Trader Joe's Autumnal Harvest Creamy Pasta Sauce

We have arrived at the end of New and Seasonal Products Week--except that we're going to need to extend it, because a few more items have rolled in. More about this tomorrow. 



This is a new product; the company has not yet posted its own description of it.

I don't force myself to buy and sample every new product that Trader Joe's puts out. There are things that I'm just not interested in, or know I will hate, and I don't bother.

Once in a while, though, I'll buy a new product even though I'm pretty sure that I'm going to dislike it. I'm usually right.

But then come those rare occasions when I'm Mikey in the old Life cereal commercial, shocking everybody, including myself: "He likes it! Hey, Mikey!"

This was one of those moments. I looked at the main ingredients: tomato puree (good), pumpkin puree (OK, but does not belong in pasta sauce), butternut squash puree (ditto), heavy cream (ditto), carrot puree (ditto). Nope. Not gonna like it. But it didn't have anything that I consider so awful as to be a dealbreaker. So I bought it.

And then I poured it on my pasta and took a bite. Wow! It's good! It's really good!

In fact, I think it is now my second-favorite TJ's pasta sauce, after the humble tomato-basil marinara.

Will I buy it again? 

Knowing that it will soon be pulled from the shelves until next fall, I'm going to buy two more jars on my next shopping trip. Maybe three.


Nina's View

I liked this more than I expected to. It's not bad at all. It has a fair amount in common with TJ's vodka sauce, which I have enjoyed. Still, I'm staying away from the dairy products, so I'm unlikely to pursue this any further.


Addendum, October 30, 2015: 

TJ's finally posted an introduction to the product. See here.


Addendum, October 17, 2018: 

I have bought and enjoyed this every fall since 2015. Nina loves it, too. In fact, though it's not quite my favorite and not quite her favorite, it's easily the top of the list of pasta sauces that we both like. Given that, I bought a stash of 6 jars this year so it will last a while. And I'm retroactively naming it to my Top Ten list.