“A savory, focaccia like bread with light chewy texture, studded with briney black and Kalamata olives”
This bread is a bit unusual and one of Trader Joe’s more “gourmet” breads on offer. I think it’s worth trying especially if you are an olive fan.
This is a French style FOUGASSE, a bread typically associated with the South of France. Kind of a cousin to Focaccia. Trader Joe’s Olive Fougasse has both Kalamata and Black Olives. It’s loaded up with olives and has a great olive flavor. I love olives and I really liked this bread. FOUGASSE can be shaped in many ways, some quite artistic (see link for images of different Fougasse breads)…..
We baked it up as directed.Like a few breads Trader Joe’s sells, this one comes slightly underbaked, so you can get “fresh baked bread”. It’s needs to finish baking for just about 5 minutes so just pop it into hot oven (or air fryer?) for about 5 minutes. It will smell heavenly when you take it out. Its crusty, soft and chewy inside, Herby and Olive-y. My wife and I really enjoyed eating this with a pasta dish.
This would be great with many things, including I think goind with your cheese board, charcuterie board or butter board.
If you see a Fougasse in a bakery they would probably be selling them for 6-8 bucks. Trader Joe’s price is $3.49 (12 oz)
Ing. include flour, water, sea salt, yeast and herbs. It has No preservatives. Use within a day or two after buying or freeze it. I would buy it again.
They say: “Trader Joe’s Crispy Garlic ably demonstrates, when sliced thin and fried to a glorious golden brown, garlic’s gifts easily extend into the textural realm, too. We tried plenty of options before finding this iteration of Crispy Garlic, which is brought to us by an expert supplier in Thailand. Only their Crispy Garlic was able to capture that flavorful-but-not-bitter, nicely-fried-but-not-tough, crunchy-but-still-melt-in-your-mouth quality that our tasting panel adored. We think you’ll adore it, too. Trader Joe’s Crispy Garlic is excellent as a topping on stir-fries, salads, and scrambled eggs; pizzas, pastas, and pad Thai; or even burgers, baked potatoes, and bánh mi. It can be mixed into homemade cheesy dips and casseroles, sprinkled over noodle dishes or roasted veggies, or even just enjoyed over a bowl of freshly made rice.” – Trader Joe’s
Tru’ dat. The little thin crisps of garlic are so tasty. We tried it, and instantly fell in love with this stuff. We tried even eating them as is just out of the bag.
Think little chips of garlic, cooked till golden brown until they are super crunchy and crispy. The garlic flavor is now a bit mild and mellow from the frying. Toss these chips on just about anything. We’ve been trying it out on just about everything we can think of to put it on and whatever we tried seemed to work. Noodles. Salad. Rice. As they say it’s cooked just right, before the point of bitterness
Here I put some on top of cottage cheese on top of a toasted slice of their Sourdough Sliced bread and added some spices, and the combo was super yummy.
You can crush them up with your fingers to get smaller bits too (I crushed them up over buttered corn. Yum!)
$3.29 (4 oz) Which is probably a pound of garlic when it started. Its got just 3 simple ingredients, garlic, oil and salt. It’s not greasy at all. Just crispy. Keep it tightly sealed in the foil pouch and it should stay that way. This is a super Asian garnish.
I saw this at Trader Joe’s when I was looking for some regular bread for sandwiches. I had not reviewed this, so I got it to try out. In my mind I was thinking about making things like some grilled cheese sandwiches in the near future as well as having some regular square sliced bread for toast for breakfasts.
As far as sourdough bread goes, I think most people seem to be interested in Trader Joe’s round loaf sourdough breads.
Still if you are looking for a standard type of “white bread” with square slices to have around for say making regular slices of toast or regular sandwiches I would say this is about as good an upgrade for that type of bread as you could get. This is not some squishy white bread. Wonder bread this ain’t. It’s soft of course but has a bit of a firm, dense structure. I’d think of this not as an actual sourdough bread but as a sourdough style sliced bread. For sandwiches, etc. I took a slice of this and toasted it and was so hust happy with the result.
This bread just makes the best slice of toast! A little sturdy with a perfect texture. For me, this was pretty much created to become Toast. It can make the best “English style toast” with a perfect bite of crust and crumb textures. A nice, sturdy slice of toast, aching to be buttered. Optionally topped with whatever you like.
Besides toast of course this will be fantastic to make any kind of grilled sandwich, say a grilled cheese, or anything. What about maybe SARDINES ON TOAST? Yeah baby.
If you try this and make a piece of toast with this bread you will not be sorry. If you don’t want it toasted, I would still suggest perhaps at least warming it slightly, as all bread benefits from being warm.
(sliced sourdough toasted and topped with cottage cheese, garlic chips and spices.)
GRILLED CHEESE idea using this bread? I am thinking for the cheese, slice up some Unexpected Cheddar, put that on the bread and spread a very thin layer of TJ’s Pumpkin Butter on the top slice plus (optional) very very thin slices of apple. Grill this on low-medium heat with a tablespoon of butter until golden brown, flip over, and serve when ready with your favorite pickles.
90 calories per slice
Storing: I keep mine in freezer. Very easy to take out a slice.
“The galette is a treasured tradition among French bakers, dating back over a thousand years to the time of the Norman Dynasty…Inspired by a beloved regional variation of galette known as Broyés du Poitou, Trader Joe’s French Galettes Butter Cookies are made especially for us by an esteemed French bakery near the historic city of Nantes. They use a traditional recipe that includes French cultured butter to produce a satisfyingly crisp exterior, and crumbly, wonderfully melt-in-your-mouth interior…. they make a great companion to a bowl of ice cream or platter of fresh cut fruit. And since each box contains twelve Cookies, they’re great for sharing when you’ve got folks over for dinner—if you haven’t already eaten them all yourself, of course.” – Trader Joe’s
Three of us tried these new Trader Joe’s GALLETTES/French butter cookies which are made for them by an “esteemed French bakery” in Nantes, Brittany (a place famous for butter).
Here’s my honest review – SO GOOD! I just loved these. Very buttery. Very French, just a classic.
They are of course loaded with butter with a hint of sweetness. Think French “shortbread”. Grownup cookie.
Ingredients are short, sweet and simple; they include flour, cultured butter, starter, sugar, eggs, salt. Like you would make them. Simple. Natural. No preservatives.
We enjoyed these after dinner with tea, and they were great with tea. Of course they will be equally delicious with coffee, or milk, or just by themselves. Maybe with a little of your favorite jam. Or as Trader Joe’s suggest, pair these with ice cream (Mon Dieu!)
There are 12 cookies in the package wrapped to stay fresh in pairs of 4 cookies. Calorie wise, 2 Cookies have 180 calories (or 90 cals each)
Again, just classic and elegant. These will impress anyone you have over.
I’d say these are a Must Try especially at $3.49 (almost 8 oz)
Trader Joe’s website doesn’t mention “seasonal” or “limited” so hopefully these will stay around! My fingers are crossed they do as these are Keepers.
“With their skeleton suits and wild green “hairdos,” these playful planters are equal parts Halloween spirit and everyday cheer.”
I love air plants. These are some quirky air plants they just came out with for Fall Season/Halloween; 4 varieties of either cat or dog skeletons (xray ?) planters of TILLANDSIA, a kind of Air Plant which they say only needs the occasional misting. White ones or black ones.
There’s a magnet on these so I can easily imaging them ending up on your Fridge?! Or bathroom mirror?
Funny and cute and with care they should last.
Trader Joe’s BOW WOW MEOW planters airplants, $5.99 (for an air plant i think that’s pretty reasonable, as they are usually fairly pricey)
“Seasonal limited time item.” If you want one, grab while you can.
Google Search: “How do you care for Tillandsia? To care for a Tillandsia (air plant), provide it with bright, indirect light, good air circulation, and water regularly by soaking it in filtered water for 20-30 minutes once a week, or more in dry conditions. After soaking, thoroughly shake off excess water and allow the plant to dry completely on its side or upside down to prevent rot.”
“Moist, flavorful pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting”
It’s FALL and Trader Joe’s is of course coming out with all the pumpkin items; This one is a very good MINI SHEET CAKE with a cream cheese frosting on top of a moist cake with the typical pumpkin spices. The cream cheese frosting is good even though found it to be a bit on the too sweet side. Even the frosting has a slight taste of the pumpkin spices. The cake was quite tasty, moist and flavorful. The spices were well balanced; not overpowering as they can be sometimes. This has just the right amount.
We loved the cake with coffee and tea, which balanced out it’s sweetness.
Trader Joe’s says : “You’ll fall for the moist, spongy crumb, flavored by pumpkin purée and warm spices, including cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. A rich, cream-cheese frosting is piped on top, lending an upscale bakery vibe and providing a classic flavor-pairing for the Pumpkin Spice profile.”
I like most of the mini sheet cakes and this one is quite good. My favorite will always be the Chocolate Ganache one but this one is a Fall Limited Edition one, which I think you and your family will like during TJ’s “pumpkin season”.
This is a great Fall item. I would buy it again.
$5.99/18 Oz (up about 50 cents since the last time i got sheet cake)
Trader Joe’s say this about these “mini can foliage plants” that have come out for Fall now :
“Here, designs from some of our favorite canned products ever to grace our grocery shelves, including items from both the past and present, have been re-imagined as holders for a variety of beautiful, (and, we mention with appreciation, quite low-maintenance) tropical plants.”
These new Trader Joe’s plants in cans, seem to gotten a lot of attention all over Social Media. I am going to bet that almost every dorm room now has one of these in them! Granted these are cute because they are not not in a little pot, but in Trader Joe’s cans, with labels for actual TJ’s products like the canned corn.
So yes, I totally get these look cute and kind of cool and OK, I like the recycling take added to design philosophy. Frankly though I have a feeling they are not actually in recycled cans, I think they were produced just for this use. I know that that tomato paste comes in a very skinny little can, not this size can, which is way bigger which leads me to assume these cans were made just for this purpose.
Frankly though I had a few reservations when I saw them at my local (NYC) Trader Joe’s.
First, the price?! Whaaaaa?! 4.99!? Five bucks for one of these just seemed a little steep when I saw them. When I search their website I saw a few kinds of plant varieties. But at my TJ’s (UWS NYC) there were only these one kind a fern species. The ones I saw appeared to be not in great shape, at all. The ones I saw looked like they would die in about a week after you took them home. They were already dying.
I would not buy the ones I saw (the ferns) again which are not even shown as you can see in the top picture I got right off TJ’s website which shows other plants – which all look robust. And better varieties of plants some worth five bucks.
I did see healthy plants for that exact same $4.99. Those looked way healthier and more robust looking plants Also labeled “mini foliage in pot”. Those will last if you take care of them. Not sure if those ferns could be rescued.
This guy on Instagram got much luckier to find good little cans of plants that had more of the varieties as they are shown on TJ’s website. Perhaps you will in your area.
Still as cute as you think the (frankly over priced) plants in those little metal labeled cans are, in general those plants will live longer if you eventually re-pot them into a bigger pot with hopefully some drainage holes at the bottom (or at the very least be careful not to over or under water these) If you find more robust varieties in these cans, you might get lucky.
(update: a reader Commented below that depending on the exact plant variety you find, it might be well worth $5 – but repot them)
By the way, these looked very healthy!! Some has been feeding them flies?
Unfortunately Trader Joe’s Traditional CARNITAS (Mexican roasted pork) went Missing In Action not long ago. Now as we all know Trader Joe’s products can go MIA. Many eventually come back as stock comes in.
Then a reader here reported left a Comment that the Carnitas Discontinued. My heart sank as I have loved that product ever since I had first tried it years ago. Its just the best roast pork cooked in a certain way one could never do yourself. So yesterday when I was at Trader Joe’s I tried to investigate. I spoke with a manager at the Front Desk who looked up the Carnitas on the computer. She told me something interesting which I thought I would pass along as it reveals a little bit not just about Trader Joe’s products but their suppliers they work with.
She showed me the Product page for the Carnitas. It says “Not Orderable” – meaning they did not actually discontinue it – however stores can not order it. The product page explained why: “supplier went out of business“. Yikes!
The page adds that they looking for new supplier for the item. Hopefully they will find one, eventually. But unfortunately for the time being we can’t buy Carnitas anymore at Trader Joe’s. I for one am quite Bummed as I loved it. I could even came up with a hack to make Cha Siu with the Roasted Pork.
Anyway if you don’t see something on the shelf, ask the Front Desk if they could check it for you as thats always the best way I’ve found to get actual info.
I haven’t tried this before but I saw BACON CHEDDAR was a featured item in their Fearless Flyer so I thought I would check it out. It was something as I kept tasting it, I kept saying to myself, OK let me try just one more bite, and a little bit later after some more taste testing, I noticed I ate a good hunk of it! I don’t usually buy processed cheese (like American cheese) but I have to say this tasted good, a little smokey with savory notes from the tiny pieces of applewood bacon in it. Semi soft. This will melt easily so good to cook with. You can slice and add to a grilled cheese sandwich to add a smokey bacon note to it.
Says “while supplies last” which I assume means a limited item.
“Trader Joe’s Bacon Cheddar Cheese is handcrafted for us in upstate New York by a master cheesemaker with extensive experience in traditional European Cheddaring techniques and an instinct for blending. Aged for 18 months, the Cheddar is full flavored and mildly sharp with firm, smooth texture….merged with pieces of our very own Trader Joe’s Uncured Applewood Smoked Bacon, which contribute richly savory, sweet-smoky character to every bite. From snacking on while watching a game, to serving as part of a charcuterie board…..baked potatoes, French fries, burgers, broccoli, apple slices, macaroni, biscuits, quiche… ” (from the TJ Fearless Flyer Aug 2025)
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