Monday, May 9, 2011

Chocolate Pudding Cups

The Preface:
(This taste test was performed on 8/6/2010)
One day I brought a chocolate pudding pack to work. It was a Kraft Handi Snack. Katherine said something about my "Snack Pack", but I corrected her, telling her no, it's a Handi Snack. This then launched a discussion, during which I discovered that there really is a pudding called Snack Pack, which I never knew about, and she had never heard of Handi Snacks. Soon, everyone was involved and it was decided that a taste-off must be done to determine:

WHICH IS THE BEST CHOCOLATE PUDDING CUP?


The Competitors:
Swiss Miss
Snack Pack (Hunts)
Handi Snack (Kraft)
Western Family
Jell-O
Kroger

The Participants:
Andrew
Brian
Katherine
Mike
Jared
Dan
Jessica
Collin
Kris
Becki


The Methodology:
To make it a blind test, I assigned a number to each pudding, removed the lids and passed them out (there weren't any distinguishing markings on any of the cups). As each person tried each pudding, they scored each one on a scale from 1 to 10 based on three criteria: Chocolatyness, Creaminess, and Overallness.


The Results:
After each person submitted their scores, we averaged them and examined the results. What we found was interesting and surprising but also, inaccurate. The highest score belonged to Jell-O, followed by Kroger, Snack Pack, Swiss Miss, Handi Snack and finally, Western Family. After discussing this, everyone was in agreement that the results didn't really tell the truth. We determined that the score for Creaminess had thrown everything off, as it perhaps a bit too abstract and hard to score. After throwing out the scores for Creaminess, the results were much more accurate as to what each of us really felt was the best pudding. Therefore, we conclude that the best pudding is:


The scores were:
1. Jell-O - 7.333
2. Swiss Miss - 6.917
3. Kroger - 6.833
4. Snack Pack - 6.750
5. Handi Snack - 5.667
6. Western Family - 5.417

Interestingly, Jell-O and Swiss Miss were the only two that have to be refrigerated. Apparently, whatever companies use to make it so their pudding can sit on a shelf makes it not so good.

If you're looking for a non-refrigerated (and therefore, less expensive option) if you can get Kroger (which we got at Smith's) it wasn't too far off Swiss Miss for second place.

Swiss Miss was brought down a bit because two people hate dark chocolate and gave it bad scores, but it was my personal favorite. So if you like a darker chocolate (but not too dark), it's definitely the way to go.

We also had two outliers who very much disliked the Jell-O and gave it a bad score, otherwise it would have been even farther ahead.

Lastly, avoid Western Family!