My wife loves this and told me she’s “addicted” to it. I tried it, liked it too. Very refreshing. Mild ACV taste/tingle. Made with organic apple juice and no added sugars. It’s $1.69 for 12 oz and only 35 calories. “Healthy soda”!
Here’s what Trader Joe’s says about the product: “What can’t apple cider vinegar do? Some folks use it in marinades, others use it to pickle produce, some even use it as a cleaning agent. As it happens, you can now add “use it to make a remarkably refreshing soda” to the list, with the introduction of Trader Joe’s Organic Sparkling Ginger + Lemon Apple Cider Vinegar Beverage. This tart and tangy sparkler combines pleasantly pucker-y organic lemon juice and bright, bracing organic ginger with (you guessed it) organic apple cider vinegar to create one curiously cool and crisp drink. Best enjoyed nice and cold, our Organic Sparkling Ginger + Lemon Apple Cider Vinegar Beverage at once offers all the thirst-quenching qualities of a lemonade, the exhilarating bite of spicy ginger, and the playful mix of juicy and tangy that only apple cider vinegar can supply. It makes for an especially delicious anytime drink, though we find that its unique flavor profile makes it especially amenable to pairing with rich or spicy foods.”
As the owner of a by-now very spindly 20 yr old rubber plant, I was pretty impressed at how robust and thick these Ficus Elasticas at Trader Joe’s were. They’re beautiful. $12.99
Good price on a good extra virgin olive oil from Greece, single origin, Kalatmata oil. I really like the attractively designed tin it comes in. “Bright and grassy in flavor with a light bitter finish”. I liked this. 16.9 oz. Super for five bucks. TK’s has another Greek kalamata oil too for only a dollar more, $5.99.
Trader Joe’s says “A versatile dressing that can be used for salads, marinades and dips.”
I really like this. It’s one of Trader Joe’s best dressings.
It’s delicious as well as versatile. It’s an organic Japanese / Asian sesame based dressing which is great for any salads and I found for making coleslaw/slaws. Savory and a little sweet, with lots of Umami. When I say Versatile I mean this is more than just a dressing for salads. It is also an excellent marinade. For one thing its terrific with chicken. Marinate the chicken in some of this sauce for 1/2 hr or more before grilling, then brush on some more near the end as a glaze. You can also do the exact same thing with Tofu. It is really great as a sauce with the Baked Tofu. Slice up the tofu and pour some of this sauce over and sprinkle with scallions. Its also good just added on top of any sauteed veggies. Cold noodles with sesame sauce (add some more toasted sesame oil and some peanut butter and soy)
You could even mix in a tablespoon of chunky peanut butter into a some of this dressing for a Thai type variation.
This is now one of my favorite New Products at Trader Joe’s. A fully cooked, lovely fillet of Roasted Salmon. Find it in Refrigerated near the fresh fish and smoked salmon. This cooked piece of salmon is so handy and convenient, especially for hot summer days, or anytime you don’t want to cook (or smell) fish cooking. The salmon is fully cooked but just barely, it’s incredibly moist, so you can even heat it up a wee bit if you like, which I did. Now the first time I bought this I didn’t check the dates carefully, and when I opened it, I smelled the tiniest bit of a fishy smell. A sprinkle of lemon took care of that and it tasted fine. However the second time I bought it I checked a few packages and noticed some had a date maybe a day or even two older than another package. So naturally I picked out a package with the most recent date, and when I opened it that night for dinner the salmon had no smell at all. So check the packages carefully and get the latest dated ones.
For under five bucks you get a lovely fillet of farmed Atlantic salmon from Norway. No bones. Skin on. You can slip off the skin in a second. I actually enjoy salmon skin if its crispy. So I tossed the fillet into a hot pan skin side down for maybe 90 seconds to crisp up the skin. Then I flipped it and gave it about 30 seconds on the top side too to get a little sear and color (this is all completely optional of course as it is already cooked). However I did think it was slightly improved with this little searing and I was very careful not overcook the fish. Plating it up I sprinkled some TJ’s DILL SEASONING BLEND on which is a perfect match for this. I flaked up the fish with a fork, put it on a plate with a squeeze of lemon. It was delicious and a pretty good deal for $4.99 (5 oz portion) Of course the fresh Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon TJ sells for $10/lb is an even better deal if you don’t mind cooking.
note a little color from my searing the fish briefly
To second time I tried this salmon I thought it would be perfect to make some Japanese “Nori Hand Rolls”.
Sushi Style Salmon Hand Rolls Bites
I made some Sushi Rice and served up these tasty little bites of Salmon Hand Rolls (“Temaki Sushi”) with the salmon and matchsticks of cucumbers on TJ’s SEAWEED SNACKS (nori). One piece of salmon was enough for two of us with the rice and other things. We REALLY enjoyed these sushi bites. You take a square of nori in one hand, gently spoon on a little sushi rice add some salmon and cukes, then pop the whole bite into your mouth. This is super tasty. Really, try making this, it’s fun and delicious.
Want to learn how to make sushi rice? Its not hard and TJ’s carries the rice vinegar (you have salt and sugar). Sadly I’m afraid they’ve discontinued the CALROSE RICE they had! I’m bummed about that as med/short grain rice is best for sushi rice and it was easy to get it at TJ’s while they had it. Oh well. In a pinch, Jasmine works if you can’t get short/med grain rice.
I would think even though this salmon is cooked its still best to use it the day you buy it, if you can. If not, you could keep it in the coldest part of the fridge to use the next day (or in a pinch freeze the whole package and when ready to use, do an overnight defrost in fridge).
PS – If you dont like / eat salmon skin, and you have a pet, don’t throw it away; Wash it off as much as possible and give it to your cat or dog. They’ll likely go nuts getting some healthy healthy Omega-3’s and fish oil.
Trader Joe’s suggest this goes well with the new TAMARIND SAUCE (I’ve yet to try it)
60 Second Tamarind Salmon Sweet and tangy with a gentle heat, Trader Joe’s Tamarind Sauce delivers maximum flavor with no prep time required. Slather it on a Trader Joe’s Fully Cooked Salmon Fillet and serve atop a bed of rice or salad greens for a protein-packed, positively satisfying meal that’s ready in about a minute. For a pleasant crunch, top with Trader Joe’s Crispy Onion Chips and fresh green onions.
This package can make a really really good coleslaw. We really liked the slaw made with this, a variation from a regular salw made from cabbage. To make the slaw, I basically used the recipe on the package with one difference. I used way less than the “one cup” of your favorite salad dressing as they suggest. You don’t need that much; if you need more sauce just add a little vinegar and a little honey or palm sugar. Yes it does say “organic shredded broccoli stalk”. I promise you won’t even know, the finished slaw will soften up and be like any regular coleslaw after it marinates for awhile (20-30 minutes). Personally I never throw out the stalk when I make broccoli, I peel and cook it – but when I met my wife, she just chopped of the head and threw out the rest!
(here’s my modified recipe) COLESLAW : Dump the package in a bowl. Add one grated apple (grate on box grater with skin), add a handful of dried cranberries or golden raisins, add about an ounce or two of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar and add just enough of your favorite dressing to lightly coat things (maybe a 1/4 to 1/3 of cup? The package says 1 whole cup of dressing – come on, that’s way too much. I used TJ’s Organic Ranch Dressing. Or you can just add some mayo. A sprinkle of DILL SEASONING will be nice in this. Mix everything up and let it sit for about 20-30 minutes in the fridge to marinate. It will soften up. The slaw can easily stay in the fridge for the next day. This is a very tasty and healthy side dish!
And you can cook this too. Just sauté these veggies for about 3 minutes in a butter or olive oil if you prefer a cooked dish.
“Light nutty flavor that is great in oatmeal, smoothies, pancakes and waffles.”
RANT
Unfortunately Trader Joe’s discontinued a very good product they used to carry, Whole Roasted Flax Seeds – and replaced it with this one: ORGANIC GROUND FLAXSEED MEAL. Meal of course meaning they pre-ground the seeds.
You know there are people who buy ground coffee. Other like myself prefer to buy coffee beans. Reason being, coffee beans which you grind before using it is so much fresher.
I preferred to buy the whole flax seeds which I would grind myself, which was not terribly hard to do in a hand grinder I got.
That way the flax seed meal was totally freshly, compared to flax seeds already ground up here.
I used to grind the whole flax seeds up with a second coffee grinder, I use for grinding things besides coffee, like some seeds and whole spices. I would grind up the whole flax seeds every day or so, which is ideal as they contain natural oils which are best fresh .
I think Whole Foods might sell whole flax seeds?
For the time being, I got this new version that Trader Joe’s replaced that product with. I use flax seeds in a few ways, for mixing into my Kefir, and smoothies and or adding into baked goods or pancakes.
Sadly I found that these pre-ground flax meal is not as good. The taste is off to me. I don’t know if they use Golden or Brown flax seeds, it looks like it’s made from a dark and a light seed.
I’m sure Trader Joe’s wanted to make it “easy” for you (as in, “what kind of customer is going to grind them themselves”?) Guess what, I did it, it’s not terribly hard and was preferable to me at least if you care about the flax meal being super fresh.
So get this if you want them pre-ground. Be sure to refrigerate the package after opening to keep as fresh as possible. Maybe even keeping this in the freezer is best?
In short, that discontinued whole flax seed was a better product. Grinding them ourselves guaranteed freshness, which this does not. So another RANT!
$3.99 / 1 lb
Another option might be to just buy whole flax seeds (AMAZON) These aren’t toasted but you could do that yourself pretty easily. (MAR 2026 cost is $6/lb)
Absolutely great pantry item. For something that just comes out of a can, I have to say this chickpea dish is really tasty. Super easy. Pretty cheap! This can even become dinner in a snap.
The Greek flavors here are all good, with lemon, parsley, cumin, garlic and black pepper and as this is sitting, marinating, the seasonings have permeated into the chickpeas so they are way more tasty than if you just these on poured.
If had any complaints about this my only very small complaint would be the oil as of course, this has soybean oil (cheap) as opposed to olive oil (expensive) to cut down the cost. However this is easily fixed – Just add some of your own good olive oil.
I poured off most of the sauce and added a glug of good Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which improved it, of course. Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice too while you are at it, which will brighten it up so it tastes like you almost made it yourself. This would be great for say a picnic. We ate it as a side dish with some Falafel and thats a good match. Or add a can of this on top of salad greens to add some bean protein. Trader Joe’s describes this as kind of a “deconstructed hummus” as it has many of the same ingredients in it as hummus does. In fact I served it alongside some hummus and even put a bit of this on top of the hummus which is a typical serving style to put a few chickpeas on top.
So useful. I consider this a must have item in the pantry.
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
Recent Comments