As a certified gym girlie who also has to fight through that work-from-home, 2PM snack attack, I am always on the lookout for something to satisfy those afternoon cravings without setting me back on my goals. Enter SuckerPunch pickles, a very light-hearted, tasty way to overcome my afternoon slump, and help with my post-workout muscle cramps!
When I try something new, and especially when I like it, I am that friend who just wants to tell everyone about it. I promise you that at every social gathering for the next few weeks, if someone brings up snacks or anything related to pickles, I will bring up SuckerPunch pickles.
And here’s why…
Supporting a Business with a Wholesome Backstory
I am a sucker for a good story, and SuckerPunch has a great one. The founder, Dan Van Alphen, decided to leave his career to stay at home and support his son with Down syndrome. While at home, he developed this interest in the benefits of pickles and pickle juice, and started to play around with some pickle recipes.
What was born was an 11-spice blend and pickle recipe that his friends said packed so much flavour, it “hit you like a SuckerPunch”, which is where the brand got its name.
Since then, Dan has grown the business into not only a tasty snack brand but also created a pickle juice shot that would lead him to partnerships with DIV1 athletes, touting the health benefits of pickle juice as an electrolyte and defense against the cursed muscle cramp.
I just thought it was nice to see that this brand isn’t trying to be anything more than it is. They sell great tasting pickles and a pickle juice shot, which can be used for muscle-cramps… but also makes a great mixer for picklebacks!
Products That Live Up to the Hype
Once their story had me by the heartstrings, it was time to put them to a true taste test. I tried 3 of the four pickle pounch snack packs (so fun to say), and I also tried their spicy pickle juice shot after a heavy session at the gym.
Check out my first impression taste test video here
Pickle Pouch Snack Packs – Packed with Flavour
As I mentioned, I tried 3 out of the 4 flavours. The 3 flavours I tried were the Spicy Dill, Three Pepper, and the Kosher Dill Pickle. There is also a Bread and Butter flavour, which I am very interested in trying because the Bread and Butter flavour is apparently a nod to a classic pickle flavour. I am no pickle consoisseur, just someone who appreciates their crisp crunch and flavour.
Spicy Dill Pickle Pack
The Spicy Dill pickle pack is what I would consider to be the middle-ground, manageable spicy option. As far as flavour goes these were really tasty. The first bite I took definitely gave me a little bit of heat, but I don’t think it is too hot. The heat adds to the flavour of the pickles, instead of overpowering any of the flavour. So you still get a great flavour from the pickles, but there’s that little bit of heat to make it interesting.
On their website you can buy this either 6 bags or 12 bags. Each bag is 101ml, or 3.4 fluid ounces. There’s about 10 pickle slices per bag and a generous amount of pickle juice in there as well, which you can use in whatever way makes you happy.
The 6-count option go for $22 USD and the 12-count goes for $37 USD.
Going back to what really makes me love this is that it feeds that snacking habit without feeding into my sugar cravings. I get that feeling of reaching into a bag for a small, bite-sized snack, but what I am eating is only 10 calories, and less than a gram of sugar. There is 16% of my daily sodium, which should come as no surprise given these are pickles.
But don’t be afraid of the sodium here. When I was intermittent fasting more regularly and eating a keto diet, one of the tips they gave to get over the headaches that came with fasting and keto was to add a little salt to water. So now, when I am getting those afternoon cravings, which sometimes leads to a headache, I actually have the perfect remedy with these pickles – a 1-2 punch, if you will!
All of their pickles are also gluten free, non GMO, and have no high-fructose corn syrup – which is huge.
Fiery Hot Three Pepper Pickle Pack
The next one I tried is their fiery hot three pepper pickles. Price point and benefits are all the same as the Spicy Dill, but the heat level is turned up a little on this one and there’s 20 calories per bag, instead of the 10. This flavour also has a little more sugar, at 3g per serving, but it has less salt, with just 9% of your daily recommended intake.
Nutritional information aside, these were also surprisingly tasty. I say surprisingly because I was a little worried that they would really turn up the heat with these. I enjoy spicy food, but sometimes I see things labeled as “fiery” and I begin to worry that I am about to destroy my taste buds. Great for when you have a cold and need to clear the sinuses, but otherwise, not my favourite eating sensation.
But these were, once again, just spicy enough that it added to the overall eating experience. The pickles tasted great, of course, with a waft of flavour that just jumps out of the bag when you open it. You can actually see in my taste test video that I pick up on the sweetness, which is the 3g of sugar, but we also get some heat.
It is perfectly manageable and although the heat sits in your chest for a moment, in the winter months that is a welcome sensation.
The Classic Kosher Dill Pickle
Last, but certainly not least, Kosher Dill Pickle. Again, price points remains the same at $22USD for 6 pouches, and $37 USD for 12. We’re back down to 10 calories with this flavour, and sodium and sugar quantities in the mid range compared to the other two flavours, at 14% and 1g, respectively.
I have always had this funny place in my heart for dill pickles. When I was around 10, I remember going over to a friends house and her mom pulls out these two jugs of homemade dill pickles. I had never tried pickles up to that point, and always thought they were weird because my Dad liked them on his hot dogs (the logical and completely sound reasoning of a 10-year old).
But when my mom’s friend encouraged me to try one of her dill pickles, I honestly think this was one of the first food memories that made me realize that I love trying new things and that food and how we prepare it can make it so exciting.
So everytime I have pickles I always think about that moment. Although these dill pickles did not have the same magical effect as that first moment, I was really impressed. The flavour comes bursting out of the bag when you open it (you can see my reaction in my taste test video) and then the actual pickles do a great job at following through on that flavour explosion. So dill-y. The crunch on the pickles is so satisfying. It’s a really great pickle eating experience.
If there’s one thing I am going to do, it is romanticize a great food experience, so if you haven’t already picked up on this from my other content, then I know this is another great example of me doing that.
I didn’t just try the pickle pouches. I also had an opportunity to try their pickle juice shots, which was more fun than I anticipated.
Pickle Juice Shooters
Pickle juice is the beautiful, whole food secret weapon for anyone who gets muscle cramps. For folks who participate in endurance events like marathons and ultra-marathons, getting a cramp is common and can be detrimental to your race time. Their secret weapon to essentially “cure” their muscle cramps? Pickle juice!
There are tons of reddit threads with folks who talk about how they always have pickle juice on them for marathons and ultra-marathons, but not everyone outside of that world knows about the benefits of pickle juice.
Not only is it great for cramps, but it also packs a punch (sorry, I did it again) in terms of delivering electrolytes and helping you stay hydrated.
This past week, I decided I would increase how much I was lifting in my squat. Not only is the squat my weakest lift, but it is also the one that typically causes my quads to cramp mid-set. And did I mention I was in my late luteal phase, so my energy was really low.
Put all of these together and it felt like the perfect time to try the SuckerPunch pickle juice shot. I tried the spicy version, but they also have a classic dill flavour.
Each shot is 2oz and you can purchase them a 12-pack for $36 USD or subscribe to regular deliveries and get the 12-pack for $30.60 USD.
I’ll be honest, there was a moment where I like “what the hell am I doing? I don’t even like pickle juice!”. I am not one of those people who drinks pickle juice out of the jar. Like I said before, I am not a pickle connoisseur, just a casual fan of pickles. But then I remembered all of the other weird, awful tasting drinks and supplements I have tried in the past that were far from all-natural, and so I decided to suck it up and take the shot!
To my surprise it was delightfully pickle-y. The heat was there, but not overpowering, and the salty-ness of the pickle juice was off putting. This was my biggest worry. I thought the salty-ness would make me feel ill because I go to the gym on an empty stomach, but I didn’t have any kind of upset stomach or nausea or risky burps, so it was a success.
I also didn’t have any cramps leaving the gym. Usually, taking the stairs outside my gym after squat day looks ridiculous. I walk funny and quietly say “ow” under my breath with just about every step. But for that walk home, no cramping, no “ow”-ing. Did I have some muscle soreness the next day – yes, but the fact is I didn’t experience any cramping.
It’s a real win and definitely has me sold on the hype around pickle juice for cramps.
Final thoughts
I just really feel like I’ve stumbled across something awesome here. I’ve finally been let into the cool club where people eat pickles and drink pickle juice for fun, but I also have something to help me relate to marathoners.
I have also been grabbing these every day during that afternoon energy slump and am so happy to say that I haven’t had any crazy sugar cravings this week. Sugar really is my kryptonite and I know that my my consumption of sweets is slowing down my physical progress, so when I find something like this that is satisfying, easy and helps me kick those cravings, I am just so grateful.
One thing to note if you’d like to try SuckerPunch, this article includes links to the SuckerPunch website, which you can shop through in the US or Canada. However, for the girlies in Canada who want to shop from a Canadian website but still get their fill of the dill, here are some options:
- NaturaMarket: All 3 of the snack packs that I tried are available here
- CoCoMarket (Toronto-based): The fiery hot and kosher dill snack packs are available here
Are pickles part of your regular grocery shop? Have you tried pickle juice for muscle cramps before? Let me know your experience in the comments below!
Riley Pearce 