“The kri-kri (Capra aegagrus cretica), sometimes called the Cretan goat, Agrimi, or Cretan Ibex, is a inhabiting the Eastern , previously considered a of …..” Whoa. Hold up, Wiki. Wrong kri kri.
We’re talking nuts here, not nimble mammals. Deliciously crunchy and addictively salty-sweet, kri kri are whole roasted peanuts with a baked-on coating that shatters ever-so-seductively in your mouth when you chomp them. They’re popular as a bar snack and might well be the best thing you could eat with a cold beer, like, ever.
Jinan Afiouny-Amora reckons her family’s Sydney-based food company, Nut Roasters, is responsible for introducing these addictive morsels to Oz. Her Lebanese dad, Ghassan “Jim” Afiouny, grew up with kri kri nuts in Tripoli, where he trained as a confectioner and nut roaster in the family business that his father established in 1925.
After immigrating to Australia, he started his own roasting business in 1982, from the back of a garage in Campsie. After a few years, his thoughts turned to adding kri kri to his inventory and he set about figuring out exactly how to make them. It’s not the easiest of processes, as Jinan explains, and it took her dad a fair amount of trial, error and tweaking before his kri kri were up to scratch. “They’re a bit technical to make,” she explains. “First, you need special, big roasters that look a bit like concrete mixers, except they’re made of copper. The roasting process actually starts off cold; after a bit, you start adding the coating mix (a dry ‘batter’ of flour, salt, sugar and various flavourings) then gradually apply heat and eventually, the coating builds up on the outside of the nuts and you have kri kri.”
She’s a bit coy, however, about the precise manufacturing details as Nut Roasters have learned the hard way that others can take a winning concept and run with it. While her dad, Jinan proudly claims, “was the first to make and sell them here, there are other manufacturers in the business now…and they all started out working for Dad! They learned to make the snack from him then, when they left and went on to set up their own places, they took the process with them. Dad”, she laughingly remembers, “knew nothing about ‘non-compete’ and ‘restraint of trade’ in those days so now there’s competition. 
She laughs too as she remembers some of his popular, late ’80s flavours, such as the ‘chicken’ one. “We don't do that any more” she says, explaining how snacking tastes have moved on a little since then. They still make her father’s ‘Original’ (which has no flavour added to the coating, so the taste of peanuts really shines through), but now they have new flavours such as chilli, BBQ and garlic in their inventory. Sesame seed-based coatings are a popular, modern addition to the range. When asked how their kri kri differ from the Lebanese archetype that inspired them, Jinan reckons the Aussie-fied versions have a coating that’s “a little softer, more crumbly and generally lighter: Lebanese ones have a thicker, less crackly shell.” She says kri kri are one of their biggest sellers and they make tonnes each year, even exporting them to New Zealand, using only Queensland peanuts as the base. And if you’re wondering where the name comes from, Jinan says they have no idea themselves, but think it’s some kind of Arabic onomatopoeia, to do with the sound they make when you crunch them.
Source: Kylie Walker
Source: Kylie Walker
This type of snack isn’t exclusive to the Middle East though; notably, there’s a Japanese equivalent, called yoshino, or “dinosaur eggs”. Author, Japanese food expert and lover of all things Nippon-esque, Jane Lawson, notes that these are an extension of the traditional senbei, or rice-cracker style of snacks. They’re eaten, as you’d fully expect, with beer or sake and are, she observes, “available pretty much everywhere in Japan - in every convenience store, supermarket and bottle shop. ‘Primo’ quality ones use more natural and flavoursome ingredients and are found in traditional senbei stores or up-market food halls” she explains. “Once you’ve had the really good quality ones”, she reckons, “it’s hard to turn back to the cheap and cheerful mixes in a can. Soy, wasabi, nori, shichimi (‘seven flavour chilli pepper) and curry are popular flavours with modern iterations including things like plum, shiso, mustard and even cheese. You can also get sweet versions,” she says, like “black sugar, kinako (roasted soy bean powder), coffee and matcha.”
If you think your kri kri addiction might be unhealthy, then cop with this. Peanuts contain not just Vitamin C, niacin, folate, manganese and protein but also resveratros, the same antioxidant found in red wine and red grapes. It’s the substance that’s thought to be responsible for the French Paradox, wherein the French consume a diet high in fat yet suffer a relatively low rate of cardiovascular disease. How great is that? As for the floury, sugary, salty coating… that’s maybe another story.
make your own nutty snacks
Indian spiced nuts
