Trader Joe's Peppermint Bark Popcorn

This is some weird stuff. Mixing chocolate and peppermint is perfectly standard, of course. But adding caramel to that is unusual. And it takes a mad food scientist to decide to throw all of that on top of popcorn.

It's not bad, but it's strange. I don't think the flavors and textures work well together; I find the whole experience kind of jarring and dissonant. But Nina loves it, even though she's not usually big on chocolate and peppermint. Go figure.


Will I buy it again? 

No. Except maybe as a stocking stuffer for Nina next year.

Trader Joe's Candy Corn Popcorn

Think of caramel corn, but with the sweet coating tasting vaguely of candy corn instead of caramel. That's what you've got here. I don't think it works well. It's just too weird. But Nina said she liked it better than standard caramel corn, so your mileage may vary.


Will I buy it again? 

No. I would instead choose TJ's most excellent caramel popcorn over this 100% of the time.

Trader Joe's Heirloom Popcorn With Avocado Oil & Pink Salt

The copy on the back of this bag tries to make a virtue out of the use of a special, ancient variety of corn that grows in small kernels, on small ears and stalks. Fine. I like big, fluffy popcorn kernels like everybody else does, but I'm willing to keep an open mind for something different. If these small kernels are tasty, precious little nuggets, bring it on!

But they're not. They don't taste any better than standard popcorn. They're just little.

The real dealbreaker, though, is that a huge fraction of them are under-popped--not quite the "old maids" that didn't pop at all, but still with the hard core left intact. I hate that. Trader Joe's once tried to sell a popcorn that was intentionally just "partially popped" for those who like that (is it still available? I haven't noticed it lately); I don't think that was the goal here, as nothing on the bag says that that's what they're going for. Either it's a flaw of the corn variety they picked, or I just got a bad batch. Either way, I didn't like it.

I also didn't find anything especially admirable about either the oil or the salt, despite how they're highlighted in the promotional copy.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Organic Air Popped Popcorn

World's most boring popcorn. Seriously, it's just a bag of plain popcorn with a tiny bit of salt. It makes me sad just thinking about popcorn this lifeless.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Organic Popping Corn

I haven't made popcorn as a snack in a couple of years. I had pretty much given up on it. I'm too lazy to make it the old-fashioned way, with oil in a big pan on the stove. I don't have an air popper. And I've never found a microwave-specific version that really worked consistently well.

But a couple of weeks ago, Nina started raving about this new popper she had bought from Amazon--just a simple, cheap silicone bowl, but she said it worked "perfectly." This is not something she would ever say lightly. She has gone a little gaga trying new and different toppings for her now easy-to-make perfect popcorn. So I bought one of these implements for myself. Nina was not wrong in her assessment. This thing really does almost magically pop all the kernels without burning any. And, of course, a bag of plain kernels is a lot cheaper than the microwave products that come in individual bags.

Seeing as how I would be needing some popcorn to pop, and seeing as I was in Trader Joe's when I remembered this, I looked over the snack aisle to see what they had. And there was this--just the sort of thing you'd expect from Trader Joe's. I mean, alongside the crazy stuff like potato chips flavored like turkey and dressing, TJ's has a whole bunch of simple, quiet products, and they're often excellent.

This turns out to be another such item. At least in this new popper in my microwave oven, it turns out perfectly. Big, fluffy kernels, virtually no old maids.

Nina has been using Orville Redenbacher. I brought her some of TJ's to try instead. She judged it to pop bigger, but thought it had a little less distinct corn flavor. I haven't done the comparison with any other brands myself.


Will I buy it again? 

Absolutely. I like it so much that I'm not even really interested in trying others to see if it's actually the best; I'm afraid I'll be disappointed in anything else.

Trader Joe's Lite Popcorn

This is among the most bland, disappointing varieties of bagged popcorn I've ever tried. It probably has a niche for people who really need serious reductions in their sodium and fat intake, but I would rather go without popcorn than have this. It's improved somewhat by adding salt, but that kind of defeats the purpose of picking it over a conventional popcorn to begin with.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Caramel Ginger Popcorn

And yet again I seem to have misplaced the photo I took of this. I don't know why this is happening so often lately. But the one above is swiped from Trader Joe's own introduction to the product, here.

It's pretty good stuff. The caramel is lighter than it is in my favorite commercial caramel popcorn, which is TJ's own--one of the first members of my Top Ten list. But in compensation, you get the lovely bits of crystallized ginger clinging to some of the popped kernels. This adds a surprising snappiness to the flavor profile.


Will I buy it again? 

Probably not. If you have any inclination to try it, I'd encourage you to do so. It's an interesting variation on a traditional idea. But I think I'd always choose my long-time favorite over this.

Trader Joe's White Cheddar Popcorn

I have liked--even loved--cheesy popcorn, especially fresh-popped from a popcorn or candy store. But Trader Joe's version doesn't measure up, primarily because it's not cheesy enough. It's more like "hint of cheese" than "cheese." When the underlying popcorn is nothing special, just run-of-the-mill bagged stuff, as it is here, that leaves me with little reason to choose this.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Caramel Corn

This is Day Seven of New Products Week. 


I didn't buy this, because I thought I wouldn't like it. Nina was convinced that I would like it, so after eating a whole bag on her own, she bought a second one to share with me. Her radar about what I'll like or dislike is pretty accurate, so I gave it a try.

It wasn't as bad as I had imagined. I guess I'd call it modestly pleasant. I don't like walnuts (which is one of the main reasons I didn't buy this myself), but I just left those for Nina. The pumpkin seeds are basically ignorable; they seem neither to add nor detract. The pumpkin-spice flavoring to the caramel coating was OK, but I still prefer TJ's regular caramel corn, one of the original members of my Top Ten list.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Bollywood Popcorn

I've been neglecting to write about a bunch of new items that Trader Joe's has released lately, so it's time for another New Products Week. 


I want to know who at Trader Joe's sits around and thinks up these things. Because they're certifiably insane--but also maybe a genius.

This is a crazy mashup, but it works. At least it works for a little while. I liked the flavoring, and it absolutely did call to mind the tikka masala flavor I've come to expect from the various TJ's frozen tikka masala products.

However, it was a little heavy-handed on the spiciness. After two handfuls, I had had enough. There's a weird sort of cumulative effect, so the burn seems to keep building, and I had to call it quits.


Will I buy it again? 

No. But if they reformulated it with maybe two-thirds the amount of seasoning, it could become a favorite.

For a different view, see the review from the "What's Good at Trader Joe's" blog, where this item received a rare perfect 10/10 score.

Nina's View

NOM. Nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom.

Yes, I basically ate the whole bag. And then I came back the next time and finished off the crumbs.

Delicious.

I do not concur on Bob's description of cumulative spiciness. I find the heat level just right.

I wish I had some right now.

Trader Joe's Mango Coconut Flavored Caramel Corn

This is Day 18 of a ridiculously overextended New Products Week, and Day Nine of Mangopalooza. 


They got the name of this product wrong. It should be Coconut Mango Caramel Corn. Open the bag, and coconut wafts out at you. Crunch down on a piece, and it's coconut and caramel. The mango only kicks in as an aftertaste. Which is fine with me, but if you expect to be walloped by mango, this stuff is going to disappoint.

I don't like it as much as the regular Caramel Popcorn (a Top Ten item), but it's pretty good, and unlike any treat I've had before.


Will I buy it again? 

No. I recommend trying it once, because I suspect you won't have many opportunities at such an unusual thing in your life. But for me, anyway, once was enough.

Nina's View

Given my lack of enthusiasm about most things mango, you'd think this would have not worked for me. But it did. The mango contribution was minimal and mild and the rest of it was pretty darn tasty.

Trader Joe's Caramel And Dark Chocolate Popcorn Crunch With Almonds, Pecans, Walnuts And Cashews

Nina bought this and together we ate about half of the package after dinner last week. Once again, I'm really not the guy to be reviewing this, since I consider nuts something to be tolerated when necessary, but never enjoyed. (I know. I'm weird. Don't judge.)

Some of the popcorn is caramel-coated, though I don't think it's the same formula as the wonderful TJ's caramel popcorn. This part was OK.

Some of the popcorn is coated in dark chocolate. I didn't care for this much. I just don't think popcorn and chocolate go together well.

Some of what appear to be chocolate-coated pieces of popcorn turn out to be chocolate-coated nuts. This should be illegal.

Will I buy it again? 

No.

Nina's View

This was a purchasing FAIL on my part. I was beguiled by the festive packaging, highlighting caramel and chocolate, and didn't read the curly fine print. "Bob likes caramel popcorn and chocolate, I bet he'll like this!" says I to myself. ("And I'm sure I can choke down a few bits myself.")

Once I got it home I saw my error, but I served it up, caveats and all.

SUUUUUUUGGGGARRRRRRR.

Tasty sugar. And chocolate. And nuts. And salt.

I'll be finishing this up. My thighs are not amused.

Trader Joe's Organic Popcorn With Olive Oil

This is perfectly decent for bagged popcorn, but nothing special. In fact, it's kind of boring. Not because there's anything wrong with it, but because it's just popcorn. I can't tell that being cooked in olive oil instead of something else makes any meaningful difference in the final product, though that may be just because I'm a troglodyte.

If I'm going to buy a bag of popcorn instead of make my own, I want it to be something I can't easily concoct myself--like the wonderful TJ's caramel popcorn, or the nearly-as-wonderful TJ's popcorn with herbs and spices.

Will I buy it again? 

Not for myself. I suppose that if somebody asked me to bring some sort of commercial popcorn to a party or something (not that this ever happens), this would be a fine choice. Other than that, I don't think it has a place in my life.

Trader Joe's Popcorn With Herbs & Spices

Let's cut to the chase: This is the best popcorn I've had from Trader Joe's (excepting the caramel popcorn, which I think of more in the candy category than the popcorn category). In fact, it's the best bagged popcorn I've ever had from any source. I looked briefly at the list of the "herbs & spices" they sprinkle on, but I can't remember at this point what they were, and I don't care. I just know that they make for a lovely mix. Besides salt and butter, I think there are precious few things you can put on popcorn that make it better, but TJ's has somehow nailed a magic blend that really does. It also completely masks that inevitable background note of staleness that all bagged popcorn carries.

Let me confess something. Nina and I together ate maybe one-third of this bag instead of the more traditional appetizers I usually serve for our weekly dinner together. Then we had a full meal of pizza, salad, applesauce, juice, and some pastries for dessert. The confession part is this: After Nina went home, I immediately retrieved the bag and ate all of the rest of it, even though I had not one speck of hunger left. That's how strongly it was calling to me.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have another member of my Top Ten list (which, of course, is not limited to ten items).

For what it's worth, here is what the good folks at the "What's Good at Trader Joe's" blog had to say about this product, and here is TJ's own description, from the Fearless Flyer.

Will I buy it again? 

Just try to stop me.

Trader Joe's Popcorn In A Pickle

Trader Joe's rolls out new products all the time. Most of these are not particularly exciting. Over the last couple of weeks, for example, there has been a new cheese, a blend of olive oil and lemon juice, an organic version of a previously available non-organic bagged salad, a medley of fresh fruit chunks, and two new varieties of seed blends. Ho-hum. I'm sure they all have their place, but nobody spots the 126th kind of cheese on the shelf and fires up his or her social media outlets to gush over the find. (You can see all the things in the "What's New" section of TJ's web site.)

Once in a while, though, a TJ's product comes along that is so crazy that people seeing it in the stores immediately whip out their phones, and send pictures of it to Twitter and Facebook, with comments about how they can't wait to try it. I monitor the #TraderJoes hashtag on Twitter and participate in a Facebook group of TJ's fans, which together operate as my own personal Distant Early Warning Line for new products.

And boy oh boy did that DEW line light up starting on August 2 when, apparently, the first TJ's outlets started stocking this pickle-flavored popcorn. I had never heard of it, and Google turned up absolutely nothing about it anywhere on the web, not even in the "What's New" section of TJ's own web site. (For some reason, it's still not there.) I went to my local store in Asheville that same day, hoping to be one of the first to try it, only to be bitterly disappointed: not only did they not have it, they had never heard of it, and it wasn't even listed in their computer as an item that they could order. Over the next ten days, I saw dozens of tweets from people gushing about it. These came from Connecticut, New York, Minnesota, D.C., Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona--everywhere, it seemed, except North Carolina. And repeated trips to my store kept turning up no pickle-flavored popcorn anywhere. I felt sure that my state was being left out of the rollout specifically to punish me, probably for too many negative reviews of TJ's products.

But it's finally here, and Nina and I tried it Wednesday night. It's a freaky experience. It plays tricks with your brain and the expectations you have built up over a lifetime of dealing with food. You snip open a bag of popcorn, and immediately get a strong scent of ... NOT popcorn, but pickles. Then you pop a few kernels in your mouth, and you have the expected texture of popcorn, but all the flavor of a pickle.

Mind you, this is not some "popcorn with a hint of pickle." No. It's full-bore dill pickle. Your brain is all, "WTF, dude? I'm tasting pickle, but chewing on popcorn. Isn't that one of the classic signs of having a stroke or something?" It's a seriously confusing sensory rush, what with the signals crossing and all.

And I suppose that that's reason enough to buy and eat it once--for the sheer novelty of it. Like the Key Lime Tea Cookies a few days ago, or the Fireworks chocolate bar before that, it's a sensory experience sufficiently unlike any other available from a grocery store that you should probably give it a whirl.

But for long-term, repeat snacking? I don't think so. I loves me a good dill pickle, but, dammit, I want the crunch and the wetness to go along with the flavor. Conversely, when I eat popcorn, I want it to at least retain some meaningful flavor of popcorn--which this doesn't, because of how overpowering the dill is. It thwarts what I'm wanting from both possible snack choices simultaneously.

The stuff isn't bad. But it's never going to make me want more and more of it, the way that, for example, the TJ's Popcorn with Herbs and Spices does. (No link; review still pending.)

Will I buy it again? 

No. I'm delighted to have another unusual but not unpleasant sensory experience added to my lifetime experience, but I feel no eagerness to repeat it.

Nina's View

Bob has this right. I feel only journalistically obligated to report that my burps were dill-flavored for hours after eating this snack. 

You're welcome.

Trader Joe's Baconesque White Cheddar Popcorn

This is a brand-new product at Trader Joe's. On Tuesday I saw my first photo of it as somebody's excited new discovery on Twitter. I bought it Wednesday morning and tried it with Nina before dinner Wednesday evening. It's exactly the kind of madcap, whimsical, "who thought of THAT?" product that makes shopping at TJ's so much more fun than anywhere else.

They emphasize all over the package that there is no actual bacon in this product; hence the "-esque" in the name. It is safe for vegetarians, though not for vegans. The "bacon" is just smoke flavoring.

I liked this stuff. I liked it more than I expected to, frankly. I had thought that the idea of bacon flavoring on popcorn was going to be a mismatch. And I suppose it still might be--because I would argue that what's here is not bacon flavoring so much as smoke flavoring. I think that one is primed to experience it as bacon-y by the package labeling. It's very hard to accurately say what one would experience in a different state of mind, but my guess is that without such priming, in a blind taste test, the average consumer would identify this as more smoke than bacon.

That aside, however, it's quite tasty. The popcorn, white cheddar, and smoke/bacon all play nicely together on the taste buds. I don't think it's the bee's knees, or good enough to become the standard against which all popcorn is to be judged, or anything like that. But for an unusual, unexpected new treat, it's a hit with me. And my guess is that it's going to become wildly popular.

Will I buy it again? 

Yes. And I think I'll include it in my next care package to my family members who, sadly, live too far from a Trader Joe's to sample their products regularly.

Nina's View

Hmf. Baconesque flavored popcorn did not strike me as a good idea. And despite having hoovered down a substantial portion of this product, I'm still not sure it's a good idea.

I disagree with Bob that it takes mostly like smoke. I have a hearty dislike for faux smoke flavor, generally. This tastes like faux  bacon flavor, which I tolerate because it allows me to have things like vegetarian "bacon." No one is ever going to actually mistake it for the real thing, but it'll do for my purposes.

My first taste of the baconesque popcorn was sort of ick. But I kept plugging away (I'm noble like that), and pretty soon I had developed a taste for the stuff. Probably the thing I like least about it is the white cheddar powder component.

Yeah, go try some. You'll probably end up eating half the bag at a go like we did.

Trader Joe's Partially Popped Popcorn

Over the last two weeks or so since this product first hit Trader Joe's shelves, I must have seen a dozen people on Twitter posting under the #TraderJoes hashtag, proclaiming that they are addicted, or that it's the greatest snack food ever. So I had to try it.

Apparently, I'm the only one who doesn't like it. I find them too hard and crunchy. It feels like my teeth are going to break.

I've never liked the partially popped kernels from a batch of popcorn. The idea of packaging a whole bag of them seems perverse.

Will I buy it again? 

No. I'm not even going to finish this bag. Fortunately, I have a friend who likes them.

Nina's View

So close. Allllllllllmost. But no.

Here's the thing: I've always been partial to the partially popped popcorn kernels. They are the treat at the bottom of the bag or the pot.

But these don't do it for me.

1) They are not partially-popped enough. They are tougher and harder than they should be. 

2) They have a bogus reconstituted "butter" on them, which gradually turns into a sticky yet slimy film on your fingers as you eat. It tastes fake. 

3) They taste stale, not hot 'n' fresh, which is how partially popped popcorn should be.

Valiant effort TJ's… but no. Away with you.

Trader Joe's Caramel Popcorn

I love "The Sound of Music." But perhaps its greatest flaw is that in the famous song "My Favorite Things," Rodgers and Hammerstein listed "crisp apple strudels" and "schnitzel with noodles," but utterly failed to list "Trader Joe's Caramel Popcorn." That is such a grievous oversight that it should result in revocation of their Tony and Oscar awards.

I just discovered this stuff a few days ago, and it landed on my Top Ten list (which, I hasten to remind you, is not actually limited to ten items) about five seconds after the first handful landed in my mouth.

I can't say that this is the best caramel popcorn I've ever had, because caramel popcorn is best when obtained fresh and hot from the cooker at a candy store. I've had that, and nothing packaged, shipped across the country, and sold on grocery store shelves is ever going to surpass that. But this is, unequivocally, the best packaged caramel popcorn I've ever had. In fact, it's pretty much the only packaged caramel popcorn that's worth buying. Other stuff is just uniformly sad.

What's even more interesting is that, according to the label, they make this without butter, which I would have thought was an indispensable ingredient. Better-tasting and low-fat, too? Yes, please!

What is it that makes this superior to other packages caramel popcorns? Surprisingly, I think it's how lightly they coat the popcorn with the caramel. I'm used to the caramel layer being thick and hard--like eating hard candy with a little popcorn in the center. But TJ's isn't like that; it's regular popcorn with a very thin coating of caramel. When I first looked at it, I thought that was going to doom it. "Clearly not enough caramel," thought I. I was wrong. I can't analyze what it is about this caramel formulation that makes it so potent, but it somehow gets the caramel-to-popcorn balance exactly right. As an extra bonus, it's easier to eat than other brands, not requiring a massive crushing force with the molars to crack the hard exterior.

I have only two quibbles. First is the flagrant lie that TJ's tells on the back of the bag:

SEVEN servings in a 7-ounce bag? Who do they think they're fooling? My first bag, I ate the whole thing in one sitting. I went to the store again the next day and bought two more bags. The first of these I managed, with considerable self-restraint, to stretch to two consecutive nights of snacks. The fate of the remaining bad is yet undetermined as I write this.

Second quibble, somewhat related to the first: This stuff should come in packages about seven times bigger than it currently does.

Will I buy it again? 

Yes. I'd buy the factory they make this in, if they'd let me. I'd move in and make it my home. I'd appoint myself Chief Taste Tester and insist on tasting every bag, to make sure that no sub-standard packages left the factory. And by "tasting" there, I mean "eating in its entirety." Admittedly, that sequence of events might make it difficult for the rest of you to enjoy this extraordinary snack, but that's your problem, not mine.

Trader Joe's Movie Theater Popcorn

This will be quick.

There is only one meaningful question to be asked about any popcorn product that bills itself as "movie theater": Does it taste like the popcorn you get at a movie theater?

Here the answer is no. Not even close. It's perfectly decent popcorn, sure. But the "movie theater" claim is pure puffery, without foundation. Put more bluntly, it's a lie.

And once that fact is determined, there is basically no reason to buy it. I can get cheaper popcorn that is just as good by using any number of microwavable products--and they end up piping hot to boot.

To be fair, every popcorn I've ever bought--packaged or microwave--that billed itself as "movie theater" has been just as much a disappointment, TJ's no more or less so.

Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Natural Butter Flavor Microwave Popcorn

I've never found microwave popcorn that I'm completely happy with. Every time I think I've found a good kind, it seems that the next time I buy the same thing, it's not nearly as good--as if the manufacturers can't put out a consistent product.

So I didn't have high hopes for Trader Joe's being my knight in shining oil. And it wasn't. But it was pretty good.

I was disappointed by how small the individual bags were--1.4 ounces, according to the box. For comparison, some Orville Reddenbacher I have in the cupboard has bags labeled as 82.3 grams each, which is a bit under 3 ounces. The problem of the TJ's small bag size is compounded by the fact that at least 1/3 of the kernels didn't pop. Granted, this may be because I have an underpowered, slightly wonky microwave oven. (It's built into the cabinetry above my stove, and looks like its way past its sell-by date.) But the net result was a really pathetic yield--such that after eating it I immediately went and popped a second batch and ate that, too, just to feel like I had had a normal amount.

But I do like it. It's a lot saltier than most microwave popcorns, which I like. I wish it were a little more buttery, but it's OK in that respect. None of the kernels got scorched. None were soggy with oil. The ones that popped virtually all popped fully, leaving very few of those unacceptable barely-open bits.

Will I buy it again? 

Yes, probably so, if my impression of it through the last four bags remains the same as it is after these first two. The world of microwave popcorn is a vast sea of mediocrity, and at least TJ's rises a little above that unhappy standard.