aptain
pplesauce
I have a serious digestive illness that restricts my diet. Luckily soft pretzels are still a safe food for me. I often eat a dozen or more soft pretzels a month.
I hope you find my opinions valuable if you are looking for a good soft pretzel in my home city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
| Pretzel Baker | Taste | Reheat quality | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wawa | 10 | unknown | 80 cents each 2 for 1.49 (75 cents each) | Winner, great moisture, texture, and salt - tops my list due to easy availability |
| Soft Pretzels Inc (opens new window) | 10 | 9 | 50 cents each price improves with bulk | Just as good as Wawa, different, like childhood favorites - eaten by NASA astronauts in space - hard to get to bakery when open - 4315 N 3rd St. Zip code: 19140 |
| Jim’s Pretzels | 9 | 8.5 | 1.25 each / 10 dollars for 20 (50 cents each) | At the end of Woodhaven Rd (right off PA State Road 63) 1899 Byberry Road Zip code 19116 |
| Philly Soft Pretzel Factory | 8 | 8 regular / 0 minis | 75 cents for 1, buy more less per pretzel | All over Philadelphia and vicinity - pretzel weighs less than all others?!? Avoid the mini soft pretzels if you care about calories or reheating. Their mini pretzels are NOT reheatable! |
| Center City Pretzel | 8 | 9 | 50 cents each no bulk discount | Bakery has a special culture -- worth a visit |
| Acme Special ** | 10 | 7.5 | 6 for 1.99 (33 cents each) | They taste like onion bagels in pretzel form, minced onions a bit greasy |
| Trader Joes ** | 8.5 | 8 | 2.49 for 4 (.62 cents each) | In frozen section, they have a decent taste, like a German pretzel, and seem higher in nutrition reading ingredients |
** These are supermarket sold pretzels, they are not ranked in my order of my opinion on taste/quality
When I reheat a frozen pretzel, I put it in a wet cloth or a paper towel and reheat it on high for 49 seconds or so in a 900 watt microwave. Why 49 seconds? My digits 4 and 9 are adjacent to each other on my microwave.
When you get fresh pretzels and want to save them, freeze them as soon as you can. I believe the longer you freeze your pretzels, the more moisture they lose, so eat them within a couple months of purchase.
I cannot tolerate pretzels with a lot of butter, so they are not on my list (Auntie Anne's / Reading Terminal Amish).
Winner! Wawa Soft Pretzels!
They have their own bakery. I have not found a way to buy them cheap in bulk for freezing and reheating.
