Funyuns are the stepchild with the red hair from the food aisle for snacks. When you are asked to identify various salty snacks, tortillas, and potato chips are likely to be the first items that pop into your mind. However, you may also remember popcorn and pretzels.
Funyuns will probably be behind the pack, maybe following Bugles and Combos but still a little over Beer Nuts and apple chips. Can you even recall the last time that you enjoyed the Funyun? Okay, what if you buy the bag of them? Was it since they’re the only snack to be found in the vending machines, other than expensive generic granola bars?
Poor Funyuns are not the most popular choice for people. However, what’s great about Funyuns is that when you get hold of a bag, you might be shocked to find they’re not at all bad.
Also Read: Slim Jim Nutrition Facts
In a Thrillist list of 31 snacks at gas stations, Funyuns ranked middle of the pack at #17. They beat out Chex Mix and hot fries but fell well behind Pringles and Bugles, which are were the sole snack food available at that particular gas station. On a much more extensive list released by NJ.com, Funyuns ranked 54 out of 150, in which the reviewer acknowledged that he did not expect to like them, but he was pleasantly surprised.
Funyuns Nutrition Facts
What is the basis of the making of a Funyun?
What exactly is a Funyun? According to the parent firm Frito Lay, Funyuns are “a delightfully different snack that is fun to eat, and has an icy texture and fresh onion flavor.” The source of their zesty taste is. It’s an enticing mix of sugar, corn starch buttermilk, cornflour, maltodextrin, monosodium glutamate, dextrose, hydrolyzed corn protein garlic powder, natural flavors, and gum arabic. Also, an ounce or two of onion powder too. The Funyuns are comprised of cornmeal enriched with vegetable oil and salt.
Also Read: Lunchable Nutrition Facts
Funyuns aren’t vegan because of the buttermilk they have. While they’re not manufactured using Gluten, No Gluten points out that the product isn’t recognized as gluten-free, and there could be cross-contamination between other Frito-Lay items. One serving of about 1 half-ounce (or thirteen rings) offers 140 calories and the equivalent of 6 grams fat (1 grams saturated), 19 grams of carbohydrates, and 280 mg sodium. Take This, Not That! Funyuns is ranked #143 out of the 164 listed in their ranking of snacks determined by how healthful they are.
How Funyuns are created
Funyuns, as per The Daily Meal, was the creation of Frito-Lay’s employee George Bigner and hit the shelves in the year 1969. We don’t know the reason behind Bigner or how he came up with his initial Funyun; however, the ones we consume today are made using the extrusion method. It may appear to be a painful process, but it signifies that they’re blended, shaped, and cooked similarly.
For more information on the fascinating process behind Funyun production, What Happens When it’s All Made explains that the Funyun mix is mixed and then heated in the extrusion machine, which keeps it moving while it gets heated up. It’s then forced into a container with less atmospheric pressure, making the dough grow like a popcorn kernel. At this point that it is cooked, it’s.
The extrusion chamber gives the Funyun the shape of a ring, and the puff-cooking provides it with its crunch. The Funyuns aren’t quite done yet, but they’re also cooked because you cannot get an oil-free snack chip. (Well, you could, but Funyuns are designed to be fun at the end of the day.) The last step is to be coated with onion flavoring and salt and then put into the bag to wait (and wait and wait) at the counter.
Only one of the brand new Funyun flavors caught fire.
Now and then, Funyuns try to break free from their shelves and into the market by introducing a “fun” brand new flavor. In 2001, it was wasabi and then Flamin’ Hot in 2007, Chile & Limon in 2014, and Steakhouse Onion in 2015 (via Sam’s Club). Of these Funyuns in Alterna, only Flamin Hot is available in the U.S. market. However, Travelversed informs us that in Japan, you can find Shrimp-flavored Funyuns throughout the spring season.
Although Flamin’ hot Funyuns might not be as well-known as Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (no film, for instance) however, there are fervent supporters, such as those on Twitter who said “Flamin Hot Funyuns are better than Cheetos that are hot” and another who stated “you have less for your money. Also, there’s less oil. Therefore, the spice won’t take as long to kick in. But I do am a huge fan of flaming hot funyuns and love them, and I love them so that I eat them all the time.”
However, the reviewer of The Los Angeles Times wasn’t thrilled with it. Funyun upgrade. They put Flamin Hot Funyuns as number 26 among the 30 hot snacks they tested, stating that they thought the onion taste and heat were a bit off against one another, leading to an unpleasantly bland snack.
The Funyun Mandela effect
Fun Funyun fact: the snack was originally intended to be called onyums; however, believe it not, the name was already in use (via Legacy). It’s being utilized by this beautiful, Funyunesque product available at the most discerning retailers, like Your neighborhood Dollar Tree. Another great thing about Funyuns is that people keep on misremembering the name.
It’s an excellent illustration of what’s known as the Mandela Effect, a phenomenon that sees a large number of individuals inexplicably have the same false memory. Like when you’re sure that the capital city of Massachusetts is Springfield, or you’re confident that you’re aware of Thanksgiving falling one week earlier. (While Turkey Day used to be on the third Thursday of November, The National Archives say this was changed in the 1980s, so it’s not likely that you’ll recall this.)
As it is related to Funyuns, the Mandela Effect refers to the idea that a lot of people have memories of the brand’s name being written as “Funions.” It never happened, but memories can be funny items … To prove this, we offer this reply to a Reddit thread about the topic: “It was always Funyuns for me, because If it was Funions, then I’d be stuck in my mind trying to pronounce it F-Unions.” We’ll all call these people Funyuns from now on.
Unusual uses for Funyuns
One area where Funyuns are the most popular snacks is their capacity to stand as play-themed jewelry. Their beautiful extruded shape is ideal for necklaces for pirates, dolls, and dressing Barbie in the role of the Olympic gold medalist, or maybe the Mr. the T (pity the fool who attempts make a doll her trademark mohawk).
If you’re bored from playing around with the Funyuns, you can make them substitute for breadcrumbs in the preparation of fried foods or crunchy casserole toppings or as a substitute for the fried onion things which only seem to make a splash in the highly-polarized Green Bean Casserole for Thanksgiving.
Also, in the spirit of the holiday, Parade Magazine even suggests that Funyuns are a great way to impart a “savory onion flavor” to your Thanksgiving turkey. So why not give the simple Funyun some affection next time the holiday season arrives? Get dressed up for your Thanksgiving and its trimmings and make your table look more elegant (Funyuns centerpiece, is anyone? ). Dress up your fingers as you belt the “five GOLDEN rings” … We’ll bring that “fun” back into Funyuns!
