My New Snack Obsession

It’s not often I get hot for something from the grocery aisle. Four years ago, I rhapsodized about the tart, dried green mango snacks from Trader Joe’s, long since discontinued (as far as I know). But this week, an epiphany from Mariano’s, of all places. There, in the healthy snack aisle, I impulsively grabbed a bag labeled simply “dang” with a picture of a split-open coconut on it. It said “toasted coconut chips” “caramel sea salt” and “coconut sugar” which was good enough for me. I popped them open last night, during dessert, as I split open a few ultra ripe mangos, scoring them, preparing to eat a little bit of each. The coconut flakes were absolutely delicious (I’m finishing off the bag as I type this).

Dang is apparently the founder’s mother’s name (no relation to Chicago chef Thai Dang). While the product is from Thailand, the company is based in Berkeley, CA. They specialize in toasted coconut, and have five different flavors. The good news is there are only three ingredients to a bag, they’re vegan, non-GMO, dairy-free and have no cholesterol. The not-so-good news is that each bag contains three servings, and each serving has 10g of fat, all of it saturated (that’s 50% of your daily value; eat the entire bag, and you’ve consumed 150% of your daily value.

I say crush a small handful up over ice cream or a salad, or even fresh mango. You don’t need a lot to deliver great flavor. Just be careful not to eat the entire bag in one sitting, as I just did.