Nylund Pasty is a bit different than every other place I’ve reviewed. For starters, it’s not even a shop. The building in Crystal Falls is a pasty factory where you can only buy frozen pasties three days of the week before noon. The best place to buy Nylund pasties is from grocery stores or if you want to get 200 of them for a fundraising event. Yes, a minimum pasty order from Nylund is 200.

According to the website, ‘Pastyman’ and ‘Crusty’ are also available for events. I assume those are mascots, but I can’t find any evidence of them online other than that paragraph. While they don’t have a shop to visit, there is at least a YouTube video that shows the insides of the factory so I’ll be nice and give three points for that. Per the video, they make 3,000 to 5,000 pasties two days per week.

There is something called Factory Seconds, which opens the shop to the public from 6 a.m. to noon on Monday to Wednesday, but that schedule is a bit extreme for pasties that don’t make the grade for shipment.

The pasty tastes how I expected from a mass-production plant. Nylund makes sure to note that its pasties have no trans fat and are healthy and that’s how the crust tastes. It’s brittle and comes out similar to a frozen piecrust. From the picture, you can see some of the pasty makers had to rush and didn’t crump the crust fully. In all, the crust is probably the worst part.

The insides at least taste like a pasty and that’s expected from a place that’s been making pasties since 1957. But again, because these are mass made, the insides are a bit mushed together with a strong potato flavor taking over almost every bite. From the pictures, you can see there are A LOT of potatoes, some meat and onions, and not much of anything else. The recipe tries to live off salt, but that’s not enough for me.

These pasties can be found at various grocery stores in northern Wisconsin and throughout Michigan (seven states according to the video). They are worth a try if you’ve never experienced them, but nothing that’s going to overtake fresh, local ones. As of note, Nylund has seven different flavors. My two experiences were with the Beef and Cornish pasty. As a bonus, these are the cheapest pasties you’ll ever buy at around $2 or $3, depending on the store. 

Taste: 3 (out of 5)
Crust: 2.5 (out of 5)
Pasty Presentation: 3 (out of 5)
The Shop: 3 (out of 3)
Would I come back for Pasties?: .5 (out of 2) For buying convenience

Total Pasty Ranking: 12 (of 20 points)

(Reviewed Spring 2018)