Uncrystallized Candied Ginger 8 oz bag $1.49 (if you can buy it)
TJ’s Uncrystallized Candied Ginger has been M.I.A. for months now!
When I first tried this product, it was love at first bite.
I love ginger and most any candied ginger is a real favorite of mine. Trader Joe’s candied ginger is quite different from most of these, its not hard and tough like some candied ginger. Its is much softer, chewier, nice sweet spicy morsels made from “just” pure natural ginger. Its naturally very very spicy, and well, ginger-y. This product is made with good quality natural ginger and it has just the right amount of sweetness to balance out the heat. This is yet another TJ product I tried just once, and was instantly hooked on! It is delicious eaten on its own but I can tell you it is even more delicious eaten with a bite of dark chocolate (eaten together this is better than most chocolate covered ginger candy sold). You can dice it up and add add it to various things (like yogurt, cereal…). I use it in cooking too, even in a pinch adding it to dishes I’m making that need ginger. If you like ginger spiciness, this is so so good. They sell it for a great price, compared to rock hard stuff you might find that is the more “crystallized” version – hence why TJ specifically calls this ‘uncrystallized’.
Unfortunately though I haven’t seen it on the shelves in months now! Its gone Missing In Action!
When I’ve inquired about it at the front desk, they’ve told me they are “expecting to get more next month”. I’ve heard this same thing for the last four-five months. Has it been (shudder) Discontinued, added to that infamous list of TJ’s products?! I hope not. This is a great product. If you like ginger candy and ever see this again, its a must try.
Uncrystallized Candied Ginger: PLEASE COME BACK!
A SPLIT DECISION: a RAVE for the product / a RANT for being missing in action
UPDATE-1 (June 1 2011) I’M STILL WAITING; Just checked with TJ staff and they confirm, its not discontinued; they can’t get the product. Out Of Stock.
UPDATE-2 – (July 2011) I asked Manager; She said they finally got it in. It was on the shelves for one day before they were told to remove it because of some “label issue” WTF!!
UPDATE -3 (Oct 2011) I spoke with the Front Desk manager at my local TJ’s. She said officially “the product has NOT been discontinued” and that’s its one of the most requested items to get back on the shelf. According to her the problem is Trader Joe’s can’t get the ginger! She told me TJ’s has had trouble with their regular source’s ginger crop (in Indonesia?). Oh well. It can’t hurt to “pester” them! There can’t be only one source for ginger in the entire world, can there?
UPDATE-4 (Dec. 2011) Interesting update – Again spoke with another manager at Front Desk. This guy time told me. a) Confirmed again Product NOT discontinued; b) The Product has had an issue with its formulation. He said something like “Sulfites” and that it needed to be reformulated by the producers. Hmm… see update-2 above, right?
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE 3/16/12 – ITS BACK in stock. Check this post
I will start by saying I imagine I’m what you would call a “typical” male, meaning as far as soap goes, I am not too picky.
In fact, I am recalling I used to buy soap at the dollar store, where I got a brand called Dalan which was a buck for 3 bars back then and it was fine as far as I was concerned. On the other hand, you have my wife, who buys fancy soap at fancy stores like L’Occitane de Provence and the like. You know those upscale shops where soaps can cost $10 a bar?
Her fancy soaps are for her use only, of course. If I even touch her special bar of soap she will yell at me. “Don’t touch my soap; its for my face, its expensive, and its way too good for you”. Thanks, sweetie!
So shopping at Trader Joe’s a few weeks back I noticed this soap in their Health and Beauty section:
Trader Joe’s Oatmeal and Honey Soap, “Pure vegetable soap”. I can even smell it a bit and it smells nice. Cost? OMG, this nice looking soap goes for only$1.50 for 2 good size bars ($1.99). That sounds like my kind of deal, Joe!
The low down when I tried it? I like this soap a lot. Very good and for the price, terrific.
It doesn’t have any strong added artificial aromas. To me this soap has a nice natural smell.
When you wash with it this makes lots of lather. You can see oatmeal flakes in the soap. My skin does feel better, less dry, I assume due to the oatmeal in it. We know oatmeal is one of the best things for skin, incredibly soothing (see Aveeno brand for instance).
I mentioned how good this smells but it is worth repeating. Very nice. So here is one more TJ’s item I tried once and immediately said, “Wow this is an amazing product. I’m going to buy this from now on!”*.
This soap doesn’t melt too fast either, it lasts. It’s good for hands, face, body, everything. OK so I now get it, yes good soap is important. And one can easily say this decent soap is well worth it’s low price. Best thing is that my wife actually likes this soap. Sure she still loves her $10 L’Occitane soap but now keeps that solely for her face. I’m still not allowed to touch it of course but at least we can actually now agree that we can buy this “regular” soap for everyday use, and this is whats in our shower soap dish now. We both use it.
Trader Joe’s Oatmeal and Honey Soap, (two 4 oz bars). Ingredients include “…Glycerine, Essence of Oatmeal, Oatmeal Flakes, Honey…” TJ’s also sells a Tea Tree Oil Soap for a wee bit more.
Let us know about Trader Joe’s Health and Beauty stuff you’d recommend and leave some suggestions in the comments.
*How many times do Trader Joe products have that effect on you? There’s a reason. They have great buyers whose sole job is to scour the world for good products for Trader Joe’s.“
Price has increased since this was written… now $1.99. Still thats a buck for a bar. Not bad.
I don’t know if these are a new item at Trader Joes’s or my store (NYC) just started to carry them. But after trying them once; there is now another item that I’ve “discovered”, which is now on two lists.
1) Must Buy 2) “Dangerously Addictive”
Once I start eating these tasty crunchy sesame morsels, its hard to put them down; Seriously I have to hide the bag from myself, lest a one pound bag mysteriously get emptied muy rapido.
I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call this a “recipe” but here is a great flavor combo: A Sesame Stick or two with a bite of your favorite TJ chocolate (mine, dark of course). Result is one outstandingly tasty treat; salty, sweet…. tastes like a chocolate covered pretzel?
Even more dangerous this way. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Or just dip some into your favorite dip. I think they go good with Hummus.
Trader Joe’s Sesame Sticks $$2.99, 1 pound bag; pretty good deal. “All natural, no preservatives”
These are quite good. “Trader Joe’s Roasted Seaweed Snack” are made from seaweed, and are similar to, but slightly different from Japanese nori (seaweed dried into sheets).
These are “yaki-nori” (roasted nori sheets). These are from Korea. Korean ‘nori’ are made with sesame oil which gives the sheets a wonderful aroma and nutty taste and airy texture. They are more delicate and not as dense structurally as Japanese nori sheets, so can break apart easily. These are harder to roll stuff up in, for making sushi for example. But I do find the Korean kind tastier and in fact TJ’s “Roasted Seaweed Snacks” are delicious. Yes you can eat them as “snacks” as named, just pop them in your mouth. Eaten like this, a package will vanish FAST! They are addictive. However they are good any way you would employ nori. I have made sushi hand-rolls with them (very carefully so they don’t fall apart). You should try this; they’re terrific.
A pack of these goes for 99 cents (and yes I’ve seen better prices for similar ones at Korean supermarkets but you might not have one of those near you) Its still not a bad deal at all as they give you a good number of these small square sheets, which weigh almost nothing.
Now I have read this is a “polarizing Trader Joe’s product” meaning you either love it or hate it. Huh? Who hates these? Personally I love these and would say if you haven’t tried them, pick up a pack and check them out. They are a “healthy snack”. As with so many TJ items, you may be instantly hooked and grab them every time you see them (and no I don’t get paid for this folks, or get free samples. I wish!) My local TJ’s is actually putting them right by the Checkout line… next to the chocolates! That must mean something: checkout line item.
Do as the Japanese do: Try making thin strips of them to sprinkle on rice. Take 2 or 3 sheets. Using a scissors cut them into strips as thin as you can. Sprinkle strips on top of…. well almost anything. They will add interesting flavors to: rice, salads, fish, chicken, meats…experiment! Try wrapping some food in them too, instead of bread or a taco (maybe two together for added strength?) I love them with “Spicy Tuna” and some sushi style rice. Put a sheet in your hand, top with some rice and top that with some Spicy Tuna. Gently fold into a tube and pop that tasty morsel into you mouth. Yum Yum Yum!
I found a very good post about them on this blog; take a look.
If you are want more information including the Nutrional Info, I found TJ’s product description for them online (PDF) – turns out I was right about guessing Korean origin.
Here’s what TJ’s has to say:
THE ROASTED SEAWEED SNACK STORY
It all started under the sea with an edible red algae (genus Porphyra), which is now commonly known as nori. Around the 8th century, evidence of nori surfaced in Japan as a type of culinary paste. It wasn’t until the Edo period (1603-1868) that sheets of nori were invented through a method of paper-making. Skip forward a few hundred years, and nori becomes a sensation across the globe—for sushi, snacking and seasoning. So Trader Joe’s knows, it’s now or nori. Our Roasted Seaweed Snack features nori from Korea that is roasted with a touch of oil (sesame & canola) and sea salt, then cut into strips. That’s it. It’s light, crunchy, ocean-salty and nuanced with an intriguing nutty flavor. It’s so good, it proves hard to keep in stock. Especially at 99¢ for a package.
UPDATE!
PS – I found this and had to add it…. this is hysterical!
“Korean flavored nori is increasingly popular in Japan, also as a topping for white rice. You could also eat flavored nori just on its own, but you should resist the urge to do it when in polite company: eating flavored nori as a snack is considered fairly vulgar (which doesn’t mean people don’t do it!)”
HOWEVER there is a little fishy story here. The original version of this product (left) recently ‘vanished’ from my Trader Joes’s (NYC/72nd St). I basically got hooked on these little mini chocolate bars. I used to pick up a bag of them every time I went shopping there (hey, they’re strategically placed right near the end of the checkout line to encourage this behavior, so why fight it?) Even my Checkout Guy bagging me tells me he buys a bag of these daily. Says he goes through a bag a day. Me, I tried to control myself so the bag of 28 chocolates lasts almost a week. Well guess what? They simply vanished. Out of Stock. No. Even the sign vanished…which I’ve now learned from experience generally means bye-bye to a product.
So a week or two later I see there are once again bags of mini chocolate bars on the shelf. BUT they look different. They don’t look like they are for little kids anymore (OK by me) But the“old version” (left) seems to have been replaced by the new version (right). Notice the difference in quantity? Now yes before, they only came as milk chocolate; now you have a choice of milk or semi-sweet chocolate (which I greatly prefer). BUT other than that, the new version of this product seems exactly the same. Both say “Made In Columbia” on the package. The bars are the same size as they were in the yellow package. So WTF, Trader Joes ?! You used to give us 28 bars for 99 cents, but now you give us 12 for the same price?!
Do the math, and you will see TJ’s has more than doubled the price of these chocolate bars. Look, for the price its still pretty good. Never the less I find this a bit fishy on Trader Joe’s part. Does TJ’s think we’re not going to notice this kind of STEEP price increase – or downsizng in product quantity? Don’t they have a motto about how they only raise prices as their costs go up? So did the wholesale price of chocolate in Columbia go up 70 per cent? I’d find that hard to believe.
This is akin to the old “Hersheys effect” going way back in Marketing. How Hershey’s kept the price of their chocolate bar 5 cents for years and years but kept decreasing the size of the bar. The customer is not supposed to notice.
UPDATE: AUG 2011
They 12 bar chocolates appeared erratically on the shelves. Gone, then I’d seen them again. Went on for weeks. Finally, I see them in a tub with a sign “99 cents” literally at the head of the Checkout Line at my local TJ’s. I bought some but had a feeling that tub was the last of them. I was right. I inquired about the “12 pack 99 cents chocolates” status and the Captain told me “They’ve been discontinued”
BUMMER TRADER JOE! What is it with this product? Its fantastic.Don’t tell me they weren’t selling. I bought one or two bags every time I shopped at Trader Joe’s. So why DISCONTINUED??!!
Lately I’ve noticed Trader Joe’s has increased prices on quite a few items…sometimes not in “obvious” ways. Here’s one recent example:
Until a few weeks ago, thier BANANA CHIPS (very good) came in an 8 ounce bag and sold for 99 cents. Great product at a great price. I pretty much bought them every time I went to the store.
Then recently I saw they were out of them, except there wasn’t even a sign anymore on the shelf where they always were. When asked, I was told “we’re out of stock” and were on re-order. OK. But a week or two later I see BANANA CHIPS are back on the shelves…BUT now they are in a larger bag. Instead of 8 oz. it now comes in a 16 oz bag (1 lb). bag Double the size, but is it $2? No, the sign lists $2.99.?!? Ergo the BANANA CHIPS price went from $2/lb to $3/lb? A 50 % price hike?! Yikes, thats pretty steep isnt’ it? We are not supposed to notice a 50% price increase? Did TJ’s costs go up that much??
TJ’s has a motto about how “we only increase prices according to our costs”. Is this national or just in New York City? Comments?
Found any other Trader Joe’s price increases? Please post them as comments.
(update: Since I originally wrote this years ago, I have come to the conclusion the Soy Chorizo recipe changed. Its different now; certainly I can see way less of that reddish oil that used to ooze out of it, which was quite flavorful and loaed with a big blast of cumin and other spices. Its OK now but not as good as it used to be. Here is my original review. It’s still OK. Just know it used to be better. IMO
This is my very first post and review on this new site! Trader Joe’s Soy Chorizo:
Even though I’m not vegetarian I tried this as it looked interesting and sounded intriguing with the two words: “Soy Chorizo”? Actual Mexican Chorizo is a sausage made with pork. So what the hell do they mean by “soy” chorizo.
I found this quite tasty. I was kind of impressed by the taste of this vegetarian “chorizo” made with Soy Protein. It tastes like, well, kind of like real chorizo tastes like… And by chorizo lets state for the record in this case we mean Mexican chorizo (which is crumbly, raw, in a casing) and not the “Spanish chorizo” (which is firm and has been cured first like salami).
TJ’s SOY CHORIZO is tasty and flavorful. I think this is suitably tasty for non-vegetarians as well as vegetarians. Its loaded with the correct spice flavoring of Mexican Chorizo like cumin and anatto and its nicely spicy. All of which really makes it taste “real” to me. I buy this all the time now. Its so tasty I don’t even notice or care if its real or “fake meat”. So again good for both omnivores, vegetarians and or the occasional vegetarian like me. This is one of Trader Joe’s most popular products. Google ‘Trader Joe’s Soy Chorizo’. You will find tons of fans plus lots of recipes. If you haven’t tried it yet, this is highly recommended thing from TJ to try. I’ve used it in so many ways, and you will no doubt come up with more easily….
You could use it as Soy Chorizo used in a taco filling mixed with potatoes, onions, and eggs; see the pic for a great filling with these ingredients on a TJ Habanero Lime flour tortilla) mixed with other veggies. Use it crumbled on top of eggs (delicious) or mixed in an omelette. A recipe idea can be found here:
I’ve added Soy Chorizo to pan-fried hash brown potatoes for really nice extra flavor (I add at very end). Added it to lentil stew or a soup; even put it on top of pizza instead of sausage! Its good in so many things, and a little bit can go a long way to flavor other ingredients. You can even make a un-vegetarian taco filling with half soy chorizo sautéed up together, for the chorizo flavor with maybe ground turkey or ground beef or pork if you prefer.
MAJOR TIP – Soy Chorizo is very messy to work with once you open the package. The package has a plastic tube casing crimped at the end. Be sure to VERY carefully slit open the plastic outer casing, then open the inner casing. What I do is open the package, pull out the tube, and kind of squeeze it out of the casing with my fingers, as needed an inch at a time. Even wrapped in plastic be warned, it gets messy sitting in fridge, as the dark red anatto oil has a tendency to “leak” out so be sure to wrap it carefully, as the anatto oil will stain everything red. I double wrap the opened package in two plastic bags. Or better still, I have found the best way to keep leftover Soy Chorizo once the package is open is to is put it into a glass jar and spoon it out as needed. I label it with the date. I find it keeps a long time in the fridge, easily two weeks, and maybe even like 4 weeks ? As its vegetable based not meat based, it doesn’t spoil like meat and the oil and spices protect it from going bad quickly.
A 12 oz package is $1.99 (update: since I first wrote this the price was increased to $2.29 {2018} I find 12 oz of this goes pretty far as its strongly flavored.
Here is a recipe for Stuffed Mushrooms that sounds good from the Cooking with Trader Joe’s blog. I have to try this, it sounds yummy and easy.
Grilled Avocados and Soy Chorizo Tacos? That sounds good!
Let me know what do you think of TJ Soy Chorizo? How and What do you use it for? If you have any ways you like to use it or recipes, please leave them here in the Comments.
RECIPE – QUESADILLAS WITH SOY CHORIZO
Soy Chorizo
Tortillas (Corn or Wheat/Corn)
Monterey Jack Cheese with Peppers
Baby Wild Arugula
Chopped tomatoes – or salsa – or avocado for garnish
Put a little oil in a pan large enough to hold 2 tortillas; add the Soy Chorizo on top of tortillas; top this with grated cheese; Top this with some arugula and a few chopped tomatoes or a bit of salsa. Cook 20-30 seconds until the tortilla becomes pliable so you can fold the tortillas gently into a half moon with a spatula. Press gently. Cook until bottom side is a little crispy and cheese is melted. Flip and cook other side, press gently. When done, remove and top with salsa or hot sauce or Sriracha, maybe some sour cream, ripe avocado…chopped cilantro….
You could use it as Soy Chorizo used in a taco filling mixed with potatoes, onions, and eggs; see the pic for a great filling with these ingredients on a TJ Habanero Lime flour tortilla) mixed with other veggies. Use it crumbled on top of eggs (delicious) or mixed in an omelette. A recipe idea can be found here:
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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