There are snacks that are good because they are good, and there are snacks that are good because they taste exactly like the flavor they say they are on the package. Then there are those special snackies that accomplish both at the same time.
On a March 2020 episode of Good Mythical Morning, just before the end of the beforetimes, Rhett & Link found out which jalapeño snacks best approximate the taste of an actual jalapeño. They took a bite of real jalapeño and then immediately dove into scoring the snacks. Here are their top three picks.
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- Snyder’s Jalapeño Pretzel Pieces
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Honestly, you can’t really go wrong with any flavor of Snyder’s Pretzel pieces, and this flavor was no different. It apparently contains real jalapeño peppers, which is a great place to start if you’re trying to make something jalapeño flavored. However, Rhett & Link thought that the pretzels were “not spicy at all” and said that, “If you’re afraid of the spice but you like the taste, this is for you.”
- Jalapeño Slim Jims
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The polar opposite of the pretzel pieces, Rhett & Link thought these were extremely hot. How do I know? Because when they tried them, they immediately said, “This is hawt, it’s real hawt, it’s hawt, it’s hawt […] almost too hot.” They enjoyed that it had the spice of the pepper, and while it didn’t capture the jalapeño flavor with the same sort of “clarity” as their number one pick, it was still a pretty solid jalapeño snack.
- Kettle Brand Potato Chips Jalapeño
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Like the pretzel bits, these chips do actually contain Jalapeño powder in them. Also, as Link pointed out as a general rule, “Kettle makes a good chip.” After trying the chips, Rhett said, “Listen, I taste jalapeño, friend. And it is GOOD!” With both of these factors (the great taste and the jalapeño-ness) in mind (and after a brief lesson in pronouncing jalapeño), Rhett & Link found that these chips were just extremely good and very clearly jalapeño flavored, which in the end earned the Kettle Jalapeño Chips the title of “Jalapeño Brian.”
Here are some other snacks they tried in order of how much they liked them from better to unbetter: Combos Jalapeño Cheddar (they were apparently delicious but tasted like spicy cheese with no jalapeño flavor at all), Rustlin’ Rob’s Jalapeño Peanut Butter (also not much jalapeño taste, jalapeño wasn’t even on the ingredient list which was a bit suspicious, but the spice was there), and lastly, Jalapeño Spam, which apparently just tasted like Spam. Rhett even said, “I specifically went in and grabbed a little jalapeno bit, and I gotta say, I still just taste spam.”
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!