Uncle Jerry's Handmade Pretzels!

Its been a long quest for me to find the perfect packaged pretzel, and I've been looking far and wide for a delicious alternative to the standard grocery store pretzel.  What comes after the factory made pretzel?  Handmade pretzels, each twisted by hand.  Uncle Jerry's is a good example of this process, and its truly levels above the competition.

So how are these pretzels made?  Without oil, shortening, preservatives and any of that artificial nonsense.  This results in a really authentic, homey quality to these pretzels.  They are baked on a stone hearth and are made the same way they have been for the last 100 years, since the recipe first originated.  They are also quite big, halfway between an Auntie Anne's pretzel and grocery type pretzels.

Uncle Jerry's was nice enough to send us three varieties of pretzels, their Extra Dark, Whole Weat Low Salt Sesame Seed, and Special(their flagship offering).  We gave all the pretzels a try and each had different opinions on our faves, but heres the basic rundown:

Extra Dark

Offered a slightly more deep flavor, with a smokier taste and finish.  This was way crunchier than the others, and anyone who likes a slightly burnt flavor to their snacks will love these!

Whole Wheat Sesame Low Salt

Delicious and light and with a subtle salty flavor and slightly earthy hints.  It was fun getting the hints of sesame in between bites.  Less crunch than the others!  This was my all out fave.  I love my pretzels to not be too salty and these delivered.

Special

Smooth, crunchy, salty and absolutely delicious.  Their classic offering did everything, with their delicious Dark finish.  Wonderful with mustard, and if you're old enough..A frosty glass of beer.

Overall, these were just fantastic.  The handmade quality of these really shines through(no two pretzels are the same) and they deliver a really homey taste, as if our own grandma baked these up for you.  If you love pretzels, these are absolutely worth a shot!  We commend Jerry's Pretzels for sticking to the traditional way of making pretzels, you'll notice the difference the first time you bite into one of their delicious pretzels. :)

-Sirio

Buy this snack :)

Glico Pocky Men's!

Pocky has had a very successful run in the US and abroad with its simple, yet delicious formula: A crunchy pretzel stick dipped in delicious chocolate. While browsing the local Asian mart here in Seattle, we ran into an unusual new variety of the Pocky line, known as Pocky Men’s.

Having a female staff member here at Snack Overload(Our awesome contributor Rachael), we had to wonder; What was it that made this Pocky so masculine? We picked up the turquoise colored box and set out to unravel this mystery. This Pocky snack comes in the standard sized Pocky box, but with some minor aesthetic differences. It features a different color as mentioned before, as well as an odd blurb: “This combination of crispy pretzel and smooth dark chocolate brings a whole new flavor to fun.” Fun?

Flavor wise this version of Pocky has a much less milk chocolatey vibe than standard Pocky, instead featuring a sharp cocoa bite that while being quite pleasant, didn’t exactly come off as masculine. What exactly was the message being conveyed here? All men are bitter? I didn’t know how to feel about that. We let our female staff member try it out to see if she felt more masculine, unfortunately she felt quite the same.

Anyways masculine issues aside, Pocky Men’s is a nice change of pace from the sweet standard Pocky. If you’re a dark chocolate fan, you’ll definitely want to give these a shot.


Buy this snack :)