We Style-Examined 7 Grocery store Pretzel Manufacturers—Right here Are Our Favorites

Upon getting back from a current trip and listening to a pretzel style check had taken place in his absence, Daniel pinged me to ask: “Had been the outcomes messy? I’d guess they’d be.” It took me a beat to appreciate that he wasn’t speaking about, like, a fun-filled day in a crumb-strewn kitchen requiring a radical sweeping. As an alternative, he was suggesting that most pretzels style kind of the identical more often than not and subsequently our style check outcomes shouldn’t be conclusive. 

However are all pretzels created equal? Or are pretzels nuanced snowflakes with a variety of textures, flavors, and ranges of salt and alkalinity? To reach at a solution, the SE crew pulled collectively seven manufacturers of good, old style snacky pretzels you are prone to discover in your native grocery store, and methodically, empirically, scientifically! tasted its method by way of all of them in a quest to determine the perfect.

There was a transparent winner! There was a transparent—nicely, we don’t do “losers.” However there have been ones that have been very clearly not the winner(s)! After which there have been a bunch of very fulfilling pretzels proper within the center, ones we might mindlessly eat with out a second thought if we weren’t very intentionally scrutinizing them in a style check.

Anyway! It was a productive train. Now we are able to all make knowledgeable pretzel-buying selections collectively. Lets? 

Ed. Observe: We wished to strive Herr’s and Uncle Jerry’s pretzels to no avail. I’m begging you, as soon as once more, to grasp that we should not have a West Coast correspondent (or an excited editorial assistant) to assist us procure this stuff!! However we do actually love the suggestions. Preserve it coming!! Xx.

The Contenders

• Bachman Skinny’n Proper Pretzels
• Brad’s Natural Mini Pretzels
• Rold Gold Tiny Twists
• Snack Manufacturing facility Pretzel Chips
• Snyder’s of Hanover Mini Pretzels
• Utz Traditional Thins
• Wegman’s Mini Pretzels

The Standards

A superb pretzel is a factor of subtlety and refinement. It’s salty, for certain, however it is usually calmly candy—not candy like dessert, however candy in the way in which sandwich bread grows candy the longer you chew it. Usually, the sweetness has a touch of malt to it. (In a sneak-peak of our outcomes, we are able to now say with confidence {that a} pretzel that’s salty and malty is, in reality, higher than one which’s merely salty and candy.) That mentioned, salty and malty ought to by no means grow to be “salty and toasty,” which rapidly devolves into, “Oh god, was there a hearth on the pretzel manufacturing unit??”

The salt ought to be current as small crystals atop the pretzel in a good distribution, but it surely must also very distinctly be coming from the pretzel dough. It may be a plus if a pretzel tastes subtly of butter, however by no means a lot that you already know in your coronary heart that butter is synthetic.

And I would be remiss if I did not point out {that a} good pretzel ought to have a deeply burnished brown exterior courtesy of a dip in an alkaline lye tub earlier than baking. This isn’t just for seems; it is this alkaline floor remedy that’s accountable for a pretzel’s signature roasty, toast, weirdly pleasantly soapy taste. (Science time: The sturdy alkaline tub speeds the Maillard response throughout baking, which is the response that drives the browning of bread crusts, seared steaks, and roasted greens, resulting in such a well-developed and flavorful exterior regardless of a thin little pretzel’s comparatively quick cooking time.)

Measurement additionally factored into folks’s preferences in that something that took greater than two bites to totally eat ended up on the backside of those rankings. This could possibly be as a result of most tasters choose a smaller pretzel’s greater ratio of alkaline floor space to malty-sweet inside. Or it could possibly be as a result of smaller pretzels are thinner, resulting in a crispier chunk that does not wade into the crunchy-tough zone. Or perhaps of us identical to popping handfuls of their mouths all of sudden with out discomfort, as a result of is not that what snacking is all about? 

In the long run, it was a pleasant and salty day. Not our saltiest, for certain, however pleasantly and professionally salty all the identical.

The Rankings

Bachman Skinny’n Proper Pretzels, 4.125/5

Mentions of the phrase “basic” abounded right here. Did we get as far as to drag a “that is what I consider after I consider what a [pretzel] tastes like” from Genevieve? No, however she did write “Wow!” twice, as soon as in reference to exterior salt ranges and one other praising the pretzels’ general sturdiness. It was a bit of candy! Somewhat buttery! A little alkaline! And every pretzel was very straightforward to eat in 1.5-2 bites.

Rold Gold Tiny Twists, 3.79/5

OK, I wrote too quickly. This is the place Genevieve wrote: “This tastes like lye. It tastes like pretzels!” (She did then ask: “Is that this Snyder’s?” which…extra on that quickly.) Everybody agreed there was a superb quantity of salt, in addition to a gently buttery, toasty end. The crunch was good, the salt was well-distributed—it was a celebration!

These have been solely knocked from high seeding as a result of they weren’t not dry. Style check visitor star/Critical Eats product lead Alison wrote: “These have a pleasant glaze, however they take some time to chew. I simply want water to assist issues alongside, that’s all!” (We didn’t go into this check anticipating dryness to be a differentiating issue amongst pretzels—aren’t all snack-bag pretzels equally dry, and is not {that a} good factor?—however one thing in regards to the texture of some pretzels made them appear extra dry to our tasting panel than others in a method that wasn’t perceived as completely nice. It is a good second to remind readers that every taster goes by way of the samples in a randomized order, so the difficulty might be not something so simple as, “all pretzels appear too dry after the primary few bites.”)

Snyder’s of Hanover Mini Pretzels, 3/5

Snyder’s tasted and smelled distinctly bready, as if gentle pretzels have been in our future. They weren’t, and that was unhappy, however the remainder of this pretzel-eating expertise was so good! Allison didn’t want water to push by way of, Kelli appreciated the snap and subsequent chew, and Genevieve once more loved the crunch. That mentioned, all of us discovered ourselves craving salt after this pattern, which, in a pretzel style check, is assured to knock you down just a few.

Wegman’s Mini Pretzels, 2.97/5

It was right here that the distinction between a nice pretzel second and a satisfactory one grew to become—as at all times, respectfully!!—abundantly clear. It was additionally right here that I seen that malt falls off ingredient lists (solely the Snack Manufacturing facility pretzels ranked beneath picks it again up once more), a powerful indicator that maltiness is a important element of an amazing pretzel, and merchandise that lack it are much less prone to please. The butter aftertaste right here was good, but it surely was additionally distinctly synthetic. The alkalinity was satisfying, however solely when you’d had three or 4 pretzels. The salt was there, but it surely wasn’t sufficient or heartily textured. The yeast was—nicely, in truth, one in every of our testers mentioned these tasted alcoholic. Not…a nasty factor? Simply one thing virtually actually price noting.

Utz Traditional Thins, 2.88/5

These have been dry sufficient that they have been a problem to chew and swallow, and, as Amanda so fittingly wrote: “I’m simply now realizing that’s not what I would like from my pretzels.” The dryness did enable for a stage of crunch three-fifths of our testers loved, however, to cite Amanda once more, “it was a tragic crunch.” Nonetheless, Allison and Genevieve each talked about the salt crystals have been the proper measurement to fulfill their salt cravings.

Snack Manufacturing facility Pretzel Chips, 2.79/5

I did throw this little curveball into the style check considering I’d find yourself in 5 completely different fights about what qualifies as a pretzel (and don’t fear—I did!), however what folks struggled with right here was the sweetness. Each particular person recognized a right away “honey-like” style upon first chunk, in addition to a honeyed aftertaste that lingered. That sweetness overwhelmed nearly any discover of saltiness or alkalinity. One of many tasters additionally mentioned these have been so sharp upon first chunk she was apprehensive “a nook would jut into the roof of my mouth??”

Brad’s Natural Mini Pretzels, 2.33/5

We love and respect Brad, however we are able to additionally, in good religion, have questions for him about his plain and disintegrating pretzels! For starters: How! Additionally: Why?

Our Testing Methodology

All style assessments are carried out with manufacturers fully hidden and with out dialogue amongst tasters that would affect outcomes. Tasters style samples in random order. For instance, taster A could style pattern 1 first, whereas taster B will style pattern 6 first. That is to forestall palate fatigue from unfairly giving anyone pattern a bonus. Tasters are requested to fill out tasting sheets rating the samples for varied standards. All knowledge is tabulated and outcomes are calculated with no editorial enter with a purpose to give us essentially the most neutral illustration of precise outcomes attainable.