Cracker Jack Re-Experience

Cracker Jack was a favorite snack when I was younger. Who can forget the caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts in a box featuring a cartoon Sailor Jack and his dog Bingo on the front?

And the toy prize inside. When I was really young, like in elementary school, the toys consisted of metal cars, rings, and other trinkets. By the time I got to middle school, they had turned to plastic. When I checked into college, they were chiefly soak-and-apply “tattoos.”

Cracker Jack was, and still is, famous. Its name is sung at practically every Major League Baseball game during the seventh-inning stretch, in the iconic baseball anthem, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (“Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don’t care if I never get back”).

Anyway, I recently had a hankering for some of these treats and sought them out at the local supermarket.

Instead of the one-ounce boxes I remember fondly, they were being sold in 8-1/2 ounce bags. So I bought one, because ... well, why not.

I have since come to a few conclusions from my first Cracker Jack experience in at least a dozen years:

(1) It’s too sweet. As I’ve aged, my taste buds have evolved. What the vast majority of people consider “normal sweet” now registers in my mouth as “too sweet.” “Too salty,” for me is “just right.”

(2) There aren’t enough peanuts. In that whole bag, I came across only 11 peanuts, not even a dozen, and yes, I counted them.

(3) The prize inside isn’t even worth mentioning on the box front. It was a peel-off sticker, that I stuck on the side of a tissue box, soon to be relegated to the wastebasket.

I don’t think I’ll be buying Cracker Jack any more. Personally, I like kettle corn these days—crisp, salty, and slightly sweet. Freshly made if possible, or in a small bag.

So root, root, root for the home team, and get me a hotdog and beer while you’re at it.