Pretz – Tomato

Pretz is a brand I grew up with. I’ve had my fair share of salad and tomato flavoured Pretz. I daresay it was one of the snack staples in my childhood growing up. One thing that seems to have stayed consistent across all the years is that feeling that you wish you had more, but you never do. This might be more of a processed food thing in general, but Pretz has the uncanny ability to leave you wanting more constantly.

I remember when I was a kid and Pretz released the tomato flavour. It was pricier than salad, and as a kid that 50 cent difference mean a lot. You know, back when inflation was relatively stable and you could afford a home, groceries and everything needed for a simple life on a single parent income household. Anyways, the 50 cents made me feel fancy because that was a lot of extra money to pay for what was essentially the same amount of snack. As a kid, quantity is a big deal.

I will say, that first time I got tomato, I was blown away. Not to say I forsook salad flavour, but I definitely got it less and less as Tomato occasionally went on sale. I keep saying tomato but people unfamiliar might be a tad confused about what that actually means flavour wise.

Tomato has a very distinct, very notable flavour but it’s what I would best describe as almost closer to a marinara or tomato sauce. The flavour is very herby and umami, and while tomato is the star, you also get strong garlic, onion, pepper and rosemary. I’m wondering what the little specs of green within the stick are, but it always added to the psychological feel that they were a higher end product than the cheaper ones like salad.

The texture is essentially unchanged after all these years – it’s a relatively clean snap of the sticks, and they are also airy and not too dense or too soft. It has just the right ratio of seasoning as well so as to not be too salty and have just enough to make it consume like a nice light snack. Perhaps so much so that I find it hard to stop myself at just one pack.

I think the fact that I’ve been consuming this product over the last few decades to be enough of a testament to my enjoyment and love for the product. Unless they severely botch things going forward (which is entirely possible), I imagine that will continue to be the case. I may not eat it as often as I did as a kid, but that’s simply because there’s so many other things to try and so many other options. This however, will always hold a special place in my heart.