Trader Joe’s “British Mustard and Ale Cheddar”? Hmmm…Sounds a bit intriguing, no? Comes in a small package, only 5 ounces and kind of cheap, it was well under two bucks. Now I have to say I’m not usually one who is too into cheeses with added “flavors”. Still on rare occasion you do come across a quite decent cheese with something added to the cheese that works quite well. An example are some Dutch Gouda’s that have cumin or caraway seeds in them. I’ve tried some that are really delicious. I didn’t know what to expect from a Mustard and Ale Cheddar. I love mustard with cheese of course especially cheddar. So I got some of this mustard and ale cheese to taste, and frankly thought well it’s OK, its got a lot of whole mustard seeds in there which are a little strong, maybe over-shadowing the cheddar. I couldn’t put my finger on the “ale” part really. So I think, it’s OK but would I buy more, no, not really, I’d rather buy a jar of TJ’s excellent Whole Grain Dijon Mustard and some Cabot Extra Sharp Cheddar or New Zealand Extra Sharp Cheddar and use some mustard as I see fit. But here’s the funny part. During this evaluation, I tasted a piece, then tasted another. Just one more bite…. ok one more… and soon I realized during this tasting I had eaten about half the package. It was hard for me to stop tasting this cheese! Maybe I liked it more than I though? So if the combination sounds appealing to you, you may want to give this a try and see what you think.
TIP While we are at it, if you want a great melted cheese sandwich, try spreading that TJ whole grain Dijon on some nice bread before you add your cheese. Grill it up with butter. When all the elements melt together its pretty great. So I figure this cheese might make a very good melted cheese sandwich too. If anyone tries that let us know if its any good like that. So its a bit odd, but this cheese may be worth trying. If you put it out on a cheese plate, folks might even ask where you got this stuff.
Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are one of the best products TJ sells. These chocolate goodies frequently show up on “Best Things At Trader Joe’s” lists, and for good reason, they’re fantastic, not too mention dangerously addictive. I think of these as “Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups For GrownUps”. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy Reese’s cups on occasion but not like these peanut butter cups, because, let’s face it, these things are FAR, far better quality. These are the “adult” version of Reese’s. For one, these have better chocolate (and its real chocolate, the dark kind! Everyone knows Dark is the only chocolate if you are a real chocolate lover (count me in). These have better peanut butter stuff inside too. These cups are irresistible. I have an internal fight all the time, after eating one… “Umm, so good. I just need one more…” (I usually can stop at 2 or 3….or god help me, 4) But its not easy, they are that delicious. Sometimes you need a treat. Especially these days?
A one pound tub is $4.29. Would I buy them again? Just try and stop me!
Over in the Dried Fruit section at TJ’s I’ve always liked the dried bananas (the full size ones). Recently this bright yellow package caught my eye for DRIED BABY BANANAS. I’m not quite sure if this replaced the bigger ones the used to see or I just never noticed these before. These stoked my curiosity. Well I really liked these DRIED BABY BANANAS, which are interesting looking. In fact some people might think they look a little scary as they look like little dried monkey fingers! Taste-wise they are just what they are bananas, which I am guessing are sun or air dried, and these are a bit moist, and a bit chewy and have an intense banana taste as the flavors are very concentrated from drying. And yes “baby bananas” are a different variety than your normal banana. So did I like them? Here’s one way to answer. After I tasted one, then another, I basically couldn’t stop eating them. They were quite tasty as-is right out of the bag. But then I had a bright idea, “Hmm, I wonder if they would be good match if I dipped them in peanut butter!?” Needless to say, they are a great combination. If you put some out with a little bit of PB to dip them in on the side I have a feeling kids would love these as a snack, though when they first see them no doubt they will say something like, “ewww gross, these look like dried baby monkey fingers !
The package says they come from Thailand and the INGREDIENTS list one thing: “DRIED BANANAS”. So I call that a pretty “natural” product. A package costs $1.99. The bag I got yesterday seems to have only 4 little bananas left when I just checked them…. so you could say they went down easy and way too fast. Next time I better buy 2 bags.
By the way – I found out that Potassium is good for blood pressure and these have a lot of Potassium, a bit more than even regular fresh bananas.
In short, another very good dried fruit snack from TJ, well worth trying so check them out.
My review for TJ’s Unexpected Cheddar seems to have gotten quite some interest, so next up for review in the Trader Joe’s Cheese Department is an absolute classic cheddar which I mentioned in that post. For my money the well known, long established, classic cheddar Cabot Extra Sharp from Vermont is the definition of and gold Standard for an “East Coast” Sharp Cheddar cheese.
Its terrifically convenient that Trader Joe’s carries it under Cabot’s own famous brand name. Cabot is actually a Vermont cooperative farm. Cabot extra sharp cheddar is my personal go-to cheese as far as always wanting to have in the fridge. Its an Extra sharp cheddar, so it has that sharp cheddar tangy taste. “Intense, rich cheddar flavor with an East Coast bite” is how they describe it on the package. I would say that description is spot on.
Cabot cheese is made up in Vermont, and Cabot Creamery is bit unique as its a true Farmer’s Collective or co-operative. Its a group of farmers banding together as a collective. Cabot Creamer dates back to 1919 so it’s been around for about 100 years. This Extra Sharp Cheddar has won many many “best cheddar” awards.
This cheddar is great just eaten sliced however it’s also excellent to cook with. It melts wonderfully well. I think makes one of the most fantastic melted cheese sandwiches you will ever try. Also terrific of course in an omelet. Do I need to say, this cheese melted on top of a burger is good (I grate it first for that and cover it briefly or put under the broiler.
Eaten as is sliced and paired with fruit well that is a perfect, heavenly combination. Especially for me, paired with apples, grapes or a pear. Just put a hunk of of this cheddar in front of me with a good apple (like TJ’s Envy) and I am one happy camper. Ending a dinner with this cheese is divine.
Trader Joe’s sells Cabot cheddar for an excellent price ($6/lb) in a block. If you have never tried this cheese, give it a try. I think you will love it – though the kids may want something a bit tamer and less sharp. If so, give them the New Zealand cheddar, also excellent, or TJ’s sliced cheddar. The adults can enjoy the Cabot Extra Sharp.
This seems to be another of Trader Joe’s Fall/Winter seasonal products.
This is actually a terrific granola and excellent product, despite the very so-so name (“apple flavored”??) and pretty lousy package design (4 fonts used in the name and every letter in apple ??!) I can’t tell if the name and package design is geared towards kids – or designed by a kid – but this isn’t a kiddie product. Its an excellent, delicious granola, maybe the best granola TJ’s sells. This is a cereal which I’m sure both adults and kids would love.
From the package: “Sweet and tart crunchy clusters with apple slices, peanuts and pumpkin spiced pumpkin seeds”
Despite the words about pumpkin spice, actually this isn’t another TJ “pumpkin spice” thing. In fact if they didn’t mention it I wouldn’t even know there were any pumpkin spices. Whatever spices are in this, they are subtle and blend in perfectly with all the other flavors (apple/cinnamon).
The particularly great part about this granola is it that it contains (dehydrated) bits of whole apples, with the skin on even! The apple bits are what makes this a super granola. The clusters with apple bit are especially tasty, a bit chewy and very apple yummy. The granola is a tiny bit on the sweet side (hence the “caramel” part of the name) but I don’t find it overly so, especially when I eat it with plain yogurt and milk which balances out the sweetness.
Its great as a snack on its own, when you get those big clusters of granola. Its super as a cold cereal. I haven’t tried it warm but the package suggests its good for that, and I have no doubt it wouldn’t be wonderful and smell great when served a bit warmed up. They recommend garnishing it with some fresh diced apple. I tried it with fresh apples and its even better with them. Also with dried cranberries, they match quite well.
So I give this granola a big RAVE and suggest its worth trying while you see it. A 12oz package is $3.49. The bag is resealable to keep it fresh and crunchy as long as possible. You might even buy a couple of bags while you can get keep a few in the pantry for the “off-season”. They should carry this year-round.
Oh wow, this is some wonderful tasting ham with an amazing flavor, aroma (rosemary) and an amazing texture. I find this to be a superb, out-of-the ordinary sliced ham. It doesn’t say exactly where its produced so I imagine in the U.S. but to me somehow its has an Imported taste and quality. The back of my mind says “Italy” but they would state that I would assume on the package. No matter, if this is made right here in the US I’m pleased to know WE can produce this quality too here at home! This is what I would call really good “adult ham”. Its not too salty nor sweet, it has just the right balance of both salinity and sweetness. Oven roasted with rosemary. ALL NATURAL INGREDIENTS. MINIMALLY PROCESSED. No Nitrates, Nitrites, its cured with all natural, real ingredients on the label that you can recognize without a dictionary, such as : Sea salt, lemon juice, vinegar, sugar cane, and of course rosemary. You get a pronounced aroma of rosemary as soon as you open the package but the rosemary flavor does not overpower the flavor of the ham, it enhances it perfectly with a lovely rosemary coating you can see on the edges. Sliced super thin, it has a super tender, fall apart melt in your mouth texture. Probably cooked for a long time, low and slow. Its so tender and comes apart so easily into shreds that if you don’t want to rip a slice as you remove it, you need to do it carefully.
I love this ham and find it to be a superb TJ product. It’s a little more expensive than the other ham I usually buy (Black Forest) at TJ ($3 for 8 oz). This one is $3.29 for a 6 oz. package, which is 6 slices. But for this quality, a bit less than $9/lb for a sliced ham this good, is not untoward and certainly worth trying. I would imagine if you are having guests and put this out on a plate rolled up into little bites with a toothpick….you would get a lot of “hey where do you get this ham ?”
My newest “Love It” item at Trader Joe’s are their new spicy flavored JERK-STYLE PLANTAIN CHIPS.
Warning: SERIOUSLY SPICY (and SERIOUSLY DELICIOUS). No kidding. I mean mouth on fire level SPICY! You’ve been warned. Now taste these, if you dare.
I’ve always loved the regular Plantain Chips. They are one of the best products at Trader Joe’s. Only $1.69. Amazing snacks.
The Jerk-Style chips are the same delicious plantain chips but with lots of seasonings added to them. I’m talking highly spicy Jamaican Jerk Seasonings. They got that Jerk flavor kind of right on the nose with this spice mix blend:
Each individual Chip is covered in a generous dusting of jerk cooking-inspired herbs and spices, including allspice, garlic powder, cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, and ginger extract.
What you’ll likely notice above all other flavors, however, is the increasing heat of spicy red chili pepper powder. As you snack, the spice builds steadily (but not altogether overwhelmingly) to an exhilarating crescendo of heat, making it a perfect treat for the real spice fans out there (you know who you are.)
Try ’em if you can take the heat. Also, try them with some kind of dip to go with these chips (guacamole? hummus? greek yogurt and garlic? Tsastiki?) They were delicious even with just some greek yogurt that I dipped each chip in. The Greek yogurt of course tames down the heat.
Put out a dish full of these chips with some cold beers and I think you will be in heaven. They cost $1.79 a bag.
Buy both kinds of these chips, regular and the Jerk-Style. These spicy ones are for when you want your mouth to tingle with some major, spicy Jerk spices.
This is a “love it or hate it” item. The cashier at TJ’s might even ask if you’ve tried this already, and if not warn you. But you may just love these as much as I do. Really! These dried fruit snacks are amazing! In fact its one of the best snack treatsTJ sells as far as I’m concerned. Sweet and very spicy are great together and these are just fabulous. Imagine dried mango just covered with a spicy/sweet/salty/tangy red mix of chiles and spices (and when I say covered just look at the picture, they have a heavy coat of the red spice mix).
Also when I say spicy…these are quite spicy! With a fire in your mouth that hits you 30 seconds after you finish chewing it and are absorbing the sweetness of the mango. So, if you don’t like spicy and can’t handle the heat, this may not be for you. However if you do, you will probably find these to be a flavor bomb exploding in your mouth, totally drool worthy. For me these are totally addictive. I eat one piece and just can’t stop putting my hand in the bag to eat “just 1 more” getting that red spice powder all over my fingers. Whereas my wife, tasted these once and just thinks they’re horrible. So to each, his own.
In Mexico, and many other locales, of course something sweet with chile and spices are one of the most beloved of flavor mixes (See link: What is TAJIN and why you should be eating it). In the street, on every beach, even in New York in some neighborhoods, you will find Mexican fruit vendors selling freshly cut mango, melons, cucumbers and other things, that the vendor will season before giving it to you with a very spicy chile mix, then sprinkle lime juice all over it. This product is in that vein. So yes probably no middle ground with these snacks. You will either love them or hate them. But if you can take spice and heat and love to discover new flavors, I highly recommend trying these CHILE SPICED MANGO fruit snacks as you just may just find these as addictive as I do.
BTW, can you pair these with something? I tried these cut into small pieces with some jack cheese and cheddar cheese and I thought they went amazingly well together with cheese. So try and experiment. A 7 oz bag goes for about $2. Find this in the Dried Fruits section at TJ’s.
Of course the great thing about TJ’s is if you do hate them, after you try them, TJ will of course refund your money upon asking without a blink (use the refund to get the regular dried mango slices instead – you can’t take the heat wimp!)
I love chocolate covered espresso beans. The best ones that I’ve had are from Porto Rico imports, one of my favorite stores in New York City. I used to work a few blocks from Porto Rico and could pass by twice a week.The chocolate espresso beans they sell are two things for me. 1) Heaven. 2) Crack
If you love chocolate and love coffee they are too die for. They are $10 a pound but on occasion you catch them on sale for less.
So I saw these new product Coffee Lover Espresso Beans candies at Trader Joe’s and for just 99 cents (!) I said give ’em a try. Naturally not equal to Porto Rico’s masterpiece espresso bean candies which are their excellent freshly roasted espresso beans coated with dark chocolate.
These are “Not Bad”. The beans don’t have great flavor, they are not top quality at this price but they have some coffee/chocolate combo flavor. These are a bit on the too sweet for me. The brown ones in the package are OK. I was not crazy about the light color ones (cappuccino?). But still for under a buck, these are worth trying yourself to see what you think. Neither a rave or a rant, I’ll give these a “meh”.
(post archived for posterity) These are soft and quite chewy Middle Eastern style flatbreads. Kind of like a thick flour tortilla. They are great for sandwiches, kebabs, gyros, rolls…
I find these flatbreads are useful for so many things. Naturally they are perfect to serve with Hummus or any kind of dip.
They are convenient to keep on hand in the freezer as they freeze well and can be defrosted pretty quickly just by taking the package out for 1/2 hr. They are best warm so you should heat these before serving them, of course. I throw them right on the gas burner of my stove turning them with tongs quickly and until they get a few more brown spots (but be careful they can get burnt quickly). Or pop them in a toaster oven or oven for a few minutes, or in the microwave.
You can use these as the base crust to make a super easy instant fresh mini pizza, done in a few minutes. Or lots of other flatbread with topping variations. Here’s a easy mini-pizza I wanted to try using these as the base (pic shot before I baked it).
SUPER EASY FLATBREAD PIZZA “no recipe, recipe”
Spread a flatbread with some of your favorite tomato sauce, grated or sliced mozzarella, and anything else you fancy. A drizzle of EVOO can’t hurt. Bake them on a cookie sheet in a hot oven for about 10 minutes. Fast, easy and delicious. I can eat 2 no problem.
Other pizza / flatbreads? Spread with a little ZHOUHG and a splash of good olive oil for an herby spicy treat. Olive oil and TJ’s DUKKAH and greek yogurt would be great too. Or Zaa’tar. Everything bagel spice. TJ’s artichoke spread. Sausage. Prosciutto, goat cheese, arugula… you name it, the list is endless, you can dream up all kinds of things to try to make a nice baked flatbread using these. When cooked, just cut them into half or quarters and serve. Guests will flip.
TJ Flatbreads sell for $2.29 and come 6 in a package, sold in the bread section at TJs near tortilla. I usually have a pack in my freezer at all times. Super handy to have on hand.
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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