Why, you may wonder as I did when I saw this, is Trader Joe’s selling Diamond Crystal brand Kosher Salt? If you’ve watched any chef cook you probably know they frequently specify using Kosher salt which has a much bigger flake than regular sea salt and is therefore useful for seasoning and is the “go to” salt for most chef’s. What even is Kosher Salt?
I haven’t bought Kosher Salt for some time. When I saw this I got bit of sticker shock seeing how much Kosher Salt seems to be now! $9 for a 3 lb. box (or $3 a pound) Wow. By contrast Trader Joe’s sells their Sea Salt for about $1.70 for over 1 1/2 lbs.
I really liked this blueberry preserve Trader Joe’s has come out with, which uses wild organic blueberries from “the Canadian Boreal Forest“. It has a really delicious, intense flavor of wild blueberries. It’s very tasty though I found it a bit on the sweet side, borderline overly sweet. So what I did was I tamed the sweetness down easily by squeezing in about a 1/4 of a fresh lemon into the jar and mixed it in. The lemon juice did the trick to cut the sweetness and giving it some more acid. It made it even better and really improved the whole thing. So definitely I suggest don’t forget to buy a lemon when you pick this up. TIP: after adding your lemon juice cut a little piece of the lemon rind and throw that it too for extra lemony flavor. The Organic Wild Blueberry Preserve is $4.49 for a 17.5 oz jar. Not cheap but then it is Certified Organic and taste-wise I would say this stuff is certainly a Gourmet Level jam. Probably elsewhere (say Whole Paycheck?) a similar one would probably go for more like six or seven dollars. Try this on just about anything but I really think it would be heavenly on a slice of TJ’s Sliced Brioche bread, toasted with butter, spread with the blueberry preserves. Ditto on an English Muffin, toasted Crumpet or on your pancakes….
Trader Joe’s says: “Our supplier takes wild, organic blueberries, harvested from the Canadian Boreal Forest, and simmers them with organic cane sugar to complement their pleasantly tart and rich blueberry flavor.”
This is a very nice new shape pasta on offer I saw at Trader Joe’s recently. I really like it. Its a ribbon shaped flat wide noodle like a thinner lasagna, cut into short (“corta”) pieces. The pasta has a ruffled edge, which hold sauces well. I made it with a homemade ragu bolognese style sauce and we both really liked it. Its a nice hardy noodle and will be great with almost any sauce you can think of. This is a nice organic bronze die cut semolina pasta, and a good buy for $1.99.TIP: It has a recommended cooking time of 8-9 minutes. I was making my pasta Italian style, meaning under-cooking it a bit then fishing it out of the water and putting it in a pan to cook with some sauce till its done (al dente). So I fished out the pasta before it was al dente, a minute or two under than so maybe at about the 6 minute mark (2 minutes under the recommended 8). The noodles went into a pan with a 1/2 ladle of the pasta cooking water (!) and I then added about 1 ladle of my sauce. I cooked that mixing it all the time for maybe 90 seconds, and adding another ladle of sauce. Turned off, then the pasta got plated. I put some additional sauce on top as well as some fresh grated Parmesan. This “Italian pasta cooking method” imbues the pasta with your sauce so it’s way better than just putting sauce on top of pasta which is how most people cook pasta in this country. I would gladly buy this again. I think the Malfada would be a great match for TJ’s frozen MUSHROOM MEDLEY.
Amazing stuff. I had read somewhere on the ‘Net that this Ugandan coffee was one of the best coffees Trader Joe’s has offered, so I told myself I had to check it out. I had seen it sitting in the NEW ITEMS shelf but I was done shopping so made a mental note to buy a bag the next day. Well when I went back, as luck would have it there were no more bags of it! My bad luck, it was sold out. Of course by their very nature “small lot” means these coffees come in a limited batch from small producers. Think a Limited Editions.
Fortunately it just so happened that my upstairs neighbor, another big TJ’s fan, happened to have gotten some of this coffee. Yeah! She offered me some so I could review it. After grinding it I had high hopes. It smelled fantastic. After brewing it wow was I impressed. I was almost surprised at just how good this coffee tasted. Not to mention this may be the first time I’d even tried a coffee from Uganda.
So I am sold. I definitely agreed with those who gave this high marks. This must be one of the best coffees I’ve tried from Trader Joe’s, period. The Mountains of the Moon UGANDA RWENZORI coffee is just a fantastic tasting coffee, which I found wonderfully balanced. To my taste buds its just perfect, hitting all right notes. Bold and robust but not over powering, it was both a little sweet and a little bitter, both smooth and robust, tasting surely like an “African” coffee a little ascertic and winy and yes even had those “notes of chocolate” describe on the bag. This is just terrific. Also TJ’s got it right that this is actually a “medium roast” as described (sometimes TJ’s roast descriptions are off). I loved this coffee and want more. I’m crossing my fingers we see it again (might be next harvest?) If by any chance you see it, do yourself a favor and grab a bag if you can. I have a feeling anyone who considers themselves a coffee lover is going to love this. If/when I see it again, I will be sure to stock up on a few bags. ($8.99 12 oz bag, whole bean)
HEIRLOOM GROUND CHICKEN – All Natural, Pasture Raised, Slow Growth, Air Chilled, No Hormones or Antibiotics
So what exactly is HEIRLOOM CHICKEN you ask? Here’s what Trader Joe’s says: “Trader Joe’s All Natural Heirloom Chicken is a very special chicken. First, it comes from a recognized breed with a genetic line that traces back multiple generations. And unlike so many other chickens raised very quickly on processed meal and antibiotics, these Heirloom Chickens are slow-growth, pasture-raised birds. This means they are allowed to mature at a natural rate and forage for food in a natural environment. They also have never been given antibiotics.”
That sounds pretty good right? While they don’t say “free range”, from the description it sounds like it to me. After reading about TJ’s Heirloom Chicken I wanted to try some. I got the ground heirloom chicken, and in short I thought it was quite good. Obviously an “heirloom chicken” costs more than TJ’s regular chicken, as this is a “super premium” chicken, and to me it actually seems like it Whole Foods item! Though if it was at Whole Foods I can only imagine it would cost more (maybe $10-12lb)? Trader Joe’s sells the Heirloom Ground Chicken for $6.99/lb. By comparison TJ’s regular ground chicken, something I have been getting for years and like very much as well, is $3.99/lb. One difference I noticed is the texture of this Heirloom Ground Chicken seems to be better, a coarser grind and not as finely ground as the other one (and this one seems to be less wet?). So this seemed to brown a bit faster. It’s 90% lean with 10% fat.
To cook the ground chicken, I added seasonings and mixed in quite a bit of chopped scallions. I shaped the mixture into patties, sprinkled them generously with the terrific AJIKA blend which is great on chicken and also helps browning. I sautéed them in olive oil for about 4 minutes on both sides until golden brown. I served these burgers/kebabs on warm pita doing kind of a Middle Eastern chicken burger thing. I sauced them with some TJ’s Garlic Dip and some Green Dragon. These chicken kebabs were really tasty; we really enjoyed them. One could of course make something similar and shape them into meatballs or long cylinder kebabs. What I didn’t do, but might in future is compare the two kinds of ground chicken TJ’s sells side by side, cook them up the same to compare. Meanwhile I’ll say yes this “premium” chicken is quite good. I would buy it again. Trader Joe’s also sells boneless breasts of this Heirloom Chicken for the same price as the ground chicken, while whole chickens are $3.99 / lb. (Again, cheaper I think than it would be at Whole Foods?) So you can either try a whole bird (roasted) or the boneless breasts, or this.
There’s more you can read about ALL NATURAL HEIRLOOM CHICKEN on the TJ website (Whole chickens are $3.99/lb)
These cans of “stuffed vine leaves” (grape leaves!) are a very good pantry item to have on hand as they can make a super fast and easy appetizer, lunch or dinner. Trader Joe’s calls these “vine leaves stuffed with rice”. The vines in question are grape vines so just to be clear these are grape leaves stuffed with rice. These little packages of stuffed leaves wrapped around the rice are called “dolmas” or “dolmades” which are a classic dish eaten all over the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Grape leaves are filled with a stuffing of rice and onions (sometimes lamb as well). The stuffed leaves are slowly simmered till they are plump and almost bursting. They are delicious. Dolmas are a perfect example of thrifty grape farmers figuring out how to use everything. They take the grape leaves – a waste product – and pickle them to make them tender. They use the leaves in recipes throughout the year. The first time I ate Dolmas were in a Greek restaurant near Boston University. I liked the stuffed grape leaves so much I even learned how to make them myself. The best way to cook them is in chicken stock with lots of olive oil and lemon slices. However Trader Joe’s VINE LEAVES are Vegan using only rice and onions and water. The Ingredients lists: cooked rice, water, grape leaves, soybean oil*, onions, dill, spearmint and black pepper. Obviously they use (tasteless) soybean oil which is cheaper than olive oil to save costs. Therefore you must pour good extra virgin Olive Oil over these, ditto squeeze on fresh lemon juice to make these taste like something. If you have fresh mint, dill or parsley these herbs will also gin them up flavor wise. They can make a very easy appetizer and/or serve them as part of a “Mezze” plate. A 10 oz can of TJ’s Dolmas are $2.99. They are a “Product of Bulgaria. There are other good canned items at Trader Joe’s too, like Giant Beans in tomato sauce. These are great items to have in the pantry.
If you’re curious how to make these I put a link with a recipe below. If you actually make these, I recommend cooking the dolmades in chicken broth if possible though you can use water or veg. broth. I had to learn to be gentle rolling up the leaves lest you rip them.
Many of us butter lovers were afraid Trader Joe’s had discontinued ALL three of the imported butters they had one carried including this one, Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter. So this is to let you know I finally saw this one back at Trader Joe’s. This Irish butter had been Missing In Action off the shelves at TJ’s for months. Previously Trader Joe’s used to carry 3 premium imported butters but unfortunately that changed during the Pandemic probably due to rising production cost factors on the supply side. The other two butters, the French Cultured Butter from Normandy and the New Zealand Butter were also both excellent but got Discontinued at Trader Joe’s. Who knows if the Normandy or Kiwi butters will they ever return, but at least TJ’s has the Irish Kerrygold butter back finally. A TJ’s captain told me in this case the reason was due to a packaging problem that Kerrygold had which was now fixed. The Kerrygold was not available in any US stores for months but it’s finally back. Kerrygold Irish butter is a Very Good super premium butter. Kerrygold says its from “Grass Fed Irish cows” producing the “sweetest, richest milk in the world”. Even if that’ Blarney, this is a very good high quality premium butter with the most beautiful deep golden yellow color and it tastes great. The gold foil package of Kerrygold is their salted butter however it is very lightly salted. Its hint of salt will work well with most foods. Kerrygold also has an unsalted butter which is a silver package. I didn’t see that one back at TJ’s yet. Trader Joe’s sells the Kerrygold butter for $3.99 (for 8 oz or 1/2 pound). It may be not as cheap as it used to be, but Trader Joe’s price is less than Fresh Direct ($5.29?) and other vendors. If you’ve never tried this or any imported premium butter, give yourself a splurge at least once and try a really good butter. Spread this on a hot toasted Crumpet with some good jam. Quite heavenly combo. Link below to see what the company says…
“Sumatra is the sixth largest island in the world with volcanic mountains extending the length of Western Sumatra. Coffee on this lush island is grown on small farms, where the beans are picked, washed and pulped by hand using the wet hulling process, creating some of the most flavorful and complex beans on the planet. Our organic and fair trade Sumatra beans are carefully roasted to a medium dark level to reveal smooth earthy flavors with little to almost no acidity.” (from the package)
If you are a fan of dark roasts you will probably like this “Fair Trade Organic Sumatra” coffee. I really like it. When you open up the foil pack bag for the first time you will get the most amazing smell. This is an intensely flavorful coffee, roasted to what TJ’s calls “medium dark”. Well, coffee roast descriptions vary wildly especially chez Trader Joe’s. To me, I would say its just south of what some might call a French roast? The beans are dark and shiny. This is not however an Espresso roast. Nor would I call these “over roasted” myself (hard to trust even this picture, you kind of have to see beans in person really). For this coffee I think the roast works, perfectly. You will hopefully grind up your beans just before brewing of course… and all I can tell you is when I do and open up the grinder, the most intense and heavenly coffee smell hits my nostrils! For me the Sumatran is an excellent coffee, one of best coffees that Trader Joe’s has in a dark roast. I think this would be especially good for espresso machine owners as well as Moka pot brewers, like yours truly now. My brewing method the last few years is using a Moka pot . I also use a little milk with this to make something like old school “cafe con leche” as this coffee really stands up to and goes well with milk. While great as is, sometimes I will make my own custom blend of light and dark beans using this Sumatran with some lighter beans like the excellent TJ’s Azmari BUNNI Afro-Latin coffee to come up with a wonderful blend of both light and dark beans from Latin, African and Asian countries. If dark roasts are not your thing. Or you brew doing drip or pour over, I still say mixing some of this into your lighter beans, will make a good and slightly more intense coffee for drip and pour over brewers. A 13 oz bag of the Sumatra Coffee goes for $8.99. For Fair Trade beans, that’s not bad at all. For best flavor, I say best to use this up fairly quickly, say within a two weeks after opening the bag, or in a pinch freeze some. TIP: I save empty bags for doing this. PS Even darker? The other very good espresso roast beans I like that TJ’s has is the organic Five Countries Espresso.
Left: Organic Sumatra Right: Azmari Bunni beans (TJ’s calls Left, “medium dark” and the Right “medium”. Go figure) But both are very good!
“Old Fashioned Blister” Roasted Peanuts and OMG these are Oh So Good. Maybe these are THE BEST roasted peanuts you ever had. Old Fashioned like ones I remember when we were kids we could go to a real “Nut Store” and buy them just out of the roasting pan. These taste super fresh and are seriously delicious. If you like peanuts you must try these. I promise you will not be sorry, they are just so yummy it’s hard to stop eating them. These are $2.99 a bag (15 oz). INGREDIENTS: Extra Large Water Blanched Virginia Peanuts, Peanut Oil, Salt. Simple and delicious.
This is a tasty cream cheese spread with chives and onions. It was quite good spread on a toasted bagel and some crackers. Its pretty good on pretty much anything. I’ve even put some into things, for example it’s great mixing some into mashed potatoes to zing them up (try!). Or you can toss a tablespoon into a vegetable like some cooked French Green Beans. You can add a spoon to sauces or pasta. It’s too thick as a dip but if thin it a bit with some milk or sour cream, or maybe warm it in the microwave to get it looser it could work as a dip. Its $1.99 2.29 (8 oz.) I would buy it again.
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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