Saturday, April 2, 2016

Trader Joe's Triple Fruit Treat



I had this as a late-night snack three evenings in a row. The next morning I had the empty package on my computer desk to remind me to write this review of it, but before I could start, I found this review posted at the "What's Good at Trader Joe's" blog:
It's like I chopped up some wax fruit from your Aunt Betty's coffee table and tried to ingest it. Ugh. The "mango" tastes nothing like mango, and I could only tell the blueberries and cranberries apart because of the color difference - it all just blends together in a mass produced blend o' blandness. I took a couple small handfuls hoping the experience would get better, and honestly it just left me a sticky gross sweetness in my mouth, a weird buzz in my tummy, and desperation in my soul. Yuck.... They're so bad I'm not subjecting my wife to them, and they are a strong candidate for a TJ's return (done only once for taste-related reasons). 
I didn't think it was quite that bad, but I certainly understand his point. The list of ingredients might have warned me off of this purchase, had I bothered to look at it:
Mango (mango, sugar, glycerin, mango juice, sulfur dioxide), cranberries (cranberries, sugar, sunflower oil), blueberries (blueberries, sugar, sunflower oil). 
When you have to parenthetically explain what you mean by "mango," "cranberries," and "blueberries," there's a problem.

Here's a crazy idea, Trader Joe's: How about if "mango" just meant "mango," "cranberries" just meant "cranberries," and "blueberries" just meant "blueberries"? Is that too difficult.

I get that you might need a touch of an additive (like sulfur dioxide) to preserve color, prevent the pieces from glomming all together, etc., and I'm OK with that. But fruit does not need sugar added to it. (See mandarin oranges for another example of TJ's ugly habit in this area.) Fruit is mostly sugar by its very nature. Enough, already.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

2 comments:

  1. Have you tried the "just mangos"? No sugar, no nothing. Delicious but the texture of leather...
    Ttrockwood

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  2. I have a package, but haven't opened it yet.

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