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?
