Cretors – Cheddar Cheese Popcorn

I remember the first time I was introduced to what is known as Chicago mix popcorn. It’s basically the combination of caramel and cheddar popcorn in the same bag. Much like the concept of sweet and salty mixes, it became pretty widespread for a time. Sadly I did not share that sentiment, and I still preferred the classic kettle style popcorn with just salt and sugar. I can see the appeal, but when having it I find myself eating the caramel and cheddar separately, which defeats the purpose.

Thankfully Cretors recognizes that not everyone is a fan of the Chicago mix, and they release their flavours separately as well. I’m a huge fan of cheese popcorn as I’m sure many people are, so this is an easy sell for me. The marketing on the package indicates that these are made using real cheddar cheese and no high fructose corn syrup. I’m honestly more surprised that other brands use corn syrup or sugar for cheddar popcorn. But then again, sugar and salt make everything taste better.

Something I noticed about these is that they look to be a certain variety of corn that puffs up really well and round, and sadly I don’t know much about corn kernels, but these remind me of the mushroom kernel variety that Bad Monkey uses. They tend to be a bit more fluffy and airy, and seem to have a more even coating of seasoning.

The flavour is pretty standard cheese flavour – there’s no denying the smell or taste of these for anything else which is a good thing. I find this to be one of those comfort snacks, the combination of cheese powder and fluffy popcorn is hard to get wrong, and it keeps me wanting handful after handful. The somewhat heavy dusting of cheese powder is a contrast against the light fluffy taste of the corn, and the two come together so well. It’s no wonder it’s a staple combination.

I’ll be quite frank and say that I’m not too sure how I would distinguish this from most other decent quality cheddar popcorn. Maybe i just haven’t had it in a while, but it strikes me as fairly standard and not far off from other brands. That’s not a bad thing though, as doing something well for a common product is a challenge in itself. While these don’t stand out from the competition in any real way, neither do most brands so it’s hard to go wrong with these. While I can’t say that Cretors stands above any of the other major brands out there, I can say it’s a safe choice and it’s sure to win hearts and guts everywhere.