Was looking for a new jar of spicy chili crisp in Toronto, but it seems everywhere it's sold only carries spicy chili "paste" instead.
While some people were guessing this was just a branding change, the ingredients are different and a comparison shows the paste lacks both the prickly ash and the black beans of the crisp (it also seems to be more oil by volume, but that part might just be my perception).
Seems like the crisp is gone forever, but is this just in Canada or is this worldwide?
Asking because when looking to see what happened, I see a number of comments across various sites (including some jar comparisons), but they all seem to be from Canadians wondering about the differences (and comparing jars), but as far as I know, Lao Gan Ma is still all made at the same plant(s) in China, so I don't know why the recipe would change just for jars being exported to Canada. Plus I can't really search Chinese-language sites very well to see if there's more information there.
Anyone know?
EDIT: Comparison photos are here: https://www.reddit.com/r/montreal/comments/1rvniw2/comment/odjk817/
This is the same as what I saw in the shops in TO compared to the sadly empty jar I have at home. In Toronto I've tried the big grocery chains (Sobeys carries LGM), T&T, C&C, and a couple smaller Asian groceries.
EDIT 2: Another point is that the labels both say "For Canada Only" in the bottom right. Unfortunately this doesn't tell me if this swap is being tried elsewhere.