Here’s a funny story about these! A few weeks before I wrote this review, my neighbor just happened to ask me to check if Trader Joe’s sold Oyster Crackers. She wanted them for soup. I told her I didn’t think so, but promised I would check.
A few days later looked for them at Trader Joe’s, didn’t see any checking among the many, many kinds of crackers they offered. I was passing Fairway who did have them and got them for her, however we both got a bit of sticker shock at the price. Fairway’s crackers cost over $4 for a box?!
Then funny enough, not even a week later, I’m at Trader Joe’s looking at the cracker section. What do I see? Yup. I saw they came out with Trader Joe’s “Soup and Oyster Crackers!” Did they read our mind? Is this a new product? Anyway TJ’s has them and they are about 1/2 the price of the ones I bought at Fairway.
What are Oyster Crackers you ask? A classic old fashioned simple little round cracker shaped like an oyster kind of like a Saltine. I’ve seen them as long as I can remember, since I was a kid.
They are a traditional American cracker, very popular for soups, chili, stews, clam chowder. From back in the day. You used to usually get a pack of these if you ordered soup in a diner or restaurant. Pretty classic. Maybe they are even a bit Retro by now ready to become cool.
“For ‘chowdah’, soups, stews, chili, salads or snacking. No hydrogenated oils, no cholesterol, no preservatives”.
ALL NATURAL. No additives. One ingredient only. Peanuts.
If you asked me for one item I buy religiously at Trader Joe’s I would absolutely answer “Peanut Butter!”
It may not be revelatory news but TJ’s does have good peanut butter at very good prices. I probably get a jar every other week.
Big brands like SKIPPY or JIF, have regular peanut butter which have extra ingredients such as sugar or some sweetener plus hydrogenated oils, those added to keep it from separating. But “Natural” peanut butters on the other hand contain just peanuts. Of the assorted varieties TJ’s carries my favorite is this one: The “Crunchy/Salted” which has a blue label. (Side note: Smooth being for kids and crunchy for grownups? I consider the day I graduating kid-dom was when I decided to go Crunchy! To me, Crunchy has more peanut-y flavor from the peanut-y bits).
Any All Natural peanut butter tends to separate at room temp, meaning you will see a little oil at the top when you buy it but this is No big deal. Just stir it.
TIP: Put the jar in fridge for 10 minutes. After you open it, take a butter knife and get it to the bottom of the jar, then stir slowly 10 or 15 seconds until blended. Keep it in the fridge, it will stay blended (PB does actually say “refrigerate after opening”).
Though the price has gone up (from $1.99 to 2.29 and at present, $2.49). Still pretty decent compared to other stores/brands as their prices having gone up more.
I prefer this All Natural version however Trader Joe’s does sell a “No Stir” PB too. TJ’s regular Natural Peanut Butter is $2.49 (1 lb). It comes in a number of variety combinations, Smooth, Crunchy, Salted or Unsalted. They also sell an Organic version of Peanut Butter ($4.49)
Peanut butter has many uses. It’s terrific as an ingredient especially in Asian dishes; Try a Satay Style Peanut Sauce on some grilled chicken for example; The recipe follows
There is just one ingredient in this: “unsalted butter”. This is sold on the shelf as you don’t need to it in the fridge, only “store in a cool dry place”.
Clarified butter is a process where regular butter has been “clarified” (cleared/purified), meaning the milk solids have been separated, and removed. This leaves a clear yellow liquid: (clarified butter). In India there is something similar called, Ghee. One reason for doing this is once butter has been clarified it has a higher smoke point. Another big reason especially in India with Ghee is that ghee does not need to be refrigerated.
Ghee is used all over Indian cuisine. The label on the jar of Trader Joe’s Clarified Butter says that is is “Produced according to authentic Indian practices”
In Indian cooking “ghee” is ubiquitous. Many Indian recipes specify using ghee. A big reason ghee is practical in India is once you clarify to butter it requires no refrigeration which is why you will find Trader Joe’s clarified butter on the shelf along with their oil and such.
Some classic French recipes also call for clarified butter including many classic sauces. Once you clarify butter it raises the “smoke point”. You can heat clarified butter to a higher temperature without burning it. (Sidenote: “Brown Butter” (Beurre Noisette) is the opposite! Called for in some French recipes and classic sauces, brown butter on the other hand is regular butter heated up until it becomes a toasty golden brown color, just this side of being burned/blackened (that’s beurre noire folks). Brown Butter tastes and smells incredible and is simple to make and quite an amazing thing if you’ve never tried it (try it with Gnocchi).
If you wanted to make clarified butter, you do it by heating up butter slowly in a pot, let any milk solids settle and slowly pour off the top yellow liquid on top so you end up with just the clear yellow liquid. That liquid is “clarified butter” or ghee.
Trader Joe’s has a few different varieties of jarred pestos, sold near the pasta sauces. The first jarred pesto I had tried was the standard classic, basil pesto, Pesto Genovese, which I found decent. They later came out with a red version of that they called “pesto rosso” which was just OK for me however I see it’s popular and sometimes even sold out, so people seem to like it. Here’s another one based on olives.
If you are a fan of olives as I am, you may like this latest addition to the pesto’s they have. This new addition is called “Olive and Basil Pesto Sauce” with olives as the first ingredient. You get more “olive” than “basil” flavor so basically I say think of this as an olive tapenade with a hint of basil. Its a chunky paste of chopped olives plus other ingredients and its just chock full of umami. I tasted it on a spoon right out of the jar and thought this is like a tapenade and liked it.
I tried this olive pesto first just mixing it into cooked spaghetti and thought that yes, just mixing this with pasta will make a decent tasty pasta. I added some fresh garlic too and that of course this made it even better. Finish the pasta with some good olive oil too while you are at it (I suggest adding both the garlic and EVOO) Finally top with fresh grated cheese (Parmigiano, Pecorino, or Grana) and voila, you will have a very easy and quite tasty dish.
Next I tried this olive pesto as an ingredient with other things. I mixed a few generous tablespoons of this into some fresh tomato pasta sauce I had made and found it made it even tastier with the extra umami boost it got from olives. If you are using a jarred sauce you could just put a spoon of this on the finished pasta too. You could also put this on say fish or shrimp or grilled chicken to jazz it up a bit. As this is an olive tapanade and made for bread, I tried just putting this on good bread and of course it was quite good that way too. This will work great for making bruschetta, put a nice amount on some lightly toasted bread. This is decent olive tapanade, especially if you add in fresh garlic and EVOO. Chop up some fresh basil and you will really be going in the right “homemade taste” direction. The label has that this is a Product of Greece, where of course they have lots of olives.
TJ’s Olive Pesto is $2.49 a 6 oz jar. Its quite useful to have in your pantry. I would buy it again.
“Organic soybean oil, water, organic eggs, organic white vinegar, salt, organic lemon juice concentrate, organic mustard seeds….”
Trader Joe’s used to carry both a regular (non-organic) mayo and an organic version. At some point they discontinued the non-organic version and now carry just this “Organic Mayonnaise.”
I used to buy the regular one, which came in a big 32 oz jar, double this one. Both are very good. I remember the non-organic 32 oz mayo went for $2.99.
This 16 oz organic mayonnaise is $3.49, or more than double the price. Oh well! A remember asking the Captain at the Front Desk what happened to the non-organic mayo, and he said he thought Trader Joe’s seems to be gearing towards selling only Organic if possible. They were slowly discontinuing non-organic versions of some products (for instance my beloved tomato paste in a tube. Gone!). He said he thought TJ’s plan was to only carry Organic Products in the future. Which to me sounds kind of like Whole Foods…
Honestly I thought the regular mayo was fine and half the price of this organic mayo. I was unhappy they just Discontinued it and gave customers less choice. Sure I like Organic stuff but I like options too. Don’t get me wrong, this organic version is very good and of course I’ve switched to it, unless I see Hellman’s on sale somewhere (that too has gone way up)
Commercially made mayonnaise like this one is good and fine, however if you never tasted “real French mayonnaise” — the kind you make fresh — you are missing out. You should try to make it at last once. Watch this video below to get ideas how to make your own real French mayonnaise from scratch.
Seriously this is the real McCoy. A real fresh mayo is so good you won’t believe it. Mayo is not hard to make. It will only take you maybe 5-10 minutes . You could impress some guests! Compare this to any mayonnaise you have probably had, the best commercial brand and you will not believe the difference. All you need is vegetable oil, an egg, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, beaten together… its actually easy and fun and kind of magical when it all emulsifies. Ah food science!
NEW ITEM: This is the latest “small lot” coffee on offer at Trader Joe’s (Sept 2023).
Many of these Trader Joe’s Small Lot coffees are really good, some times even terrific, with yes an occasional dud. Many times these coffees are Single Origin, Single Estate coffee beans. The good stuff, like those you would find at some trendy Williamsburg roaster / shop, you know where small hand lettered bags of single estate beans can go for perhaps $30? If are the kind of person who would like to try lots of interesting and unique coffees but doesn’t want to break the bank, many times these Trader Joe’s Small Lot coffees can be a great way to explore the World of Coffee. I found this latest Trader Joe’s Small Lot coffee offering to be a terrific robust tasting coffee.
This one is is from the mountains of the Dominican Republic and is called “Jarabacoa” with 100% Arabica beans in a Medium Dark Roast. Trader Joe’s description on the bag of this coffee has this to say….
“In Jarabacoa, third generation farmers have dedicated themselves to the production of coffee beans. ‘Honey processed’ and sun dried to impart a subtle sweetness, the beans are given a medium dark roast for a robust cup when brewed, brimming with notes of chocolate, brown sugar and blackberries”
I found this description to be right on. This coffee was as listed “medium-dark” (actually the picture may make it look darker). The beans are a shade past “medium” with just a little bit shiny in places, however I would not call this overly roasted, such as Starbucks is famous for doing to their beans. In fact this medium dark roast seems just right to me. A little bit under say a French Roast with a bit of that robust flavor those have if you like that sort of thing. Personally I love and really enjoy medium dark roasts, in addition to lighter roasts.
The beans smelled wonderful when I first opened up the bag, releasing the most heavenly aroma, and when I ground it up of course it smelled even better, perfuming the whole kitchen. I brewed up those freshly ground coffee trying it in both a Moka pot and another one as a pour over. The resulting brews were really tasty. I found the coffee rich and dark and oh so good. As they said it had a subtle sweetness to it with yes, hints of chocolate and blackberries. It tasted better with each sip. I finished my cup, then I actually debated making another cup immediately. Yes I found it that good.
The Jarabacoa Dominican coffee has become my new favorite Trader Joe’s coffee at the moment. I’m really enjoying it. TJ’s is selling a 12 oz bag for $9.99. This is not bad as some recent small lot coffees that had were more, about $12 each.
Would I buy this again? Well I actually ran back the next day and got 2 more bags to have in the pantry “just in case” …. these small lot New Items coffees frequently go bye-bye pretty fast. I’ve lost out on some coffees by waiting too long only to find they ran out.
“Normally, the sticky-sweet outer layer of the coffee fruit is washed off, but these beans are “honey processed,” so that layer is left intact. Because they spend less time in water, the sun-dried beans ferment less and retain more natural sweetness. Trader Joe’s Dominican Republic Jarabacoa Small Lot Coffee wears its honey process on its sip. Immediately, a taster can detect a subtle sweetness, accompanied by notes of chocolate and hints of blackberry.”
Kind of a rare find for NYC. Frieda brand Hatch Chiles direct from New Mexico. They are back in stock right now at Trader Joe’s (Aug ’23 – NYC) usually just for a week or two, so if you are interested grab some asap. You can learn how to cook them and some recipes at Frieda’s website (link below)
Seen at Trader Joe’s : NEW ITEM – Italian Artisan Organic Striped Farfalline (Bowtie)
Very colorful, from natural coloring’s. It has paprika, turmeric, beet and spinach. I think these would be great for a pasta salad for one thing? $3.49 for a 16oz bag. But then these are Organic and Artisanal.
“Farfalline is Italian for “little butterflies,” and these Farfalline certainly resemble their namesake. Each butterfly- like bowtie sports either green and orange stripes or red and yellow stripes—all from organic, plant-derived sources, including paprika, turmeric, spinach, and beet root powders. Cooked al dente, this Pasta becomes a proverbial canvas for an array of colorfully captivating meals. Cook Farfalline in boiling water for 8-9 minutes, then drain, and toss with Organic Roasted Red Pepper and Almond Pesto Sauce, Creamy Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce, or Cajun Style Alfredo Sauce for a quick and quite tasty pasta pairing. If pasta salads are your creative outlet, consider adding some Farfalline flair to your picnic fare all summer long.”
This is a good “new” spice blend TJ’s has recently introduced. It’s two spices, a blend of Spanish smoked paprika (aka “Pimenton”) they’ve carried for some time and added Chile to that to make a spicier Pimenton. The blend is carefully balanced with just enough of chile to make a not too spicy version of the smoked paprika (aka pimenton). Spanish smoke paprika is a fantastic spice, which I’ve always loved and when I tried this version I really liked it as well…. This spicier blend was delicious on many things. For example super tasty sprinkled generously on chicken breasts sautéed in butter with garlic and parsley (a variation on Jacques Pepin’s classic chicken “persillade”, see link below).
This seasoning blend would be perfect on Trader Joe’s ARGENTINIAN RED SHRIMP. Or steak or pork or burgers of any kind. Or probably even tofu.
TJ’s says: “Made with just the right ratio of smoked paprika and chile powder to create just the right ratio of smoke to heat, our Smoky & Hot Chile Powder is super handy for making savory soups, sauces, and stews, and nearly indispensable when creating homemade BBQ rubs and Cajun-style seasonings. It adds a remarkable depth of flavor when sprinkled over scrambled eggs, roasted veggies, or grilled seafood, and can take snack foods like popcorn and potato chips into an entirely new dimension. Here’s a hot (and smoky!) tip: try mixing it with sour cream to make a fun and fiery crema for topping tacos.”
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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