Trader Joe's Balsamic Vinaigrette

This post is, frankly, more about my own admittedly pathetic timidity over new food items than the product itself. So be it.

For virtually all of my adult life, the only salad dressings I wanted to use were the ones I had grown up liking, which were Kraft's Catalina and French, or products substantially similar to those two. As I've explained several times, a large part of my motivation to start writing this blog was to give myself ongoing pressure and incentive to try new things that I might otherwise pass by. Salad dressings were fair game. That was how I found TJ's Raspberry Vinaigrette, which is now far and away my favorite salad dressing, and a Top Ten item.

The balsamic vinaigrette, however, was not for me. I "knew" that balsamic vinaigrette was basically just oil and vinegar, which I had tried in various forms several times and never liked.

No, this dressing was for when Nina was visiting. I knew that the Newman's Own balsamic was her favorite dressing, so I assumed she would like the TJ's version, too. They're all basically the same, right? Wrong. She didn't care for it--too sweet. So I was about to throw it away. (This was before I had tried TJ's return policy, and discovered that it really is as hassle-free as they boast. I'm now becoming more liberal about returning items that I can't stand.)

Nina stopped me, saying that she thought there was a good chance I would like it. She knows my taste well enough that I take that kind of comment pretty seriously. She only says things like that when it's a considered judgment, not as a way of trying to goad or trick me into trying something that she just hopes I will like, or thinks I should like. It was enough to overcome my remaining resistance to the whole idea of balsamic vinaigrette. So I didn't toss the bottle after all.

My first try, I was uncertain whether I liked it--but it was at least clear that I didn't hate it, which is something. On second and third tastings, though, I decided that it was OK. It was a lot fruitier and sweeter than I would have imagined.

I have now used enough to finish off that original bottle, and I'm on my second. I rotate between it, raspberry vinaigrette, usually some more off-the-wall, non-TJ's fruity dressing, and the Catalina. But frankly, the Catalina is getting used less and less as time goes by, and I can imagine it dropping out of the rotation completely. I like it less just about every time I have it now. It's weird how tastes change.

I have tentatively tried a couple of other balsamic vinaigrettes after deciding that TJ's was pretty good, and I have not liked them as much. What sets TJ's apart in its favor (as I see it) may be precisely what causes Nina to like it less--the sweetness.

Who knows? Maybe I'll come around to sharing her perspective on that some day. After all--baby steps.





Will I buy it again? 

Yes--I already have, several times.