Is it just me or at some point during the last 40 or so years did they start putting significantly LESS salt on pretzels? I have a specific memory of picking up a Mr. Salty brand pretzel when I was a lad and noting now much salt was adhered to it. Last night I opened up a bag of Rold Gold pretzels and found that you could practically count the grains of salt on it using your fingers and toes and still have several digits left uncounted. There seemed to be barely a tithe of the salt on the pretzel compared to that childhood memory.
Is my recollection distorted? Does Rold Gold perhaps put significantly less salt on their pretzels than other pretzel brands? Speaking of Mr. Salty, I couldn’t even find a box of them at the store. Do they not make them anymore?
I have a confession to make, I am addicted to soft pretzels. We usually by them every weekend and I freeze them. A guy that works at a Philly Pretzel Factory was kind enough to supply me with extra salt, a nice size container of it. I am a happy girl.
As for the bagged pretzels, I agree they don’t seem as salty. I think it used to be hit or miss, but now I think they have been holding back.
I find it depends where we buy them. Different locations of the same chain often differ a lot around here, even as to how well done the pretzels are baked.
That’s probably the influence of franchises like Auntie Anne’s which has a variety of pretzels with sweet, spicy, and savory toppings. I used to like their now-discontinued glazed raisin pretzels but I can imagine pretzel purists likely think pretzels of this type are high heresy.
Also, what’s the view on eating regular hot soft pretzels with mustard? I prefer them that way (especially if sweet-hot mustard is available). However, I remember seeing an “All in the Family” episode years ago where Archie and Mike got into an argument about whether it’s proper to put mustard on a soft pretzel and wonder if that’s still a serious bone of contention among soft pretzel eaters.
And, while we’re on the subject, what about putting Cheez Whiz on a soft pretzel? One of my early jobs was selling hot pretzels at a baseball game and I applied a shot of aerosol cheese to nearly every one.
