Trader Joe's Chile Lime Seasoning Blend

This is Day Four of New Products Week.


Trader Joe's description of this item can be found here.

Before I bought this, I checked the label for usage suggestions, because on my own, standing in the store, I couldn't think of a single thing I would use this for. The label's first suggestion was to tart up pineapple or jicama. That sounded interesting enough, so I put it in my basket, and also picked up some fresh pineapple on which to try it.

It was a complete fail. The overwhelming flavor that comes from this little bottle is salt. Salt, salt, and more salt. Plus a little lime. Chile? Well, maybe if you stare at the label that promises there are chiles in it, and apply some imagination.

Using the sodium content information on the label, plus some basic math and chemistry, I calculate that this is about 48% salt by weight. Which kinda explains why it's so salty.

That fact suggested that maybe we might better use it in situations where one would ordinarily use plain salt, and see if it worked better there than it did on the pineapple. So the next week I made scrambled eggs the main protein for my weekly dinner with Nina.

This was definitely an improvement--but not enough to want to do it again. With the salt no longer seeming so dominant and out of place, what came through next was the lime. I did not think lime and eggs blended well. And the "heat" promised by the label was still basically AWOL.

A score of zero for two earns this seasoning an unequivocally failing grade, and a trip back to the store for a refund.

For an opinion so contrary that one wonders if we were even trying the same product, see the review by the nice people at the "What's Good at Trader Joe's" blog, here.


Will I buy it again? 

No.