Tastes Like Cardboard! PCT Days Update

PCT Days is one of the biggest gatherings of hikers and outdoor brands in the Pacific Northwest, held right along the Pacific Crest Trail in Cascade Locks, Oregon. We've been on the waiting list for a couple of years, so we were pretty stoked to finally bring the Tater Boost booth out there!

We spent two days feeding hungry hikers, talking trail food, and asking people to brutally rate our flavors from 1–10.

More than 150 people took our taste test, and we learned a few things.

Turmeric Garlic took the win and SOLD OUT, with an average score of 8.8/10 and the most votes for favorite flavor. Beet Rosemary was right behind it.

Then there was our mysterious new flavor...

Onion. Mustard. Dill.

We were going for a vegan potato salad with a mustard vinaigrette. The feedback, however, was overwhelmingly: "Wasabi!"

We suspect the Dijon mustard we used was the culprit, so we're planning to revisit the recipe with a few different types of mustard.

We had high hopes. The hikers had... mixed feelings.

Some people absolutely loved it. 26 people actually gave it a 10/10. Others were considerably less enthusiastic. One person said it tasted like cardboard.

You can't win them all

The funny part is that despite having the lowest average rating, 26 people still picked it as their favorite of all four flavors.

So maybe we created something great. Maybe we created flavored cardboard. More testing is needed.

One thing people DID agree on: if we ever release it, Trail Pickle was the clear winner for the name.

But now we're curious:

If you could create the next Tater Boost flavor, what would it be?

Reply to this email or comment below and tell us. Weird ideas are encouraged.

And if you're really curious to try our onion, mustard, and dill experiment, we're happy to throw a pouch into your next order. Just let us know!