Review: Parma!

Never underestimate the power of a sauce or a sprinkle. These little flavor enhancers can really take a dish from meh to wow! And one of my favorite sprinkles is Parma! I've been using Parma for a few years as a vegan Parm sub, but I'd only tried the original flavor. They offered me some review samples, and I jumped at the chance to sample their other flavors. They sent me two full bottles of the Original and the Garlicky Green.

And they sent samples of the Better Than Bacon and Chipotle Cayenne!

The Original has long been my Parm of choice for spaghetti nights. It's made with nutritional yeast, sunflower seeds, walnuts, pink salt, and hemp seeds, so it's a more whole foods-based choice than one of the plant cheese brands. That's not to say that I don't also love the Follow Your Heart shreds, because I do! But I try to eat an 80% whole food, plant-based diet, and this is one way to make sure I'm getting more whole foods in. The Original has a very noochy flavor, and I like that it's lightly salted.

Another favorite use for Parma is as a popcorn topper! Popcorn is my absolute favorite snack food, and I love it mixed with a little vegan butter-flavored coconut oil and Parma. When I don't have Parma on hand, I use nooch and popcorn salt, but Parma is salted so it does double duty. I tried the Garlicky Green on popcorn, and WOW!! Next. Level. This Parma has the same ingredients as the original, plus garlic, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, kelp, and basil. It's all finely ground, so it looks the same throughout, but the flavor is beautifully pungent. I love garlic! You'd think the kelp would make it fishy, but it doesn't at all.

I was most excited to try the Better Than Bacon because bacon!! This also has the same ingredients as Original but with added smoked salt (hence the bacony flavor), paprika, dried onion, and a touch of brown sugar. It tastes like cheesy bacon, and that's a win! This would be amazing on vegan mac & cheese, but I've yet to try that. I did sprinkle some on some sliced, grilled potatoes, and it was really yummy. For the potatoes, I sliced them and then added the bacon Parma and some Earth Balance and then wrapped in foil. I grilled them for about 30 minutes.

So far, I've tried the Chipotle Cayenne flavor on popcorn, but I didn't want to show you another picture of popcorn. It looks the same, but it has a spicy kick from chipotle powder and cayenne pepper. It's not overly spicy but just right! You get that smoky chipotle flavor and that back of the throat cayenne kick. This would also be really great sprinkled on black bean tacos!