David Wahl, Director of Awesome at Archie McPhee, holds this season’s three new candy cane flavors: brisket, butter and Caesar salad. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

David Wahl, Director of Awesome at Archie McPhee, holds this season’s three new candy cane flavors: brisket, butter and Caesar salad. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Brisket, sardine, Caesar salad: Dare to eat Archie McPhee candy canes?

The famous novelty seller based in Mukilteo, with a store in Seattle, has a dozen flavors to tease your palate.

MUKILTEO — There’s something fishy about these candy canes.

What’s up with that?

Leave it to our fun friends at Archie McPhee to come up with sardine-flavored candy canes.

Sardine is among the tantalizing flavors from the novelty giant famous for its weird and clever gifts and gags. Other cane choices are ketchup, mac and cheese, pickle, bacon, kale, hot dog, sour cream and onion, brisket, butter and Caesar salad.

A six pack is $6.95. The striped confections look suspiciously like normal candy canes and are packaged in a box with cool graphics.

Do people really eat them?

“Yeah, they do,” said David Wahl, who goes by the title “Director of Awesome.” He started at Archie McPhee 30 years ago and worked his way up to that role.

Archie McPhee is named in honor of creator Mark Pahlow’s wife’s great-uncle who liked practical jokes. Products are sold online and at numerous retailers. Mail order catalogs from 1985 to 2008 are in the Smithsonian archives.

The flagship store in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood, at 1300 N 45th St., has everything you didn’t know you needed, plus a rubber chicken museum. Online travel company Tripadvisor ranks it the No. 16 shopping destination in Seattle. I’d put it higher.

The McPhee think tank and wholesale center has been hidden in plain sight in Mukilteo for about 25 years. The building blends into a business park within blocks of the Mukilteo YMCA and police station.

A number of different Archie McPhee candy cane flavors are available for the holiday season. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

A number of different Archie McPhee candy cane flavors are available for the holiday season. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

It’s marked with a simple nameplate that says “Accoutrements.” You’ve probably passed it many times and had no idea the creative minds were inside designing yodeling pickles, finger puppets, bacon soap and underpants for squirrels. They spend hours debating the size of Bigfoot’s butt to make it anatomically correct.

McPhee is a go-to for all things Bigfoot and items in honor of J.P. Patches, the state’s beloved clown newly featured on an official license plate.

There are no clown-flavored candy canes. At least, not yet.

The oddball candy canes launched with bacon a dozen years ago. It’s a top flavor, along with pickle.

“And, shockingly, mac and cheese, even though it tastes kind of like a foot,” Wahl said.

He didn’t say if it was Bigfoot’s foot.

Cane ingredients include sugar, corn syrup, artificial flavors and colors, and titanium dioxide.

Flavors come and go. Neither gravy nor coffee made this year’s list. Some get repurposed into small bites. Fried chicken hard candies come in a decorative tin for $5.95.

“My dream would be just like Willy Wonka to do a full meal of candy canes, where you started with the appetizer and worked your way to dessert,” Wahl said.

What better platform than the candy cane. The hooked candy sticks have been a holiday treat for centuries. These days, classic peppermint competes with the likes of Starburst, Dr. Pepper and Oreo on store shelves.

Wahl came up with the Caesar salad cane, a new flavor this season.

“It went viral this year because someone tweeted it with, ‘This is the real war on Christmas,’” he said.

The McPhee canes are social media sensations, with taste tests galore on YouTube and TikTok.

“It’s a fun group activity. It’s kind of a dare,” Wahl said. “It is a sign of bravery if you’re willing to taste a sardine candy cane.”

They don’t come much braver than Jacqueray Smith, a Daily Herald multimedia sales consultant who stepped up to the sardine challenge.

“It stinks. It smells like fish food,” she said. “Fish food, but sweet.”

Her take on the Caesar salad cane: “Sweet disgust.”

A pack of hot dog candy canes, which look suspiciously like a normal candy canes but have a taste reminiscent of the water left over from boiling some franks, sits on a shelf at the Archie McPhee wholesale building. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

A pack of hot dog candy canes, which look suspiciously like a normal candy canes but have a taste reminiscent of the water left over from boiling some franks, sits on a shelf at the Archie McPhee wholesale building. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

My 3-year-old granddaughter found it to be delicious.

Wahl and the team create three new flavors to market each year. It’s as serious as getting Bigfoot’s butt size right.

“We sit around the table and blind taste-test them first,” he said. “We’ve started working on the ones for next year.”

He can’t say what. We’ll just have to wait.

Is there a person, place or thing making you wonder, “What’s Up With That?” Contact reporter Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Olivia Vanni / The Herald 
The Mukilteo Lighthouse. Built in 1906, it’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Snohomish County.
The Mukilteo Lighthouse. Built in 1906, it’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Snohomish County. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mukilteo mayor vetoes council-approved sales tax

The tax would have helped pay for transportation infrastructure, but was also set to give Mukilteo the highest sales tax rate in the state.

Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring gives the state of the city address at the Marysville Civic Center on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, in Marysville, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Marysville council approves interim middle housing law

The council passed the regulations to prevent a state model code from taking effect by default. It expects to approve final rules by October.

x
State audit takes issue with Edmonds COVID grant monitoring

The audit report covered 2023 and is the third since 2020 that found similar issues with COVID-19 recovery grant documentation.

Bothell
Bothell man pleads guilty to sexual abuse of Marysville middle schoolers

The man allegedly sexually assaulted three students in exchange for vapes and edibles in 2022. His sentencing is set for Aug. 29.

Larsen talks proposed Medicaid cuts during Compass Health stop in Everett

Compass Health plans to open its new behavioral health center in August. Nearly all of the nonprofit’s patients rely on Medicaid.

Snohomish County Health Department Director Dennis Worsham on Tuesday, June 11, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County Health Department director tapped as WA health secretary

Dennis Worsham became the first director of the county health department in January 2023. His last day will be July 3.

Rick Steves launches $1M match challenge for Lynnwood Neighborhood Center

The $64.5 million Lynnwood Neighborhood Center will house several community spaces and partner with local nonprofits.

Community members gather for the dedication of the Oso Landslide Memorial following the ten-year remembrance of the slide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
The Daily Herald garners 6 awards from regional journalism competition

The awards recognize the best in journalism from media outlets across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Cars drive along Cathcart Way next to the site of the proposed Eastview Village development that borders Little Cedars Elementary on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 in unincorporated Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County Council denies latest Eastview Village appeal

Council members affirmed previous approvals of the development planned off Cathcart Way near Highway 9.

Everett
Everett police: Man sold drugs to woman prior to fatal overdose

The man, who faces a charge under the state’s controlled substance homicide law, remains in Snohomish County Jail on more than $1M bond.

Missing Marysville boy, 10, found safe and sound

Police said the boy was last seen Sunday morning before leaving to go for a run at a nearby middle school.

Red tape hangs in the front of the entrance to a burned down Center for Human Services building along 204th Street on Monday, July 7, 2025 in Lynnwood, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood fire destroys behavioral health nonprofit building

The cause of the fire is under investigation. The building housed an intensive mental health support program for youth and families.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.