Cracker Jack

Baseball season is upon us once again and every 7th inning stretch pays homage to memories from my youth.  "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks, I don't care if I ever come back."  When I was growing up Cracker Jacks were the salty sweet snack every child loved.  You would eat all the caramel corn, find the prize inside the box and leave your mom and dad with a small box of peanuts. Sweet tooth satisfied!

 

This travel year has brought me through Chicago quite a bit ( left me there unexpectedly quite a bit too) and if you travel through O'Hare there is one product dual you simply can't miss.  It the popcorn war.  Garrett's popcorn is impossible to miss if you are in terminal B because the line is always so long you have to weave your way through it just to get to your gate.  In terminal C and F you have Nuts on Clark, usually a much smaller line but the same basic concept.  Now I am sure I have just insulted all my Midwest friends by calling these two outfits similar, but to me they seem about the same.

Today I decide to put them to the test, taste test that is.  I bought some caramel corn from both stands since I was moving through both terminals.  I didn't mix in cheese corn as seems to be the local specialty as that is a bad flavor mix in my mind.  No nuts either, just like when I was young, popcorn only please.  To enjoy this experiment I braved both lines which pretty much ate up my hour connect time and left me with two well branded packages.  So, off to the the plane I went.

I took some time to enjoy both brands on my flight.  Garrett's is a dark, more molasses like caramel coating and has a stronger more nutty taste.  Nuts on Clark is lighter in color and flavor and has a sweeter taste.  If you compared the lines for each stand you would assume Garrett's is the local favorite and that 25 people in front of you in line know something special that you just must learn about.  The Garrett's corn reminded me more of the Cracker Jacks of my youth.  But the big winner here will ultimately be me as I prefer the Nuts on Clark, and that means I won't need to to stand in line for 20 minutes for popcorn again.

Nuts on Clark

Garrett's

Since I have plenty of both left over I got to share it with my girls when I get home.  It will be interesting to see which one they like best (Lisa voted for Nuts on Clark).  But it will be even more special to see Siena's reaction to the caramel corn and to tell her about Cracker Jacks and things daddy enjoyed as a little boy her age.  Maybe we will even go see the Mets play the Padres in a few weeks and we can sing the song together in the seventh inning.