british | Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants)

Did you know that Trader Joe’s has “British Style Crumpets” ? You can not get more British than crumpets. If you never noticed them before, I suggest you check them out. You will see them next to the English Muffins, of course, in the fresh breads area.

Just in case you’ve never tried crumpets, they are really good and Trader Joe’s version is actually quite decent. After they are toasted up, crumpets are nicely chewy yet a little crispy on the outside. The main thing about crumpets is that they are chock full of little holes and those hold onto butter and jam, etc.

Try these yummy baked treats too next time you’re reaching for English Muffins so you can really get your full Brit on while watching THE CROWN or BRIDGERTON.

Crumpets are soft and as you can see in the picture, loaded with tiny holes. They get those holes, the way pancakes get them while cooking, and this unique texture and the holes makes them fantastic at absorbing butter and jam. Which helps makes them scrumptious. Toast these up gently, until slightly golden brown. Top with good butter and your favorite jam (or marmalade). They are both a bit soft and a bit crunchy, a fantastic combo. TJ’s crumpets are about $3.29 for a pack of six that come in two sealed plastic compartments. Personally I cut the package in two and freeze some for later.

Crumpets happen to be quite delicious and obviously these will go really well with some tea.

RULE BRITANNIA

Mustard and Ale Cheddar Cheese

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.