Ode to Dill Pickle Flavoured Snacks

 I think we could debate for days, weeks or even years about what the best flavour of potato chips might be. I’m standing firm in salt and vinegar world, but maybe you like barbecue more. Picking a “best” flavour for any snack is impossible, since we all have different tastes. I however want to suggest this question, and maybe even suggest an answer. The question is, what’s the surprisingly greatest flavour of potato chip? I’ll even go one step further and say that this flavour I’m thinking about is the surprisingly greatest flavour for just about any salty snack.

The flavour I’m talking about is dill pickle. Just to make this clear, it’s a flavour that objectively seems a little too weird to work, but surprisingly tastes really good. I also want to make it clear that I’m talking about dill pickle flavoured treats, and not just dill or creamy dill flavoured treats (not that those are bad either).

I don’t know when or where dill pickle flavoured salty snacks came to be, but my memory is of them being a popular flavour of potato chip in the early 80s in Canada. I remember talking to an American friend at the time who thought it was crazy to have a chip that tasted like dill pickle, so I feel like it was a Canadian thing before becoming an American thing, but I could be wrong. It didn’t take long for this flavour to really settle in my area either. It seems like it’s been a regular flavour of chip since it first came out.

The great thing is dill pickle as a flavour seems to have settled in other parts of the world too. With this flavour of potato chip becoming accepted, it also appears that the flavour has moved onto other salty snacks as well. I’ve seen dill pickle sunflower seeds, peanuts and even crackers. I’ve tasted dill pickle versions of many salty snacks and I have to say that for the most part this flavour has never failed. Sure there are better and worse dill pickle snacks, but I think it has more to do with the seasoning quality than the snack it’s paired up with.

There are only a few potato chip flavours that have really moved on successfully into the great snacking world, and dill pickle is one of them. Most of the other flavours have been around for such a long time, but dill pickle is comparatively the new kid on the block. However, what amazes me more is that there are still people out there afraid to try this flavour, or even some people that don’t know it exists. This is why dill pickle is surprisingly the best flavour of chips or any salty snack in the world (emphasis on the word surprisingly).

This then asks the question, would I want dill pickle to become as common as salt and vinegar or barbecue for salty snacks. Part of me enjoys the niche-ness of this treat, but most of me wants the whole world to truly understand how good this flavour can be. Sure there are going to be some people out there who just don’t like it, heck I’m not a huge barbecue fan. I just want everyone to have at least tried it once.

Another Variety

When I did my last big re-organize of candycritic.org I decided that if any candy had more than 10 versions, I would give them their own category. I started that a few years back, but honestly haven't added a new candy or snack to the list of candies with more than one version since. I can think of at least 3 or 4 treats that should be added to that list, but I really haven't gotten around to it. Doritos is approaching that mark, and maybe when they cross it I'll finally get to adding all the treats that deserve the spot... or maybe I won't.

Check out my latest review of another flavour of Doritos.

Hey Puddin'

Sometimes the concept behind a treat can overtake that actual treat itself. This is the perfect example, there's nothing on this dessert that tells me what flavour it might be, except for the word magic.

Check out all my videos as they come out on my YouTube Channel.

CC

Tasteless Journal (The Time I Lost All Sense Of Taste)

 

I lost all sense of taste, while the Covid tests came up negative, I hear they're not totally accurate. I had the symptoms, including the one I feared the most, I lost my sense of taste. I had read that in most cases the sense of taste returns, however the word "most" lingered in my brain. As you would imagine, a person who reviews candy would need their sense of taste, it made me contemplate this site, and even messed with my other senses. I started to feel a little paranoid and even learned just how much I depend on my sense of smell for so many other things. Below is the journal I decided to keep, just in case this was to be my last post on this blog.

Part 1 the first 7 Days

I have no taste… literally. About 7 days ago I started coming down with the flu. I figured it was the flu (and not Covid) because several days before Allison was very sick with the flu and we checked her for Covid and it was negative. She was just on the upswing of her flu when I started getting symptoms. Then it hit me like a freight train and I was out. About 3 days into my flu I started to lose the ability to smell and taste things. By the 4th day I was completely tasteless.

The flu started to clear up, which was good because we had a flight out of town on a trip. I wasn’t perfect, but I was beyond the stages of being contagious. The one thing that had not recovered however was my ability to taste or smell anything. By this point I was hungry, but unable to enjoy the flavours. It’s been 7 days now and the ability to taste has not really returned. 

It should be understood, I’ve lost my ability to smell and taste only sort of. My tongue still works perfectly, so I can sense sour, sweet, salty and bitter, and spicy. I just don’t get that extra kick that you get with your olfactory senses in your nose. Food flavour is very basic for me, and I’m extremely sensitive to texture. I’ll be honest, while I’m fairly sure it will return, I’m very worried that it might not. As you might imagine, taste is very important for a person who reviews candy. Fortunately I actually have several months worth of reviews lined up, so there is no immediate problem.

Psychologically it is taking a bit of a toll on me. I’m not as interested in eating at all, I’m never really hungry. When Allison and I pick a place to eat, I really don’t care at all. I do think about texture a bit when I choose foods, but there’s no particular type of food that I crave. When I do eat, I feel a little down that I can’t totally enjoy it. 

I have given more thought about texture, and realized even more the collaboration taste and texture have together. Certain textures work well on their own, however some textures need certain flavours to be satisfying. I’ve been a little experimental with texture and discovered the following things:

Pickled jalapeños - Crunchier than I thought, still burns but without the flavour.

Bread - Very satisfying to chew.

Hamburgers - All condiments are for people who can taste, otherwise just makes a hamburger into a squishy gross mess.

Gummies - Not as gross as I thought they would be, still satisfying to chew.

Meat - Tough meat is actually kind of satisfying.

Chips - Very satisfying. 

Ice water - Excellent, my current favourite thing.

Day 8

We went to the mall today and I think my sense of smell might be returning gradually. Extremely smelly places at the mall smelled like something. I’d never been so happy to walk by a Lush store. The smells are still faint enough that it’s hard to identify them, but I smell something. I’m not convinced that it’s real, or if I mentally just want to smell anything again. Every time we walk near something and I think I smell something I ask Allison if it’s real and try to identify it. A few times we’ve walked by stores and I’d turn to her to ask if she smelled anything and I’d see her choking, I’m looking at you Lush.

I think I’m also starting to taste a little too. Most notably I think I can taste my most nasty of burps. I thought I tasted my Wendy’s Bacon Mushroom Melt today, but I’m not sure. In the evening we went for a walk and smelled something kind of like garlic, I turned to Allison and asked if there was a smell and she mentioned that it was a fairly rank garbage smell. So maybe the base smell in rotting food isn’t bad, but the layers on top are not.

I experimented with a few more foods today:

Salty fries - They're better crispy than soft, temperature means less so cold is fine.

Grapes - Less satisfying than before when I could taste them, but not bad.

Day 9

Allison made bacon and eggs this morning, and I think I can smell the bacon. I’m wondering if it’s actually the fat in the air hitting my tastebuds on my tongue or if my olfactory is picking it up. I’m optimistic about it being positive, so the smell feels positive, but when I objectively think about it, this fatty smell isn’t great. 

Went to another mall this afternoon and the smells became more regular. I could only really smell strong odours like perfume shops, but it became somewhat regular. I even managed to smell waffle cones being made at an ice cream shop. I had a chicken Caesar salad for lunch and I could kind of taste the dressing and even the chicken on its own. I also got a slice of cheesecake, I went for key lime as I figured the sourness would work no matter what. It worked and I might have even had a hint of actual lime flavour too.

In general I’m feeling optimistic that I’ll regain my sense of smell and taste, but I really don’t know how long it’s going to take. At one point today we went into a fancy store and they offered us some chocolates to sample. I took the chocolates, but stuffed them discreetly in my bag in hopes of sampling them later when my taste comes back. After all, chocolate is almost completely olfactory in its flavour profile.

In my dreams I was hoping that my sense of smell and taste would just pop back instantly. Like one minute I couldn’t taste anything, then suddenly I’m back to normal. I’m now convinced it’s going to be a slower process. This is going to make it difficult to know when I should go back to writing candy reviews. For now however, the plan is to continue collecting things I want to review in the future. Maybe I’ll feel confident one day and I’ll get back to the reviews.

Day 10

I’ve decided that I’m going to blow my nose several times today, even if I don’t feel the urge. I feel like somewhere in my head there’s a backup, and maybe it will relieve the problem. This morning I had a bun that had no flavour, however I blew my nose and then brushed my teeth and I could taste the mint. I’m not sure if the bun is just not as flavourful, but I figure it can’t hurt to clear things out of the sinuses anyways.

As the day went on, things are starting to get better. I ate a Big Mac and I could taste the sauce. I actually ate two hamburgers and I finally felt like flavour was more important than texture. The sauce didn’t just make my food wet, it gave it flavour. I also ate a few chocolate treats and could tell the difference between the hazelnut nut flavoured chocolate and the regular milk chocolate.

I can safely say that my sense of flavour has returned, but it’s not at 100%. I can now enjoy food again, but I don’t feel comfortable writing reviews again. I feel like the flavour details are still missing. This makes me wonder about my tasting skills before. I know that I’ve been writing about food for many years, and I would always try and get as much information about flavour at every bite, but maybe the reason I enjoy doing this is because I have an ability to taste that is heightened.

I don’t feel like my entire ability to break down ingredients, or to find out why a candy is good or not is back yet. At this point it feels like chocolate and other flavours are just good to me. I’m not sure I could pick out better or worse chocolate, or tell the difference between Kit Kat bars manufactured in different countries. While I’m now much more optimistic, I’m not back to normal yet.

Day 11

Today I find that I’m drifting between tasting things and not. I find that when I first bite into something with a fairly strong flavour I taste it, but after a few bites my taste buds either fail, or I lose interest. I’m not sure if this is psychological or my olfactory is having some kind of endurance problems. I feel like it’s an improvement, but I’m not sure.

I really discovered during this entire ordeal how much I use smell all the time. Most notably I can’t really seem to keep flavours/smells long enough to analyze them in my brain. I just get a whiff and that’s it. I don’t know if other people break down flavours to their components like I do, but considering the reaction I’m getting the answer is no. People seem to think if I can basically taste things that’s good enough.

I’m also finding it odd when I walk around. I feel like I use smell often as a sense of direction and placing things around me. I not only smell food, but flowers, machinery and sometimes people (not really in the creepy way). I find that I can predict things that I might be approaching with smell, and right now it’s not really working. Again, I’m not sure if others do this, in fact I wasn’t even really aware that I did it until losing this sense. 

I’m still blowing my nose more regularly in hopes that it’s helping with clearing this up. While I hope this gets back to normal, I wonder if I’m going to be more cognisant of it in the future because of this.

Day 12

I'm still rejoicing when I taste something, and annoying Allison in the process. I really think that I rely on my sense of smell more than most people. I'm not at 100%, but I feel like it's coming back. The slight whiffs of smell are staying a bit longer, and the bites of food are pleasurable again. Each day it's getting better, and now it's only waiting for the flavours to come back enough that I feel confident that I can review candy again.

Epilogue

After day 12 I stopped writing in the journal, at about day 15 or 16 I felt confident enough that my sense of taste was back, I still waited a few weeks to write a review, and at that point I was able to pick out small details of flavour. I admit that I was afraid, but more than that I was sad and a little confused. Losing my sense of taste made me feel a lot less excited about food, and also made me less interested in eating. It actually became slightly dangerous at one point as I just didn't have an appetite and didn't eat as much as I should have (almost passed out 3 times). 

I also felt confused because I didn't realise how much I use my sense of smell to navigate me through my day to day. I became lost with only my sense of sight to guide me, and it turns out my sense of sight is not that reliable.

In hindsight I'm not sure if we had Covid, and just didn't test positive, but fortunately we took precautions anyways and didn't leave the house until after our initial symptoms were gone. For those of you out there feeling Covid in the long term, and those who fall on the bad side of "sense of taste returns to most", I feel for you.

CC

It's Not The Snack, It's About What I Was Promised

 

Sometimes a middle of the road snack can get a much lower review than it normally would. This is the case when a snack calls itself something, but doesn't deliver. I'm not talking about a snack that claims to be the best, but instead it's when a snack promises something very specific, like a flavour or a texture, then it doesn't deliver. If a gum claimed to be the chewiest gum in the world, and it was just average bubble gum, then it's not holding up its end of the bargain. For something like this I'd likely knock points off the review not only for novelty, but also texture. This is the case with my latest featured review, the chips are okay (not great), but what they promised is nothing like what they delivered.

Check out the full review to find out why these chips didn't deliver.

CC

A Deep Dive Into Banana Candy

 I've always thought I was the only person who thought banana candy doesn't actually taste like any banana I've known.

CC

Chips, Chips, Chips All Week

I've decided to have yet another review-a-thon and it's going to be all about chips. All this week I'll be posting all kinds of bonus potato chip reviews for you to enjoy. When I was a kid growing up in Canada, I was always intrigued by the sheer number of different flavoured potato chips were available. Now as an adult seeing the world, I'm even more impressed. Of all of the snacking categories, I really feel like the chip manufacturers have been on the ball creating amazing flavours to choose from. Sure some of them are better than others, but you have to give them credit for trying just about anything.

Check out the first flavour of this week's potato chip review-a-thon.

CC

Gummies Of Every Shape and Colour

 

I've always felt that the gummy is one of if not the best candy for creating fun designs. I feel like gummies can be just about any size, shape or colour. If you really think about it, I feel like you can make just about anything out of gummy. The reason I don't think you see more varieties of shapes and colours is that it's expensive to make your first batch of gummies. You really need industrial equipment to make gummies, small candy shops often stick with things like chocolate because they're easier to make in small quantities. Maybe some day the technology will start to allow small companies to make their own gummies, and maybe then we'll see some amazing gummy art.

This week's new review is okay, but not as creative as I'd hoped, but you can read more about it here.

Also make sure to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as well.

I've got all kinds of other fun things going on in Patreon as well.

CC

I Think Kraft Can Do Better With Their Flavour Boosts, and I'll Prove It

In this candy experiment I take several ingredients and try to make a better Kraft Dinner Flavour Boost, three of them in fact. I make a s'mores, apple pie and peanut butter and banana flavour boost, all of which could be slipped into a packet and sold on shelves.

If you want to see what else I'm up to, make sure to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter too.

Also be sure to follow me on YouTube if you want to keep up with all my new videos.

CC

A History Of Vanilla

 This is one of the best explanations of the history of vanilla I've ever seen.

CC

It's Time To Eat Random Candies And Ask Why Would I Eat That?!! - Mixed Flavor Candy

There are several angles to this candy, all have a certain amount of risk. There's the fact that the package has little to no information about these candies. There's the fact that there's no way of knowing for sure what flavour is which. Worst of all, there's a very good chance that one of these candies is durian flavoured.

If you want to check out more of our  videos, check out  our YouTube channel.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for previews of upcoming videos and all our other shenanigans.

CC

Amazing Candy/Junk Food Things That You Should Buy - Cherry Starburst

The "best" flavour of Starburst is a very divisive debate in the candy world. I believe this is because even the worst Starburst flavour (at least in their standard package) is still great. Personally I think cherry is just a bit better than the rest, but I'm willing to hear you out if you disagree.

CC

Amazing Candy/Junk Food Things That You Should Buy - Cherry Jolly Ranchers

If I can only eat one more flavour of Jolly Rancher for the rest of my life, it will be cherry. If you argue with this and tell me that it should be watermelon then we will have to agree to disagree.

CC

Unusual Candy For Your Tree - Bacon Candy Canes

It would be very un-Canadian of me to put these candy canes down. After all, bacon is our national meat... or it should be... if we have a national meat. I think the bacon flavour could work in candy cane form, particularly if the sweet is a nice maple flavour. Then I can hoist my Canadian flag up and celebrate Christmas properly. The great thing about this candy cane is that the best way to eat these is on Christmas morning with your pancakes.

CC

Unusual Candy For Your Tree - Gravy Candy Canes

I think of all the strange candy canes we're featuring this month, this one is the most useful. I think on its own it's probably not going to taste great, but like the macaroni candy cane, dipping this one into your mashed potatoes might be a fun treat. If you want to go one step further, suck one end into a spike, skewer your turkey onto the candy cane, and dip it in your mashed potatoes. It will completely eliminate the need for utensils and make cleanup a breeze.

CC

Unusual Candy For Your Tree - Macaroni and Cheese Candy Canes

For some odd reason, macaroni and cheese candy canes have become all the rage this year. Stores have been selling out of them at breakneck speed. I really want to love this candy cane, but I'm not so sure I will. The best way to enjoy this candy cane over the holidays, maybe dip it in your mashed potatoes.

CC

Unusual Candy For Your Tree - Clam Candy Canes

I'm just going to start right off with the candy cane I'd least like to eat. The only reason I'd want to try one of these is to see how much they actually taste like clams (then I'd like choke into a bucket). The only way I could see these working is as an accompaniment to your festive bloody mary cocktail.

CC

I Have A New Fake Flavour That I Don't Like, Thanks To This New Snack Review - Lay's 2 in 1 "Grilled Shrimp and Green Sauce"

It's important to establish this concept before I continue, there are two kinds of flavours in the snacking world, realistic flavours (sometimes real) and fake flavours. Realistic flavours are pretty self explanatory, they actually taste like the thing they're supposed to be representing. Fake flavours don't, but that's doesn't mean they're bad, it just means that the flavour evokes the thing it's supposed to represents more than it actually copies the flavour. When it comes to fake flavours, I actually enjoy most of them, the two exceptions are fake watermelon and fake banana flavouring. After writing this review however I can now add fake shrimp to this list.  I don't mind shrimp, but I generally dislike anything that's shrimp flavoured.

Click here to read the review where I made this discovery.

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with all our new reviews.

Also, we're now posting our new reviews on Instagram, so you can follow us there as well.

CC

On Day 4 Of Our African Candy Review-A-Thon, We Have Yet Another Bag Of Chips - Tropical Heat Potato Crisps "Tomato Flavour"

I like these chips (spoilers). The name was a little misleading, but I like the name. It sounds like a bad movie from the 1980's. Likely one of those movies that would play really late at night on a cable channel, and would contain some nudity. Nothing too offensive, but enough to keep you interested.  The chips themselves aren't that interesting, but they're good enough that I wish I had more.

Click here to read about these "saucy" sounding potato chips.

You can also follow all our daily adventures on Facebook and Twitter.

Why not follow us on Pinterest to keep up with all our new reviews as well.

CC

I Don't Like Mystery Flavours Anymore

I'd like to call an end to "mystery flavoured", "guess the flavour", and "name that flavour" candies and snacks.  It's not an original concept, and frankly it's very lazy.  For those unfamiliar, this is a trend that started about 10 years ago,  and has gone on strong ever since.  It's most common in potato chips, but I've seen it in other snacks and candy as well.  What this mystery flavour trend is, is a snack in a package, often covered in question marks, with no flavour listed anywhere. Instead of a named flavour the company labels the snack a "mystery" flavour, and sometimes offers the purchaser of the snack the opportunity to name the flavour themselves.  What you're getting is a flavour that the snack companies research and development team found tasty, but couldn't put a finger on what exact flavour it was.

What they do instead is get you to figure that out.  While I'm sure the marketing people at these snack companies would say that they're being "interactive", to me it just comes off as lazy.  There's a very interesting and challenging part of creating a new flavour, and it's about recognition.  If you eat a candy that's supposed to taste like apple, but instead it tastes like blueberry, your brain is going to set off some harsh warning signals.  Your brain may even go so far as to tell you that this apple has gone bad because it doesn't taste like an apple. Even if you like blueberry, and this is the best blueberry candy ever, your brain might tell you that it's gross because of  the expectation of apple flavouring.

This is something that marketing departments at snack companies have to get perfectly right every single time.  If they market a snack with a particular theme, and the flavour doesn't match in our heads with that theme, then it could lead to a complete failure of the snack. New Coke might have worked out perfectly if they didn't market it as a "better" version of Coke. If they had sold it as a different cola instead of a Coke replacement, we might still be drinking it today.  Flavour, and smell (which are very connected in our brains) are connected to our memories in a very strong way. If you smell cinnamon it might evoke memories of Christmas, if you smell pumpkin spice, you immediately think of fall no matter what the season.

This is why it's so important for these snack companies to get the theme and the flavour to match perfectly. When you read a package, your brain is preparing itself before you even take one bite.  If the description on the package does not match at all, then you could be in for a horrible experience no matter how "good" the snack actually is.  There are a few cases where candy companies will actually use this for their own benefit.  Some snack companies make treats that are purposefully the wrong colour for the flavour, to mess with our heads.  Why these snacks don't affect us as negatively is that they advertise it on the package, they warn our brains that something is going to be wrong.

Snack companies are making treats, and rather than taking the risk of labeling them a particular flavour, they're intentionally telling us that they don't have one in mind.  They're taking the easy way out of a very difficult and expensive part of the snack making process.  While this may seem like a clever idea, the problem I have is that every company seems to have a new "mystery" flavour every year.  It's a trend that grew old imediately after the first time it was done.

I don't eat snacks to solve a mystery, I eat snacks to satisfy my craving for whatever flavour I've been offered.  Sometimes I'm interested in trying new things, but I want to try new things that have a name, not a question mark.

CC