Trader Joe's Handcrafted Chocolate Raspberry Tamales Wrapped In Corn Husks

Chocolate.

Raspberry.

Tamales.

Two of those words go perfectly well together. A marriage made in heaven. The third, not so much. You hear "chocolate" and "raspberry" and it's all like





But then you add "tamales" and it's all like



So one naturally approaches a Frankenstein-like product such as this with some trepidation.

I chose to steam mine, using the vegetable steamer accessory on my rice cooker. The package does have microwave directions, but they're kind of complicated, involving steps to be sure the things don't dry out too much, so I thought steaming would be easier and less likely to go wrong.

The result is OK, but not great. The chocolate is not candy chocolate, but more, well, sort of cakey, though an unusually dense and moist cake. Maybe more like soft chocolate cookie dough. Pretty good.

The raspberry part was the real disappointment. It's like one little schmear of raspberry filling in the center--far too little.

The corn husks definitely add a flavor of corn to the whole proceedings, which is unexpected but not unpleasant. Corn and chocolate are not tastes I'm used to experiencing simultaneously, but it's not bad. I wouldn't say they mesh as nicely as chocolate and raspberry, but there's no overt clashing.

I think these would be virtually impossible to eat without utensils. Use a fork, and there's no mess at all.

But really, they need much, much more raspberry. That's their major deficiency. Fix that, and you'd have something really quite interesting and appealing. As they are, well, I'm glad to scratch them off my list of odd things to try, but I'm not lining up to get more.


Will I buy it again? 

No.