With Christmas being over, and the first day of the new year right around the bend, I'll return to a normal, regular, non-holiday themed exotic edible. This one was not an accident--I explicitly was combing the Shop-Rite shelves for blog fodder a few months ago, and this was one of the discoveries. Specifically, I tried two kinds of Lebby's chickpea snacks--the mocha flavor, and dark chocolate kind.
This brand was yet another entry on the long list of companies that have official websites bereft of information about the founders, and the general history of the business. About all it had was a product list, a very brief, undetailed "our story," a list of articles mentioning their brand, where to find the products, and a "contact us" page. The most detailed section was how the Lebby's snacks are made. For the record, the chickpeas are first dry roasted, using no oil, salt, or additives, and then "rested" in a burlap sack for 10 days. This process is repeated twice more. Then, the chickpeas are laid out in the air, and then soaked in water. Following this, the damp chickpeas are rested for another day, again in the burlap sacks. Next the chickpeas are heated in a large tin container, and the shells are removed using a rustic wooden knob. Finally, they're cooled, and spiced with the appropriate flavor. Aside from the two kinds I had, alternate flavors are milk chocolate and sesame honey. (Ironically, these other two kinds would have been the flavors I would have been most eager to eat, but, the store had only my two least favorite ones.) All the Lebby's chickpea snacks are kosher and free of gluten. However, only one is vegan, and not all of them are free of soy, or GMOs. Also, the facility that makes the snacks also processes soy, tree nuts, dairy, and peanuts, if that's a concern.
But who's behind the curtain at Lebby's, and what's the history of the business? I had to consult other online sources, including LinkedIn. A start date of 2016 seems to be the consensus. As is the CEO and co-founder, being Onur Oz. Evidently there are 7 employees, such as co-founder/Chief Information Officer/board member Sinan Asa, and President and board member Kaan Dagalti. A few previous jobs were listed for Onur Oz, and some of these appear to have been in Turkey. Given that the food is made in Turkey, Oz's purported earlier employment history, and the names of the other employees, I'm taking a wild guess that Lebby's was founded by and run by Turkish folks, or at least Turkish-American people. The company's headquarters, though, are out of Brooklyn, NY, as is the distribution company, Healthy Habits Delivered LLC.
Lebby's chickpea snacks, dark chocolate flavor: These were chickpeas, not shockingly, covered in dark chocolate. So they were about 1 cm. (about 3/8 of an inch) in diameter, and a dark brown color. Crunchy. Alas, the dark chocolate made them overly bitter. Since I'm not a big fan of dark chocolate in general, this was to be expected. Still not terrible--somewhat okay.
Lebby's chickpea snacks, mocha flavor: Same size and shape as the previous, with the only difference being that these were a tannish, honey-like color. Also crunchy. Started off kind of sweet, ended with the mocha tint. As with the other one, mocha is not a flavor I like in general, so there's that. Still alright. Kind of grew on me as I kept eating them. So my final impression is upgraded to decent, I guess.
In closing then, I won't buy these flavors again, as they were mediocre at best. But, if I see the milk chocolate and/or sesame honey ones, I would give those a try. I'm quite fond of hummus, and various other dishes featuring chickpeas (such as some Indian selections), so clearly the chickpeas themselves were not the problem. Therefore, chickpeas covered in something I like would surely change my opinion. When/if I get the opportunity I'll update this post. And for those who like dark chocolate, mocha, and chickpeas, you might want to give these a shot.
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