Oh Snap! Pickling Co

Pickles.  I love pickles.  I grew up in a pickling family, always with our own homemade pickles of all kinds - yes, dill spears, but also my favorite bread and butter pickles, dilly beans, pickled asparagus, pickled beets, and mixed pickles of all kinds.  My mother made pickles, my great aunt made incredible pickles, pickles, pickles everywhere.  We did not have store bought pickles in the house ever, and to this day, I find most commercial pickles ... well, odd.  Why are they so neon green?  Why are the seeds in the dill spears so small?  The only real generic pickles I tolerate are McDonald's slices on burgers, which I do kinda love, but in the same way that a McDonald's burger patty itself has a special time and place.

Still, I was excited to discover Oh Snap!, a brand of snacking pickles.  Yes, snacking pickles.  This is a thing.

"Our pickles are best enjoyed cold, but beyond that we encourage eating them any and everywhere. Take them on a train, eat them on a plane, put them in a drink, or take them to the skating rink. The world is your pickle."

The products are single serve packages, without brine, to make for easy snacking anywhere, although they do require refrigeration.  You can find them at corner stores, Walgreens, Target, Walmart, and more.  Snacking pickles somehow became mainstream relatively quickly, and this is a concept I can definitely get behind.

The Oh Snap! lineup is impressive.  In addition to a few expected cucumber varieties ("gone dillz" and dilly bites, sassy bites, hotties, and hottie bites), they have pickled "cool beans", "carrot cuties", and "pretty peas".  They recently expanded to include pickled fruits, including apples and pineapples (!), both of which are available in spiced or plain varieties.

I've tried a number of products, and I still do love the concept and variety, but I'm partial to my family's homemade pickles.

Dilly Bites.

"The original and bestselling fresh dill pickle snacking bites! Perfectly crisp for a satisfying crunch and packed with a dilly flavor."

I started with the most basic, the dilly bites.  These are classic cucumbers, fairly acidic, light dill flavor.  They come thickly sliced, far thicker than you'd want on a burger or sandwich, more appropriate for snacking as they intend (although spears are likely better for that anyway).  They had a reasonable snap to them, but were a bit softer than I'd prefer.

Overall, fine, but not something I'd purchase again, but I'm also a snob raised on homemade pickles, and rarely do I find a commercial brand worth purchasing.  ***.

Hottie Bites.

"Is it hot in here, or is that just us? The perfect marriage of tangy dill and spicy heat, Hotties are here to kick your tastebuds into the next gear."

The "Hottie" bites look just like the Dilly Bites, but do indeed have a bit of heat to them.  Nothing overwhelming, just a little hit of something.  

I didn't like these more or less than the regular ones, they were just different.  ***.

Sassy Bites.

"Sassy, classy, a little bit flashy. Where sweet meets gentle heat, our Sassy Bites were born. Perfect for solo snacking, on salads and burgers, or wherever your heart desires."

And finally, the "Sassy" bites, which aren't quite as hot as the hotties, and are slightly sweet.  Decent flavor.  Easy to snack on, and I did like throwing into salads.  Again, still a bit of a softer style, but I think these were my favorites of the cucumber based pickles.  ***+.

Carrot Cuties.

"Eaten by the handful or sliced up in a salad, Carrot Cuties deliver a deliciously sweet crunch packed with vinegary goodness."

Next up, carrots!

I liked the idea of pickled carrot sticks, given that I love pickles, and I enjoy munching on baby carrots.  Pickled carrot sticks seemed like a great product for me, particularly as a finger food snack.

They were decent.  I liked that the carrot was still al dente and had a nice crunch.  They were sorta acidic, but not particularly flavorful otherwise. There isn't a lot to these, just carrots, vinegar, salt, and some other chemicals for preserving.

Fine, but not something I see myself being excited about.  ***.

Pineapple Bites.

"Sweet and savory."

And finally, one of the fruit options.  Pineapples.

Well, these were different.  They also made me realize I don't particularly like pineapple.  But, yes, these were pickled wedges of pineapple.  Juicy.  Slightly savory.  But sweet.  Lightly pickled I guess.  I think they might be good tossed into a poke bowl, or perhaps on pizza (if pineapple pizza is your style).  I didn't particularly want to snack on them though, because, meh, pineapple.  **+.