Hey, Funhouse Fam!
This week, we’ve put together a list of the Top 5 Summeriest Snacks! Sweets, snacks, and sips that shamelessly shout “SUMMER!” from the rooftops!
Summer means different things to different people. But just as stews are comforting, and cakes are joyful, there’s a universality to summeriness. It’s the feeling of fun in the sun with people you love! Fairs, festivals, barbecues, or just lounging on porches are all things that are unabashedly summer and bring us together!
Of course, anything can be summery – we have loads of goodies that are tropical, fruity, and bright. But to us, it takes more than slapping a sun with shades on the package.
Summer is something you've got to feel in your soul! To make the list, it’s gotta be something that when you look at it, hold it, or taste it, you say “Yep! That’s summer!”
So without further ado, we now present to you, our picks for the Top 5 Summeriest Snacks!
Mountain Dew Summer Freeze
A Summery Summary Soda!
Rocket pops are a summer staple that are as nostalgic as they are delicious!
The shape, the flavours, the way the layers reveal themselves as you eat it – everything about them is ingrained into the summer memories of generations of kids!
I remember the first time I had one! It was near the end of an end of the school year fun day. The sun was hot and bright, and we had been running free in the school yard all afternoon like the world’s longest recess. When the bell rang, we disappointedly thought the day had ended… Sweaty and tired, everyone made their way to their class line-ups outside the big doors. But instead of the recess monitor opening the doors and ushering us in line by line, we just stood there. Waiting…
Until BAM! The doors flew open and out walked the teachers with their arms full of boxes of rocket pops! One by one, every kid was given a treat and sent back out to eat and play! All at once we got an amazing frozen treat and “extra” time to run around with our friends!
It’s one of my most treasured memories of elementary school, and has cemented rocket pops as a summer icon! We have a couple other rocket pop-inspired candies, but this refreshing Mountain Dew is our top pick to bring these iconic nostalgic flavours to you!
Hata Kosen Ramune Pineapple (Japan)
Speaking of icons, the clinking of a ramune marble has been the sound of summer in Japan for over a century!
Hata Kosen Pineapple Ramune is a tropical twist on the iconic Japanese pop! Bursting with sweet pineapple flavour, this ramune is a deliciously summery way to enjoy a taste of Japan!
The drink inside is delicious, of course, but half the treat is the fun of opening the bottle! Instead of a twist off or pop-top lid, ramune bottles are famously held shut by a little glass marble. When the plunger is pushed into the lid, the marble drops with an unmistakable ‘clink’ as it rattles around in the neck of the bottle.
That sound has been a symbol of summer in Japan for generations! While ramune isn’t as ubiquitously summery in Canada, it’s a refreshing staple treat for summertime convention goers, and its prevalence in Japanese media has made its cultural importance known across the globe.
It’s fun, delicious, and shamelessly summery in a way few other drinks could dream to be. When I think of summer drinks, ramune is the first thing that comes to my mind! And so, it gets a very well earned spot on the list!
Pringles Miller Lite Beer-Braised Steak
Childhood doesn’t have a monopoly on summertime memories.
Whether it’s burgs in the ‘burbs or steaks by the lake, few things say summer like a barbecue! The smell of food on the grill, the sounds of friends and family laughing, and the feeling of an ice-cold beer in your hand are summertime staples celebrated the world over.
There are dozens of BBQ chips out there with all sorts of flavour profiles. And while they’re all good, none of them capture that feeling of summertime community better than these Pringles!
The first time I bit into these chips, I was instantly transported to my cousin’s backyard in the summer of 2018. My uncle was grilling vegetables and steaks he got from his farmer friend while the rest of us were hanging out playing cornhole and horseshoes with cold drinks in our hands.
Food is a powerful nostalgia trigger. In my experience, it usually vaguely reminds you of a memory rather than triggering a full-blown Ratatouille-style flash back. These chips summoning such a vivid and specific memory was unexpected to say the least!
The way these Pringles perfectly capture the taste and feeling of a backyard barbecue gets them a spot on the list! If you have any fond barbecue memories, give these chips a try and see how they make you feel!
Country Time Cotton Candy
When there’s laughter in the air, cotton candy will be there!
Cotton candy and lemonade are must-haves whenever I go out to a summer event!
As soon as I get through the gates, cotton candy is the first thing I find! There’s just something magical about picking big handfuls of fluff off of a giant cloud on a stick as you do a preliminary lap of the fair. It’s a sweet snack as you scope out all the best attractions and plan out your day!
Then later on in the day, when the sun is high and you’re feeling the heat, a fresh-squeezed lemonade is the perfect drink to get you back on your feet! A giant cup of refreshing water and lemon juice starts out so deliciously tart, and always ends with a big sugary sip of undissolved sugar! Some say that’s a failure to mix the drink properly, but I think it’s a delicious feature!
Country Time Cotton Candy perfectly captures both of those fun fair feelings and flavours! Pink and plain lemonade configured into a cottony cloudy confection – a couple of classics creatively combined!
When this list was being contemplated and compiled, this was one of the first treats that came to mind as something uniquely summery! With these two icons of summertime fun sharing a snack, is it any wonder Country Time Cotton Candy made it onto the list?
Sonic Freezer Bars
While the other items on the list are pretty locked in on one summer event or vibe, freezies are present in almost everything a kid does in a summer!
Every school event but the one mentioned above had freezies as the big treat. They were given out as dessert at barbecues, you can get giant ones at fairs, they’re the half-time snack at soccer games, and they’re a little snack you can eat on the porch with friends just because it’s hot!
No other summertime snack casts as wide a net of cultural influence as the humble freezie. No matter the size, no matter the flavour, when freezies showed up, it was automatically the best day of summer!
While Sonic Freezer Bars don’t have white freezies (which are objectively the best ones), their signature Blue Ocean and Cherry Limeade flavours are a delicious duo that are sure to give you a blast of chilly childhood nostalgia!
I can’t think of a summer treat I had more of than freezies! Their prevalence, price, and popularity made them inescapable all summer long (not that you’d want to escape them)!
Ironically, I’m not sure freezies would make it onto many people’s top 5 favourite summer treats list. I feel like they might be too common or not exciting enough to get to those top spots.
But this isn’t a list of someone’s favourites – it’s a list of the Summeriest Snacks!
Are there frozen treats I would prefer over a freezie? Of course! But that doesn’t diminish the impact the iconic ice-pop has had on millions of kids over decades of summers!
For its ubiquity, utility, and understated universality, the humble freezie gets the final spot on our list!
That concludes our Top 5 Summeriest Snacks list!
Do you agree with our list? Did we miss any snacks that are important icons of your summers? Let us know down below!
If you’re looking for a more contemporary Candyologist-curated list of summer snacking essentials, the Taste of Summer Candy Funbox has you covered!
Until next time! Stay Fun!
