I Want My Microwavable Bottle Back!

I know that what is on my mind right now is probably not one of the more earth shaking thoughts that I have had. In fact, it might even be considered by some as petty and in the broad spectrum of things pretty irrelevant.

However, it is on my mind.  And what you ask is that? Well, it is Hungry Jack Pancake Syrup. Now in my mind Hungry Jack and Log Cabin Syrup are manly syrups. Most of the others are feminine with name like Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth but Hungry Jack, even Hungry Jack Lite, has a manly sound to it.  And not only did it sound manly it could be microwaved. It was our syrup of choice.

Then one day I noticed that my wife was pouring a 26 ounce bottle of H.E.B. brand (Regional Grocery Store Chain) syrup in an old Hungry Jack Microwavable bottle. Of course my suspicious mind immediately jumped to the conclusion that she was trying to pass off that cheaper store brand for my preferred syrup. But I didn't say a word.

No, I kept this little secret to myself until one morning when we were having pancakes for breakfast. I waited until everything was just right. Pancakes piping hot and buttered and I had poured an unusually sufficient amount of syrup on them. Then, I took my fork, cut through the short stack of pancakes and took a big bite. Then I said, "This syrup doesn't taste like what we usually have are you sure its Hungry Jack?"  To my astonishment she replied, "No, it's not Hungry Jack. I haven't been able to find the Hungry Jack Microwavable Syrup in any of the stores so for the last few months I've been using H.E.B. syrup in the Hungry Jack Microwavable bottle."

That's when I began to feel the real culprit was not my wife but the Smucker's Food Company who makes and markets syrup under the Hungry Jack name.  A little research on my part and I discovered that back on April 28, an entry appeared on the Hungry Jack Facebook page that said,  “As some of our most loyal fans, we want you to know that later this month we are changing the look and size of our syrup bottle! Our new bottle will be taller and thinner and will hold 24 oz. instead of 27.6 oz. As a result, we have decreased the suggested retail price so the cost per ounce stays the same as it was prior to the change. No changes are being made to the actual syrup. Please post any questions you have and we’ll do our best to answer each one. Thanks again for being some of our most loyal fans!”

As I read through the 100's of comments I could not help but notice that the page administrators gave the same answer to every question regarding this dastardly deed. " “We made the decision to change our bottle based on a shift in consumer preference toward a taller, simpler bottle and a shift in consumer preference away from warming syrup in its original bottle.”

They had changed the  bottle because according to some consumer study they had done people no longer wanted their syrup hot or warm. Of course I don't know who they surveyed . . . probably their office staff. I know who they didn't ask . . . .me! I know at I Hop Pancake Houses people are constantly asking for hot maple syrup.

Cheap syrup heated in old Hungry Jack bottle

However, the more I thought about it the more I realized it was not the syrup that was at issue. Syrup, after all,  regardless of the brand is pretty much all the same. It was the perfectly designed microwavable bottle that was at issue. Even though it was squatty it held a full 3.5 ounces more than the standard bottle. It had a wonderful pour spout and a crimped handle that did not get hot. It also had invisible letter that when the syrup was just right became visible telling me that my syrup was hot.  Yep, its all about the bottle.  Fortunately for us we have a couple of those now obsolete squatty deceptively small bottles.

So here's my thinking on this weighty matter: Since 99% of syrup you buy at the local grocery store regardless of brand is really nothing but  high fructose corn syrup and water combined with natural and artificial flavors brand is not really important. They are all basically the same thing. Just buy the brand that has the lowest per ounce price which will almost certainly be the house (store) brand. At any rate that's what we do. We buy H.E.B. Brand syrup and pour it in our Hungry Jack bottle, heat it in the microwave, pour it on our pancakes and continue to enjoy our pancake breakfast.

Like I said in the beginning most folks might consider this a petty thing but I personally hope that Smucker’s Food Company will discover that people were loyal to the bottle, not to the corn syrup, water and flavoring that comes in it.