Tigretones are back with a new recipe, now made in Tunisia

Tigretones are back, but they no longer taste like Tigretones

After a while away from the shelves, Tigretones have returned. And they have come back with two changes that were enough to rile up those who had been waiting for them: a new recipe and a label reading produced in Tunisia. The apricot jam snack cake many associate with their childhood is back on sale, yes, but the packaging warns that it is not the same product. The first consequence, according to several participants, is that the taste has changed.

The scene repeats itself in every supermarket. Someone recognises the logo, picks it up, reads the small print and puts it back on the shelf. The reason is not just the country of manufacture; it is that the formula no longer contains what it used to. And that is where a complaint begins that goes far beyond an industrial snack cake.

What has changed in the Tigretón and why you can tell

The packaging says it outright: new recipe. In practice, that means the ingredients that gave the snack cake its distinctive flavour have been replaced or removed, according to forum users. The discussion about the apricot jam and its alleged link to health problems hangs over the product's return, although nobody here provides a report confirming it. What is clear is that the final result fails to convince those who tried it twenty years ago.

Some sum it up with a homely comparison: it resembles the old Tigretones the way an egg resembles a chestnut. Others go further and claim it is now less carcinogenic and therefore worse. The irony is the same in every case: the industry has opted for a formula that looks better on the label and is less recognisable on the palate.

The problem is not just the taste: the factory is gone

The second layer of the anger has to do with the origin. The product is no longer made in Spain. Production has moved to Tunisia, and that opens a front that goes beyond the snack cake: the feeling that less and less processed food is made here. The complaint extends to other products, such as the Coca-Cola bottled in Segarro that someone found in a convenience store, or Donuts and Chocapic, whose formulas have also changed over the years.

The economic argument soon appears: if the factory leaves, it is because labour and tax costs here push it out. And the counterpoint too: the product travels hundreds of kilometres on polluting ships while the taxpayer is taxed on environmental grounds. The contradiction, they point out, is hard to sustain.

Nostalgia as an economic category

The Tigretón belongs to a family of products that have undergone the same operation: Bollycao, Bony, Pantera Rosa, Donettes, Phoskitos. All of them have seen their original recipe tweaked to improve the nutritional profile on the label, extend shelf life or cut costs. The result, several voices agree, is that none of them tastes like before.

The paradox is that the price has not gone down. It is produced in Tunisia, but sold at the local price. And that, in a context of food inflation, turns nostalgia into a luxury item that tastes like cardboard.

What is left of the debate

The Tigretón is back. It is on the shelf, with a new recipe and Tunisian manufacturing. The question hanging in the air is whether it is worth buying to confirm that memory deceives, or whether, on the contrary, memory was right and the product is no longer what it was. For now, the answer comes from each palate.

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This article is based on the opinions and data provided in the debate. The information has not been verified with the manufacturer.