Pretzels

Test date: June 2010

Tester: Michele and husband Marc

Products for this test purchased at Fred Meyer, Costco, and Whole Foods.

MICHELE'S OPINION: This really depends on what kind of pretzel you like, they are all so different. If you like dense pretzels, go for Newman's Own or Shultz. If you like lighter, saltier pretzels, go for Rold Gold. Just skip the 365 Organic product, they are not worth the money. Read on for more details on price, nutrition, and the taste winner:

PRICE COMPARISON FOR 7-9OZ OF PRETZELS (store first, then brand):
$2.50 Whole Foods Newman's Own
$2.49 Fred Meyer Snyders
$1.99 Whole Foods 365 Organic
$1.00 Fred Meyer Rold Gold
$1.00 Fred Meyer brand
$0.44 Costco Shultz

1. Newman's Own Organic Pretzels: This pretzel is not too salty and has a light crunch. It is dark in color and has a flavor that goes with that: deeply baked and bready.

2. 365 Organic Crunchy Pretzel Mini Twists: These pretzels taste like cardboard. They are lightly salty and have a sheen to them, which makes them a little slippery on the tongue.

3. Rold Gold Tiny Twists: These pretzels are the saltiest of the bunch and also have that sheen to them. These do have a good wheaty flavor to them though.

4. Fred Meyer Tiny Twists: We believe these are Shultz brand pretzels, they look and taste identical to that product (reviewed below).

5. Snyders Butter Snaps Pretzels: These are lighter pretzels and are not too salty. They have a very buttery taste, but the butter does not taste completely authentic (per Marc, Rold Gold butter pretzels are better, however we did not include those in this test).

6. Shultz Mini Pretzels: These are the crunchiest pretzels of the group and are fairly, but not too, salty. These are relatively dense pretzels.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION: With serving sizes between 28g and 30g, all of these choices have been 110 and 120 calories. Most also all have been 0g and 1g of fat per serving. Newman's Own has more fat and protein than the other options with 1.5g of fat and 5g of protein per serving (compared to 2g-3g of protein for the other products). Salt content, as usual, is where the products differ the most. Newman's Own has the lowest salt content with 230mg per serving, while Shultz has the highest, at 480mg per serving. Rold Gold and Fred Meyer come close to winning the salt contest though, with 450mg or 390mg, respectively, of sodium per serving.

TASTE WINNER: Marc and I both prefered the Newman's Own pretzels. They have the right amount of density and salt, and they have that deeply baked flavor, which we both enjoy. And I like knowing that I'm getting some protein with my carbs (although, as you can see from the nutritional notes, it's really not that much more protein than the others).