Bamba is a peanut butter-flavored snack manufactured by the Osemcorporation in Kiryat Gat, Israel. Bamba is one of the leading snack foods produced and sold in Israel. It has been marketed since 1964 with no decline in sales. Bamba makes up 25% of the Israeli snack market. Similar products from other domestic manufacturers include "Parpar" and "Shush".
Overview
Bamba is made from peanut butter-flavored puffed maize. Bamba contains no preservatives or food coloring, is enriched with several vitamins, and contains high amounts of fat and salt. The energy content is 160 calories per 28 grams. Bamba is certifiedKosher by Badatz Jerusalem. Some describe it as "Cheez Doodles without the cheese."
Manufacturing process
Corn grits are "popped" under high pressure, turning them into long lines of white, puffed, unflavored Bamba. The lines are cut into nuggets and then moved to a drying chamber where they are air-baked for 20 seconds, which gives them a crispy texture. The peanut butter, imported from Argentina, is added at the end. A worker stands on a step above the rotating drums and pours a pitcher of liquid peanut butter into each of the containers. As the drums turn, the nuggets are coated. The hot Bamba is then moved along a conveyor belt to cool before packaging.
Variations
Osem also produces strawberry-flavored Bamba that is round in shape instead of oblong, and red instead of the usual color. It was originally colored with an artificial red dye, which has since been replaced with beetroot. In 2008 Osem introduced a new Bamba flavor, nougat-filled, produced at the Osem plant in Sderot. It is considered by the Nestlé group, owner of the controlling interest in Osem, to be one of the great successes of Nestlé in Israel. Osem introduced a halva-filled and a chocolate-filled Bamba in 2010, and a "Bamba-filled Bamba" in 2013. in 2014 Osem introduced a special edition of Bamba and Bissli mixed within the same package. In 2015, 60gr bags of Bamba bomba were introduced to the market, as well as Banana Punch flavoured Bamaba. Coin sized and shaped, "round Bamba" was introduced by the company In 2016, as well as a mini Bamba version of the snack called "Bambini". For Purim 2017, Osem introduced a Pretzel shaped Bamba, and towards the summer of that same year, a caramel biscuit flavoured cream filled Bamba. Ice-coffee filled Bamba was introduced in 2018, and in winter 2019 Osem introduced both Cappuccino cream filled Bamba, as well as Bamba with Chocolate. Back in 1963 the Bahlsen company launched a very similar product to the classic Bamba called 'Erdnussflips' in Germany where it remains a staple snack. In 2017 Trader Joe's began offering Bamba under their private label, imported from Osem in Israel.
Peanut allergy
As Bamba is made with peanuts, people allergic to peanuts may be severely affected by it. However early peanut consumption is associated with less prevalence of peanut allergy. In fact, a 2008 study concluded that, due to the extensive consumption of Bamba by infants in Israel, peanut allergy is rare. A control group of Jewish children in the UK had ten times higher rates of allergy; the difference is not accounted for by differences in atopy, social class, genetic background, or peanut allergenicity.
Criticism
Some health experts say that Bamba should not be promoted as a "healthy" children's snack. They say this claim is deceptive, and the added vitamins in Bamba could result in over-consumption of nutrients.
