A Badly Named Sensible Gourmet Snack

Sonoma Creamy Jack: A Sensible Gourmet Snack

I Paid $1.99 per 2.3-ounce snack pack (prices may vary by region)

Taste: 4 stars

Marketing: 1 stars

Let's get the obvious problem with this cheese-based snack pack out of the way immediately. Try this dialogue on for size:

"Hey, whatcha snacking on?"

"Oh, I'm just eating some Creamy Jack. It's a sensible gourmet snack."

"Creamy ... oh. Oh, gosh. Keep that stuff away from me!"

"But it's only cheese!" (Creamy, wobbly, slightly rubbery cheese jiggles on the end of a sesame-studded cracker stick.)

"AAAIEEE!"

At any rate, Dairyfood USA called their cracker-and-processed-cheese snack packs Creamy Jack, so there's not much any of us can do about it.

The fact of the matter is that these things are dang tasty. The Cheddar variety was a little rubbery in texture but had a creamy, legitimately tangy real cheddar flavor. The Pepper Jack was equally good: It was creamier in texture (almost like sour cream), with a strongish kick at the end that turned into a pleasant hot-pepper burn.

In both cases, the miniature snack packs offered plenty of food (six cracker sticks plus a hearty little tub of cheese spread) that clocked in at under 200 calories with zero grams of saturated fat. It's worth getting over the name for the serious (and seriously good-tasting) snacking experience that Creamy Jack provides.

James Norton edits the Upper Midwestern food journal Heavy Table. He's also the coauthor of a book on Wisconsin's master cheesemakers. For his Supertaster Daily videos, he samples offerings from supermarket aisles and fast-food menus. (Click here to see all of James's previous Supertaster work.) You can follow him on Twitter and fan him on Facebook.