Earlier today I picked up my replacement fire extinguisher from Kidde (check out the recall here) and noticed the packing peanuts weren’t the pearlescent S-shaped Styrofoam peanuts I was used to seeing – rather, they looked like fluffier versions of Cheetos (cheese puffs). This piqued my curiosity… can you eat these?

To see whether these were at least water-soluble, I poured a small amount of water on one of these peanuts, and it dissolved within seconds. Now that I’ve determined that these packing peanuts are indeed the biodegradable type, it’s time to take the taste test…

A biodegradable (and edible!) foam packing peanut.

… So, how do they taste?

Perhaps surprisingly, they taste faintly of popcorn; I was expecting them to taste more unpleasant like cardboard, but these had a fairly agreeable yet neutral flavour and I suspect that they can be seasoned with a dry popcorn seasoning with little issue, but they may need a light spray of cooking oil in order to make the seasoning adhere to the peanut.

There are multiple manufacturers of biodegradable packing peanuts (one example is Puffy Stuff), and these are made from some form of starch like corn. However, these packing peanuts are basically devoid of any significant nutritional value, making them less attractive to animals and/or pests. Reference.com says that they are not manufactured under food-safe conditions, and are therefore not recommended for human consumption.

… I’m still going to eat these anyway. 😛 *crunch munch*