Dot’s Pretzels. Uniquely North Dakota.

Let me start this off first by saying, "I don't really even care for pretzels all that much".  However, a recent hunting or fishing trip one of my friends offered me a handful.  I had skipped lunch that day and dug in.  Man, what I had been missing.

Dot's Pretzels are the Cadillac's of pretzels.  So deliciously flavored, that practically melt in your mouth.  So what is the story behind this North Dakota product?

Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels look like the typical russet-hued twists passed around while watching a game. Their seasoning is barely visible, but unmistakable: beginning with a whiff of synthetic butter, blooming into a garlicky with a slight tang, and finishing with a mild after burn.

Whatever it is, it has people hooked.

When Dot Henke and her husband were wintering at their home in Arizona, a friend asked her to make a few packages of pretzels to give to clients as holiday gifts. The recipients loved them, and clamored for more: “People were calling her and saying, ‘Where in the heck did you get these?’ ” Henke recalled.

Dorothy “Dot” Henke, who lives near Velva, N.D., a small town outside Minot, launched her seasoned pretzel business as a two-sheet-pan, home kitchen operation. Her timing couldn’t have been better.

In 2012, gas stations around Minot picked up her zesty snack just as hordes of hungry oil workers descended.  It wasn't long after that, Dot's became a household name in the Midwest and is working away across the nation.