Trader Joe's Corn and Chile Tomato-Less Salsa

I passed this by in the store many times because of the prominence of "onion" on the label. I hate onions. But it turns out that that's not its biggest problem.

The instant the first scoop of this salsa hit my tongue, I registered the sensation of "sweet" before anything else. They do give you fair warning of this, I guess: "A sweet combination..." is right there on the front of the jar. And if you turn it around to look at the back, sugar is the second ingredient, after corn.

This is deeply wrong. Salsa has no business being this sickeningly sweetened. Corn is naturally sweet; leave it at that.


Will I buy it again? 

No. Nina and I together ate down to the level you see in the photo above (and most of that was her). The next night, I took it out of the refrigerator to have more as my evening snack, and I just couldn't bear the thought of eating it again. It has zero appeal to me. The rest is going back to the store for a refund.

Trader Joe's Bloody Mary Salsa

See Trader Joe's description of the product here. It was introduced back in June. I chose not to buy it the first couple of times I looked at it. The reason is simple: the second ingredient, after "diced tomatoes in juice," is horseradish. Horseradish is on my list of things that I know I don't like even though I've never tried them.

But Friday I was shopping for stuff for dinner with Nina that night, and I needed some kind of dip for an appetizer, and this was still on the new-products shelf, and I felt kind of silly for being afraid of it, so I popped it into my basket.

I'm glad I did. It has a unique flavor profile, which I assume is primarily due to that horseradish. But it might also be enhanced by an assortment of other ingredients that I'm not used to seeing on a salsa jar label: pickling brine, Worcestershire sauce, capers, and lemon juice. It's like mad-scientist salsa. Another thing I've never had: A bloody Mary. So I have no idea if those things are expected ingredients, but I don't care.

Whatever crazy recipe got us here, it works. It's maybe a tad hotter than I would consider ideal (though TJ's left their usual thermometer indicator off of the label, for some reason), but I loved it. Nina and I ate about 1/3 of the jar before dinner, then the next night I blitzkrieged through the rest of the jar on my own, with the reliable Organic Corn Chip Dippers as the vehicle.

Could it be that...I like horseradish?


Will I buy it again? 

Enthusiastically. It's even under consideration for Top Ten list, though I'm not quite there yet. It's definitely joining my regular salsa rotation, alongside Fire Roasted Tomato, Fall Harvest, Cowboy Caviar, and Organic Tomatillo. Five completely different kinds of salsa, and I love them all.

For those paying attention, it has been less than four years since I first bought and ate salsa from a grocery store (see the Fall Harvest review for the story). The Bloody Mary is the 23rd Trader Joe's salsa I have tried, and of those there are now five that I eat on the regular. See? People can change.


Addendum, 9/28/19: 

I went back to TJ's to buy more today. It wasn't there. I asked at the desk. Turns out it was dubbed a "seasonal" product, and was available for only a limited time. Dammit! Why don't they tell us these things?

Trader Joe's Organic Thick & Chunky Salsa

This is a new product; see Trader Joe's own description of it here.

My first impression was that it was nearly identical to my favorite Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa. That prompted me to open a jar of the latter (which I always have sitting around) and try them side by side. They're close, but distinguishable. The new one is a little chunkier, a little hotter, a little less sweet, and a little more oniony. On every one of those parameters, I prefer the old favorite; i.e., I like less chunky, less hot, more sweet, and less onion. The only characteristic on which I judge it better is that it's a little bit thicker--less runny--and therefore doesn't have quite as much tendency to drip off the edges of tortilla chips before they get to your mouth.


Will I buy it again? 

No. It's good enough to finish off one jar, but I wouldn't pick it over the Fire-Roasted Tomato.

Trader Joe's Pepita Salsa

This is a new Trader Joe's item, likely seasonal (and maybe even gone by now). It's basically an unremarkable salsa list of ingredients--tomatoes, onions, red bell pepper puree--until you get to the "dry roasted pepitas," i.e., pumpkin seeds. They are finely chopped, so don't expect to find any pepitas identifiable as such. I honestly couldn't detect any flavor contribution from them. Nor could Nina.

The jar lacks the usual TJ's thermometer indicating the degree of heat, but it's up there--maybe the hottest salsa I've had from them. I ate half of the jar one evening around 7 p.m., and by midnight I was having trouble sleeping because my stomach was still gassy in reaction. No other salsa has ever done that to me before.


Will I buy it again? 

No. I liked it OK, but not a new favorite.

Trader Joe's Serrano Salsa Fresca

This is pretty heavy on the onions, which is usually a dealbreaker for me. But surprisingly, this time that wasn't what made me reject it--it was the cilantro. It's so loaded with the stuff that I think they ought to just call it "Cilantro Salsa" as a warning to all those who, like me, find it unpleasant.

I also thought it was mislabeled in terms of the heat quotient. The TJ's chili thermometer is shown at the halfway point, but I thought this warranted more than that--like maybe 3/4 of the way up.


Will I buy it again? 

No. I had maybe 10 corn chips' worth, and couldn't take any more. I gave the rest to Nina; she thought it was pretty good.

Trader Joe's Fire Roasted Tomato Cranberry Salsa

Trader Joe's Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa remains my favorite--the one I would pick if I could eat only one commercial salsa for the rest of my life. So when I saw on TJ's web site the announcement of a product that sounds like that with added cranberry, I really wanted to try it. It sounds like it should be, at least, interesting, and possibly great.

It is not.

I scooped some up on a TJ's Organic Corn Chip Dipper and popped it in my mouth. "That's weird," I said to Nina. She tried the same thing, and said, "That's weird."

The terrible mistake they made was overly sweetening it. This results in a completely absence of cranberry tartness--which is what should make this interesting. Worse, it ruins the salsa base. Sweetness should not be the first taste sensation you get from a salsa, but here it's so heavy that that's the result.

TJ's says that this is "like cranberry relish." I suppose that's true, but then why sell it as salsa instead of as cranberry relish?


Will I buy it again? 

Not a chance. I ate five or six chips dipped in it, then couldn't stand the thought of even one more. Nina gave up even faster than that. This is going back to the store for an extremely disappointed refund.

Trader Joe's Extra Hot Habanero Ghost Pepper Salsa

(This is as close as I'm getting to a special Halloween post: there's "ghost" in the name of the product.)

If you look closely at the photograph above, you can see the TJ's pepper-shaped hotness scale. You'll notice that it's filled in all the way to the top, save for a tiny smidgen of white. The not-so-subtle message is, "This is about as hot as it gets."

That is no lie. It is by far the hottest salsa I've ever tasted. It is, in fact, way, way too hot. I tried it twice, and each time I could get through only about six dipped chips before I gave up.

So I tried a kinder, gentler approach: I mixed some of it in with my favorite salsa, the Fire-Roasted Tomato, in a ratio of about 1:4. That dramatically upped the heat factor in the good salsa, but did not otherwise alter its overall flavor, as far as I could tell. I deemed this experiment a failure; more heat without more flavor is not an improvement.

The nearly full tub of this new product is going to be returned to TJ's for a refund. I can't handle it. If you love--or are at least more tolerant of--extreme heat in your salsa, maybe you'll be a fan. I am not.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Sambal Matah Indonesian Salsa

And yet again I have misplaced the photo I took of this when I bought it. I'm not getting senile. (At least I don't think I am.) But I did have a computer meltdown that required a fresh installation of Windows, followed by trying to restore my files from backup. This was followed by a move to a new house last week. All sorts of things got misplaced in July. The photo you see is from an Amazon.com page.

Anyway....

Nina and I tried this a few days ago. Taking a hint from the "salsa" in the product description, and from the explicit claim elsewhere on the label that it's great as a dip, we ate it as if it were regular ol' salsa, with tortilla chips. 

The effect is basically one of hot pepper pieces floating in way too much oil. It's excessively hot and excessively oily. Both of these are unpleasant characteristics. I powered through maybe ten chips dipped in some of this stuff, and then I just couldn't do it anymore. I think Nina stopped after the first one. 

Will I buy it again? 

No. Did not like it at all. Besides, I hear it's been discontinued. 

Trader Joe's Cowboy Caviar Corn, Black Bean & Pepper Salsa

I probably shouldn't have purchased this, because I knew that the chances of me liking it were slim to none. Salsa made primarily of corn and beans? Ridiculous.

I was so sure I would hate it that even after bringing it home, it sat on my pantry shelf for months before I decided that it was finally time to force myself to try it. It sat so long that I somehow misplaced the photo I had taken of it, and had to filch the one you see above from Trader Joe's web site. (In case you're interested, here's the company's own description of the product.)

And then, like Mikey in the old Life cereal commercial, I surprised everybody--myself not least--by actually liking it. "He likes it! Hey, Mikey!"

Nina and I ate maybe a third of the jar with tortilla chips as an appetizer before dinner a few days ago. Then last night I polished off the rest of the jar on my own, in one sitting, and I was liking it more and more with every bite--this in spite of the fact that it's hotter than my ideal salsa. It's sweeter than most salsas, which probably plays no small part in my fondness for it. I dig its complex mix of textures and flavors.


Will I buy it again? 

It's already on my shopping list for the next TJ's run. I think it's effectively tied for second place in my list of favorite TJ's salsas with the Fall Harvest (though those two products could not be more different), with the Fire-Roasted Tomato still champion.


Addendum, June 29, 2017: 

I bought another jar. I sat down to eat some with tortilla chips, and couldn't stop. I went through the entire 13-ounce jar in one sitting, all by my lonesome. I really love this stuff. I think I like it even better than my previous favorite. So, it's time to add this to my Top Ten list.

Trader Joe's Hatch Valley Salsa

I freely admit my prejudice: I have a strong preference for tomato-based salsas over non-tomato-based salsas. This selection is, obviously, the latter, so it comes to me with two strikes against it.

Its third strike is that its flavor is one-note, essentially just the Hatch chiles, as if there were nothing else in the jar. It's a little hotter than my ideal, but I'd be willing to forgive that if the flavors were richer and more interesting.

I didn't hate it; I finished it off in a few sittings. But I felt myself looking forward to getting back to my favorite, TJ's Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Salsa Especial--Mild

When I tried the "medium" version of TJ's Salsa Especial, I wrote that it was "ruined for me by being hotter than I can tolerate for more than a few chips' worth at a sitting.... I did notice a "mild" version of the same product, and I'm eager to try that one."

Call me Goldilocks. I'm just as unhappy with this one, but for the opposite reason: It's too mild. It has no zestiness to it. It's lifeless and dull. It felt like I was just eating diced tomatoes on my tortilla chips.

So what I need Trader Joe's to do is produce a version that it about halfway in between the "mild" and "medium."

Will I buy it again? 

No. 

Trader Joe's Harissa Salsa

We're forging ahead here, well into a second consecutive New Products Week. 


From Wikipedia:

Harissa is a Maghrebi hot chili pepper paste, the main ingredients of which are roasted red peppers, Baklouti pepper, serrano peppers and other hot chili peppers and spices and herbs such as garlic paste, coriander seed, saffron, rose or caraway as well as some vegetable or olive oil for preservation. It is most closely associated with Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Morocco.

 So now you know, in case you didn't before (as I most assuredly did not). 

I can't imagine what made Trader Joe's think that they had any right to mash-up Middle Eastern and Mexican cuisines in such a barbaric, insensitive act of cultural appropriation--but I'm glad they did. I actually like it a lot, even though it's a couple of notches hotter than I would prefer, sitting just a little below the top of the thermometer graphic that TJ's puts on most of its salsa jars. 

In fact, I liked it far more than the also-new Roasted Tomatillo & Mango Salsa, even though they are approximately the same level of excessive heat, and even though if you had shown me a list of the ingredients, I would have guessed that my preference would run the other way. Nina said that I like this one more because it's sweeter, and that may well be true. 

Will I buy it again? 

If they made a version of this at about 3/4 of the level of heat, it would instantly become one of my favorites. As is, I think it will be a rare purchase, allowing enough time between jars for my esophagus to heal. 

Trader Joe's Roasted Tomatillo & Mango Salsa

This is Day Four of New Products Week. 


This had generally very nice flavors, though surprisingly little mango, given the product name.

However, it's one of the hottest salsas I've had from Trader Joe's. It's lacking the little thermometer heat indicator on the label that most of the others have, but it would clearly be near the top. Too much for me.

It's also a lot runnier than I like--too hard to keep on chips.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Hot Chipotle Salsa

The little thermometer graphic that Trader Joe's provides on the label of almost all of its salsas is higher on this than on any I've seen so far--almost at the top of the scale. And that's its downfall for me. I liked the flavor, but the heat was too much for me to enjoy.

Nina tried mixing it 1:1 with my favorite salsa, TJ's Fire-Roasted Tomato. That did help quiet it down, but I didn't think the blend was better than the Fire-Roasted all by itself. This stands in contrast to the results of the same experiment with the Double-Roasted salsa, where we both agreed that the blend was better than either component alone.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Organic Tomatillo & Roasted Yellow Chili Salsa

Good stuff. It's generally similar to my favorite, the Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa, though a tad hotter, and much more pureed, with not a chunk of anything in sight.


Will I buy it again? 

I doubt it. I do like it, but not quite as much as the Fire-Roasted Tomato and the Fall Harvest Salsa, so I can't see myself choosing it over them.


Addendum, October 24, 2018 

Nina served me some of this with dinner last week, and I liked it even more than expressed above. (Yet another piece of evidence that my tastes do not remain constant over time.) I've already bought and consumed another jar on my own, and I've decided that it deserves a place in my salsa rotation.

Trader Joe's Homestyle Salsa Especial Medium

Good flavors, good texture, but ruined for me by being hotter than I can tolerate for more than a few chips' worth at a sitting. Maybe I'm just a wimp when it comes to peppers, but I would never classify this as "medium," and if TJ's has a "hot" version (I didn't see one, but maybe it exists), I would pass it by in fear for my life. I did notice a "mild" version of the same product, and I'm eager to try that one.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Salsa Autentica

Nina helped me in my march through the TJ's lineup of salsas by buying this and serving it with some chips before a dinner at her place.

It was OK, with good fundamental flavors. I actually ate quite a bit of it, but I didn't like anywhere near as much as my two current favorites, Fall Harvest Salsa and Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa. First, it's a little too high on the heat scale for my taste. Second, it was kind of watery and runny.



Will I buy it again? 

No. I see no reason to choose it over my favorites.

Trader Joe's Island Salsa

This is Day Five of New Products Week. 


Trader Joe's description of the product is here. It's $2.99 per jar.

I passed this by the first two or three times I saw it in the store, for two good reasons. First, with mango as a main ingredient, I was pretty sure Nina wouldn't like it. Second, I haven't liked any of TJ's non-tomato-based salsas so far--and that specifically includes their Tropical Mango-Pineapple Salsa and their Pineapple Salsa. I saw little chance that I would like this version any better.

I was right. It's just too fruity, too nontraditional for my admittedly narrow taste in salsas.

I did try mixing it with my favorite, the Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa, to see if that would make it more palatable. It did, but only by dilution, not by the two products enhancing each other in any way. So I eventually gave up and threw away the last third or so of the jar, so that I could enjoy the Fire-Roasted by itself.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Spicy, Smoky, Peach Salsa

Too much peach, not enough tomato. It ends up more like a slightly spicy peach marmalade than salsa.

I don't think I would have finished the jar on its own--just not good enough to enjoy. However, Nina cleverly found a way to save it. After some tinkering she found that a roughly 60:40 mix of my beloved Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa and this peach salsa makes an excellent combination. The peach adds some sweetness and fruitiness to what is admittedly a kind of one-note, tomato-heavy salsa.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Double Roasted Salsa

I wondered at first how this would differ from Trader Joe's Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa, which I adore.

Well, in terms of how it's made, the chief difference is that it's the green chiles that are roasted here, rather than the tomatoes. ("Double roasted," we are told, means that they get roasted once whole, then again after being peeled.)

In terms of taste, I noticed two things, chiefly: First, there's more heat. This is confirmed by a higher level shown on the little TJ's thermometer pictogram that they helpfully include on their salsa labels. It's just a tad higher than I like. Second, there's more cilantro, which has a flavor that always seems bitter and unpleasant to me.

I didn't hate this. I finished off the jar. But I liked it less than others I have tried.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Nina's View

Raise your hand if you're surprised that I liked this much better than Bob did.

I thought so.

De gustibus non disputandum. (Shyeah. As if. I am right and he is wrong… for me.)


Update 

Many weeks after writing the above, I was at Nina's house for dinner, and she put out this salsa with some crackers, and I thought it was mighty fine. But I couldn't be sure whether I was having second thoughts about the salsa itself, or if it was just that particular combination of salsa and crackers that was such a winner. Or maybe I was just extra-hungry, making everything taste better.

So I bought another jar, and tried it side-by-side against my current salsa champion, the Fire-Roasted Tomato. Using ordinary corn chips as the vehicle, I quickly established again that I do like the latter better than the Double Roasted.

However.

I gave Nina the same opportunity, and, fiddler that she is, she took it upon herself to mix the two salsas together, about 50:50. She declared the mixture to be greater than the sum of its parts. I had to admit it was pretty good.

Over the next few days, I repeated the experiment, using three small bowls--one of each of the two salsas, and one of the blend. I ended up convinced that Nina was correct: The mixture is superior to either one alone. So you might want to try that.