“Light nutty flavor that is great in oatmeal, smoothies, pancakes and waffles.”
RANT
Unfortunately Trader Joe’s discontinued their Whole Roasted Flax Seeds – a very good product, and replaced it with this: ORGANIC GROUND FLAXSEED MEAL. This is a bit of a bummer as I preferred to buy the whole flax seeds which I would grind myself. Not terribly hard to do. That way is was very fresh. Compared to flax seeds already ground up as in this product.
I ground the up with I a second coffee grinder, I use for grinding up things besides coffee up, like seeds and spices. So with those whole seeds (now gone) I would grind up the whole flax seeds myself. Which is ideal as they contain natural oils which are best fresh (flax seed oil) . I think Whole Foods might sell whole flax seeds?
For the time being, I got this new version that Trader Joe’s replaced that product with. I use flax seeds in a few ways, for mixing into my Kefir, and smoothies and or adding into baked goods or pancakes.
Sadly these pre-ground flax meal is not as good. The taste is off to me. I don’t know if they use Golden or Brown flax seeds. Just not as fresh for one things. I’m sure Trader Joe’s wanted to make it “easy” (as in, “what kind of customer is going to grind them themselves”?) Guess what, it’s doable and was preferable to me at least if you care about the flax meal being super fresh.
Refrigerate this after opening to keep as fresh as possible, maybe even keeping this in the freezer is best?
In short, that discontinued whole flax seed was a better product. Grinding them ourselves guaranteed freshness, which this does not. So another RANT!
One option might be to just buy whole flax seeds (AMAZON) These aren’t toasted but you could do that yourself pretty easily.
$3.99 / 1 lb
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
Aug 04, 2022 @ 22:18:50
Please bring back the roasted (whole) flaxseeds.
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Sep 30, 2022 @ 12:32:52
We much prefer whole non-roasted flax seeds that we grind as needed (to insure max freshness and nutrition) for our good-health smoothies.
These are not “desert” smoothies – – they’re pure “healthful” smoothies. Pre-ground seeds loose nutrient value and freshness quicker. Check-out the following before you get to the “check-out” line with less than desirable healthful food : ]
https://www.eatingwell.com/article/290627/are-store-bought-pre-ground-flaxseeds-as-nutritionally-effective-as-buying-whole-seeds-and-grinding-yourself/
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Oct 08, 2022 @ 14:31:15
Please bring back the whole seed Flax Seed- it was so delicous
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Nov 01, 2022 @ 19:36:10
Just bought bulk flax seed at Fairway. Of course I bought other things there instead of Trader Joe’s since I was there. Bring backs the flax (seeds)!
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Jan 05, 2024 @ 10:43:40
I had been buying Trader Joe’s flaxseed meal for some time, but in the past few months every package has been rancid (unpleasant, bitter taste). I have bought packages with expiration dates in January, February, and March 2024 and all three had this problem. I’m done now. Has anyone else had this problem?
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Apr 12, 2025 @ 10:23:57
I too have experience a change in the taste of Trader Joe Flaxseed Meal. I’ve been buying it for years, but suddenly now the taste is very crude and rancid. I noticed on the package that this product is made in India. I never noticed this before and think they may have switched vendors. It was a good product with a great taste, but now they’ve seem to have decided to go with a lower quality vendor. I need to find a better product…
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