Crunchy Jalapeno snack food fight!

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
08/29/2014 at 13:05 • Filed to: None

I'm eating some Snyder's Jalapeno Pretzel Pieces. They are—according to the Canadian who wrote the label in this picture but not on my bag— BURSTING WITH FLAVOUR! You know what else is a delicious vaguely-jalapeno-resembling snack food product? Cheddar Jalapeno Crunchy Cheetos.

Oh yeah.

So, which is the better jalapeno snack food?

Flavor - The Snyder's pretzel pieces have a decent bite to them. They're spicy, but not so spicy that it would prevent you from eating far too many of them. They also do a halfway decent job of impersonating the taste of an actual jalapeno, but gives way to a vaguely chili-cheese Fritos aftertaste. The Cheetos seem less authentically jalepeno-tasting. They more just taste spicy (about the same level of heat as the pretzels), and also cheesy. Which is also a good taste! But doesn't quite live up to the jalapeno billing as well as the pretzels. Overall, the more-accurate jalapeno taste of the pretzels is balanced out by my just liking the Cheetos flavor a bit more. But that might just be because the Cheetos !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Mmm, MSG.

Pretzels - 7/10
Cheetos - 9/10

Crunch - The Cheetos are an almost perfect balance of crunch and airiness. They've been engineered that way. They are, quite simply, submlimely crunchy. The only very small negative textural aspect is if you munch on a big pile of them, they can clump up in your teeth a little bit. The pretzels also are ridiculously crunchy, but much more dense than the Cheetos. The smaller-than-whole-pretzel size makes them reasonable for snacking, but you have to work on them some.

Pretzels - 8/10
Cheetos - 9/10

Finger Dusting - Both of these snacks are covered in a heavy amount of what is essentially powdered flavorings. Eating either one will result in that powder getting on your hands. The pretzels aren't too bad in this regard. You get a few flecks of seasonings and a little bit of oil on your fingers but otherwise it's nothing a quick run under some water won't quickly wash a way. The Cheetos dust has a near-magical ability to remove itself from the Cheeto and deposit itself into an ever-thickening layer on your fingers. Some people enjoy this cheesy powder coating. I'm not so much of a fan.

Pretzels - 6/10
Cheetos - 4/10

Final Score:

Snyder's Of Hanover Jalapeno Pretzel Pieces - 21/30
Cheetos Crunchy Cheddar Jalapeno - 22/30

It's a close race folks, but the Cheetos take it, for me. My preference isn't quite as close as these numbers would seem to indicate. Maybe I'm giving too much weight to finger dusting.

Which snack food would you rather have?

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