Coyote Poop: The Gross Sounding Upgrade For A Classic Cheesy Snack

I like to think of myself as an adventurous eater, but we all have our food triggers and mine is foods referencing any stage of the digestive process, from beginning to byproduct. For this reason, I won't eat stuff described as "drool-worthy" or "mouth-watering," and I'm definitely never consuming kopi luwak (aka poop coffee). Nor can I bring myself to eat Baby Ruth bars even though I've never seen "Caddyshack." Needless to say, I can't give you a first-hand account of Coyote Poop, thanks to whichever genius thought up that revolting name for candied cheesy corn snacks.

Coyote Poop — or Coyote Droppings, as it's known on more formal food blogs — consists of Cheetos (or a different brand of cheese puffs) coated with a sugar-butter syrup and baked at a low heat. It's said to have been named for its resemblance to canine excrement, although bloggers rush to assure us that it doesn't taste anything like its eponym. Well, duh, they'd hardly be sharing the recipe if it literally tasted like s***. 

Still, the idea of wanting to eat anything that even looks like the stuff... Thanks, not for me. The idea itself isn't terrible, though, since cheese and caramel popcorn combos already exist, as do sugar-coated corn puffs like Buc-Ees Beaver Nuggets. In fact, it seems Coyote Poop doesn't taste like cheese at all. One YouTuber described the flavor as similar to the toffee inside a Heath bar while an Instagram user agreed that the candy coating drowns out any hint of Cheeto.

Okay, so Coyote Poop may not be the grossest food name — that honor probably goes to Kitty Litter cake, a dessert made to resemble that most malodorous of dumping grounds. Still, it's the rare winter holiday bake sale where you won't encounter plastic baggies filled with something oh-so-hilariously labeled elf, reindeer, or snowman poop. There's no real consensus on what constitutes these snacks, but some food bloggers interpret Elf Poop as a white chocolate haystack cookie with Christmassy decorations, while Reindeer Poop may be made of peanut butter and chocolate-coated corn pops cereal (which is another type of sugar-coated corn puff).

Snowman Poop, however, can be one of two different things. It's sometimes used as an alternative name for the Chex Mix snack also called Puppy Chow or Muddy Buddies – presumably the powdered sugar makes it resemble something that might have come out the back door of a snowman who's eaten a lot of roughage. The other type of Snowman Poop simply consists of mini marshmallows packaged with a poem implying that the naughty recipient deserves Frosty's feces as an alternative to coal. Not only is that mean, but it also kind of ruins hot chocolate for me.