinking that this product is a new fangled version of seitan, and then watch the madness unfold. Since I have no use for such shenanigans in my life, a few notes on this deeelicious product:

Protein Needs:
Without going into why, my average protein intake per day comes out to .75 grams of protein for each pound of body weight. Let’s just call this number a flat 95 grams per day. This product, along with the following two:  Pure Protein Value Pack, Chocolate Peanut Caramel, 1.76 oz. Bars, 6 Count, ,  and  Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard, Double Rich Chocolate, 5 Pound  are the ones that help me reach that goal. I personally think that fat has been overvillified (as has cholesterol), so I’m ok with consuming up to 30 – 35% of my daily caloric needs through fat, and none of the three products I use really worry me too much. Each 1 oz "unpopped" serving of this product (yes, I eat an ounce at a time) yields 18g protein, with the protein bars coming in at 20 grams per bar and my shakes coming in at 24 grams per scoop (depending on flavor). From a pure taste perspective, of course I’d rather eat pig product throughout the day, but if I brought these into work, people would start asking questions and then I’d have to take time to explain it. Then I’d be known as the "guy who eats pork rinds all day" and I could really do without that moniker. Thus, during the day, I mix a shake with my morning coffee and then eat 1 – 2 of the protein bars at work.

Cost Effectiveness:
Deeelicious fried pig product: 12.31 per 1lb bag comes to 4.27 cents per gram of protein
Protein Bars: 8.14 per box of 6 comes to 6.78 cents per gram of protein
Protein Shake: 58$ for a 68 serving tub comes to 3.60 cents per gram of protein
As you can see, the cost effectiveness of these delicious products is in the middle, but remember that it tastes so much more deeeelicious (pork is a sweeeeeeeet meat) than either of my other supplements.

Ease of preparation:
Paper plates, bah humbug. If anyone out there already has one of the  Nordic Ware Microwave Popcorn Popper, 12-Cup, White  as a result of trying to get healthier by not adding additional seasoning or fats to popcorn, the same device can be used to pop these bad boys. The instructions are almost spot on – 1oz of the unpopped product takes 3 minutes in the microwave.

Dog factor:
My dogs both know the difference between when this is being popped and when popcorn is being popped. While they won’t turn down  Amish Country Popcorn, 1Lb Bags, Set of 3  of any variety, they don’t follow me closely when that’s in the nuke. However, the moment they either hear the bag of pellets or smell it wafting through the house, both come running from whatever they were previously doing in the hopes that I’ll drop a piece on the floor. No way suckers, they’re all mine.

Overall:
Great stuff, local product (to me), helps me reach my protein quota as a "supplement" while keeping the spending in check. Dog approved, to boot, though they’ll never get any.