Trader Joe's Organic Mango Lemonade

This is Day 15 of an extended New Products Week, and Day Six of Mangopalooza. 


At my first sip, I thought, "They've made a terrible mistake. This is apricot nectar." It wasn't, but somehow the combination of mango and lemon made me think that. As I concentrated to try to break down what I was tasting, I could identify separate mango and lemon, but anytime I'm reading or doing something else when a swallow goes down, it still registers as apricot. Weird.

Overall, this stuff is a cut above the "melted lollipops" disgusting sweetness that is the downfall of so many of TJ's big-jug juice blends, but it still rates just a "meh." Sugar is the second ingredient, after mango puree, and it shows. Of course sugar is always going to be a major component in anything that calls itself "lemonade," but it can be and should be done more subtly than it is here.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Roundup

This is my weekly compilation of news and other links related to Trader Joe's.


Trader Joe's favorites

5 reasons this Florida mom needs a Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's and Costco top in customer loyalty

9th Circuit hears appeal in Trader Joe's trademark-infringement suit against Pirate Joe's

Best Jewish food at Trader Joe's

Best summer snacks from Trader Joe's

7 days of healthy meals from Trader Joe's for $40

"Let's Talk TJ's" podcast #25

10 Trader Joe's goodies you need this summer

Trader Joe's best wines for summer


Best tweets of the week:

1.

And finally, here's this week's cute cat in a Trader Joe's grocery bag:

Trader Joe's Seeded Mango & Ginger Crisps

This is Day 14 of an extended New Products Week, and Day Five of Mangopalooza. 


The basic concept and structure of these crackers is the same as for their precursors, the Raisin Rosemary Crisps and the seasonal Pumpkin Cranberry Crisps.

These crackers, however, have a fatal flaw not shared by the other two variants: Due to the large pieces of soft, chewy ginger embedded, they are gummy in texture.

Note, first, that Trader Joe's has named these crackers "crisps." Note, next, that "crispy" is the first adjective used to describe them directly under the product name. Note, finally, that "gummy" and "crisp(y)" are incompatible descriptors. Something that is gummy cannot be crispy, and vice-versa. These crackers are gummy. They are not crispy.

It is metaphysically and morally wrong for crackers to be gummy. If the word "gummy" appears in any description of a cracker you can find, unless it is preceded by the word "not," you should not buy those crackers.

I did rather like the flavors, however. Nina suggested trying them with some sharp cheese. All I had on hand was the very first product I reviewed for this project, my first Top Ten list member, and the first TJ's product that ever caught my attention, Cheddar-Gruyere Melange. This is by no means a sharp cheese. It is, in fact, exceedingly mild. But as it was all that I had, I tried it. And I loved it. The combination of those two cheeses and the somewhat weird flavor profile of these mango-ginger crackers turned out to be fabulous.

This means that I will finish eating the contents of this box, just for how they taste with one of my favorite cheeses, in spite of the massive failure on the texture side of the ledger.


Will I buy it again? 

No. I will not support the production of gummy crackers.

Trader Joe's Mango Coconut Pudding

This is Day 13 of an extended New Products Week, and Day Four of Mangopalooza. 


I started hearing about Mango Madness via Twitter posts before I set foot in the store and saw how crazy things had gotten. Of all the mango products that people were tweeting pictures of, this was the one I most wanted to try. When I thought about what a mango-coconut pudding would taste like if I were in charge of it, well, I'd eat that until I exploded.

I did not explode. I did not even eat all 12 ounces of pudding in one sitting, as I easily can with puddings that I really like. In fact, it took me three servings to get through it, and I wasn't particularly happy about the last of them; it felt more like a duty than a pleasure, but I powered through it because I still had not figured out what to write about the stuff.

Maybe this is Nina's influence evilly taking control of me, but the bottom line is that this stuff is just too sweet. When I was growing up, my mother would sometimes make a fruit salad that had whipped cream and marshmallows as its base. I loved it, but I knew all along that it was not much better than eating ice cream; the fruit was just there to provide an excuse for eating a bunch of cream.

That's what this reminded me of--and I don't get anywhere near the same feeling when I mix up a batch of Jello-brand banana cream or coconut cream pudding. When you make your pudding sweeter than those, you've gone too far.

Other complaints: It's not thickened enough, and the mango:coconut ratio is skewed much too high toward the coconut side.

Price: $3.49.


Will I buy it again? 

No. In the end, the only thing I really liked about this pudding was my wistful thoughts of how great it could have been.

Chimes Ginger Chews--Mango

This is Day 12 of an extended New Products Week, and Day Three of Mangopalooza. 


This is a non-TJ's branded product. Perhaps it's been for sale for a long time, but it appears to be new to Trader Joe's, brought in as part of what they're officially calling Mango Madness.

These little candies pack an astonishing punch. I have never been hit with such a strong wave of ginger. The mango is an afterthought, and you might not even notice it's there. It's definitely the harmony to the belted-out ginger melody. I ate three of them after opening the bag, but had to wait about five minutes between them, to give my mouth a break. I'm writing this about 30 minutes after the last one, and there's still a prominent ginger tingle going on. They're that potent.


Will I buy it again? 

No. It's just too much for me. I'm glad I tried them once, to see what ginger can do when it's cranked up to 11. But frankly I experienced them more than I enjoyed them.

Trader Joe's This Mango Walks Into A Bar...

This is Day 11 of an extended New Products Week, and Day Two of MANGOPALOOZA! 


I was surprised at how good these bars were. They're right up there with the strawberry and blueberry versions.

Three Dog Night sang that they would "throw away the cars and the bars and the wars." I hope these were not among the "bars" they would get rid of.


Will I buy it again? 

Yes.

Trader Joe's Mango Taffy

This is Day Ten of an extended New Products Week. 

If you've stepped inside a Trader Joe's store in the last week or so, you probably noticed that it looks like there was an explosion in a mango warehouse. It's MANGOPALOOZA! All mango, all the time! They have introduced a profusion of brand-new mango-flavored products. I brought home six of them, but left several more behind for another day. I'll do my best to review them as quickly as I can. But I'm without my trusty sidekick in this endeavor; Nina does not like mangoes, or mango-flavored things.

This is a brand-new product. There is nothing about it on Trader Joe's web page yet. Price is a mere 99 cents.

I love the flavor of these. It's rich and strong, far more flavorful than I remember TJ's Salt Water Taffy being.

However, the texture is off. They're tough-chewy, not soft-chewy. I bought them on one of the first days they were available, and was eating them within an hour of getting them home, so they were as fresh as possible, yet the toughness felt like they had been sitting on the shelf for too many months.


Will I buy it again? 

No. It was a nice one-time experiment, but that's all.