Monday, June 29, 2009

Trader Joe's Pumpernickel Pretzel Sticks



I haven't seen pumpernickel sticks in years. I swear, they have everything at Trader Joe's!



My Dad used to like them. I remember he had what I still regard as a gross habit of "dipping" them in liverwurst or braunschweiger (another type of liverwurst). Actually, until I saw these rods at Trader Joe's, I had managed to suppress that memory fairly successfully for about 15 years... hmmmm,thanks, Trader Joe's!



Anyway... The TJ's Versions are roughly 4 inches long and half an inch thick. The slightly glossy outer shells are studded with rock salt. The rods are very crunchy and have a coarse texture.



In case you didn't know, Pumpernickel is a type of very dark rye bread. These pretzels, while seed free, do have a very strong rye flavor. They pretzels also have a really noticeable onion flavor (although since onion is listed on the ingredient list, it's not like we need Scooby Doo to solve the mystery). Looking at the rods you may worry they would be too salty because there are A LOT of salt crystals--but it balances out really well.

These would also be great dipped in onion dip or used as croutons. My Dad can keep the liver.



PURCHASED FROM:
Trader Joe's





4 comments:

Unknown said...

Not sure I would get on with the hint of onion! Do you still get pretzel sticks filled with peanut butter over the pond?

Unknown said...

Jim:
The onion is actually good in a weird way. And YES, we have the peanut butter pretzels (aka the Thigh destroyers) and it takes a lot of self control to keep from buying the really big bucket (yes BUCKET) size that they make.

anna said...

do you remember how much they were?

Unknown said...

Anna:
Honestly, I am not 100% sure of this but- if my memory is sort of functioning- I seem to remember them being priced at around $3.50