I had never heard of cassava until I sampled some snack chips recently from Arico made from this rather exotic root vegetable.
Following some quick research, I learned cassava is one of the most common sources of carbohydrates in the world, originating the Amazon basin, but recently making its way to the U.S.
The first thing I noticed about Arico’s cassava chips is the natural, but subtle, sweetness that you do not find in regular potato chips. I checked the sugar content on the nutrition panel and was pleased to see only 1 gm of sugar per 1 oz. serving in the original flavor.
According to Arico’s website, its cassava chips are gluten-free, casein-free and have twice the fiber and 40% less fat than regular potato chips.
Another point that Arico scored with me personally was their chips were not over-salted — one of my biggest complaints about most mainstream “salty snacks” on the supermarket shelves.
Arico’s Cassava Chips are currently available at Whole Foods, with additional retail outlets coming soon. For the socially conscious, Arico is teaming with American Forests, an organization that plants trees to help maintain a balance between human existence and nature.
Arico will plant a tree for every new store that carries its products, and expects to plant at least 196 trees this fall on Sumatra for the habitat preservation of the endangered Orangutan.
I am the Grocery Buyer at Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier, Vermont. We just brought in the cassava chips at the beginning of the month, they have been a huge hit on our store far exceeding my projections and getting people buying multiple bags and many repeat buyers. Many customers have told me they were very surprised at how great they taste and then bought two more bags. We have already done one sampling and plan to do more. This is a great chip and the flavors are not over powering.
Thanks,
Chris