Trader Joe's Birthday Cake Bar

Honestly, I thought this was going to be pretty terrible--all gimmick, no quality. I was mightily surprised to find, instead, that it was the best rendition of white chocolate I can remember ever eating.

What the label calls "cookies crumbs" are something crunchy, though I kind of doubt they're literally what's claimed. They add a wonderful contrasting texture, while the "sprinkles" add whimsical color.

I've never been much of a fan of white chocolate, but this was good enough to win me over to the non-dark side.


Will I buy it again? 

Yes!

Trader Joe's Campfire S'Mores Bar

Gimmicky? Sure. But it also turns out to be pretty good. I think the thing that really makes it work is the crunch from the graham "nuggets" that are embedded in the chocolate. There's also a little salt, which isn't exactly in the campfire tradition, but adds a nice touch of flavor contrast.


Will I buy it again? 

Probably not. Interesting and enjoyable to try once as a novelty, but there are so many chocolate things that I try, mainly for purposes of writing about them, that one has to really stand out as extra-special to make it a repeat purchase for me.

Roundup

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


Controversy when shopper is filmed making anti-Muslim comments in line at Trader Joe's

Snacks nutritionists buy at Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's employee loses battle with bird

My favorite Trader Joe's finds

8 standout grocery stores with respect to price

Trader Joe's announces recall of Chocolate Mochi Ice Cream due to undeclared peanuts

19 Trader Joe's foods we keep our freezer stocked with

15 Trader Joe's recipes you should try

17 impossibly accurate Trader Joe's tweets



Best tweets of the week:

super cheery dude
rings up my fruit and pickles
trader joes shopping#haiku #chiku #traderjoes #imonweightwatchers

— Linda Horton (@lhortonphoto) May 9, 2017

Overheard at #BART: "I just went to Trader Joe's for some things that are going to leave me totally unfulfilled."

— Laura Compton (@lauracompton) May 6, 2017

I think it's adorable how a package of #TraderJoes pasta says "Serves 2-3 people" as I'm scooping the last bite into my face.

— Thom Tran (@_thomtran) May 8, 2017

#traderjoes @TraderJoesList didn't know my trail mix came with a surprise dried up lizard!! pic.twitter.com/rpSpriubkm

— Olivia (@oliviarshaw4) May 8, 2017

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

Trader Joe's Organic Purple Carrot Juice

I knew that purple carrots existed. I did not know that anybody had used them to make juice. But leave it to Trader Joe's!

Even stranger than the color of this juice is its taste. If you had given me a glass of this stuff to drink with no hint about what it was, "carrot" would not have been in my first ten guesses. With almost every swallow I've taken of it, I've tried hard to match the flavor to my lifetime experience of what a carrot tastes like. No success at all. It's much sweeter than I would have imagined carrot juice could be--to the point that on my first sample of it, I walked back to the refrigerator to check the list of ingredients to see whether they had added sugar. Nope.

My best shot at a description is that it's like a beet juice base combined with either cherry or maybe grape. It's not exactly that, but that's what I would end up as my top guess in the blind taste test (with a lot of uncertainty).

Independent of my inability to recognize it, I didn't care for it much.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Chocolate Cara Cara Caramels

I get the feeling that somebody, somewhere, decided to make a candy combining caramel and a particular variety of orange as soon as they realized the name could be "Cara Cara Caramels." Kind of surprisingly, the combination works as well in terms of taste as it does in the name. Tasty, bite-sized morsels of goodness with an intriguing, well-calibrated blend of three dominant flavors.


Will I buy it again? 

Probably not, unless maybe as a gift to a chocolate lover. It was interesting and delightful to try once, but didn't endear me enough to keep going back for more.

Trader Joe's Toscano Cheese With Black Pepper

Trader Joe's has kind of a fetish about adding stuff to Toscano cheese. I tried the version with cinnamon, and didn't care for it. I tried the version with Syrah, and thought it was OK.

And now for the black pepper. I'm generally not a fan of black pepper. I keep some on hand for guests and to add to recipes when called for, but I never put black pepper on food at the table. The traditional salt and pepper shakers are baffling to me, because I would never use the latter.

But I'm surprised to discover that here it makes for a truly excellent addition to the cheese. It's distinct enough to catch my attention, but still sitting in the background, rather than transforming this into a truly peppery cheese. Even more surprising was that the cheese wasn't nearly as crumbly as the other two versions were; I had no difficulty making thin slices to put on my crackers.

Going into this taste test, I really expected that this would either be so-so (try it once for the experience, but never again), or pretty bad (TOO MUCH PEPPER!). Nope. Instead, it shoots to near the top of my favorite Trader Joe's cheese varieties. It's not quite worthy of being on my all-time Top Ten list, but if I kept a separate list of my top ten TJ's cheeses, it would definitely be included.


Will I buy it again? 

Enthusiastically.


Addendum, January 11, 2018: 

I tried this again this week for the first time since writing the above--and I liked it even more. Creamy and flavorful and interesting. It's a great way to break up my usual pattern of cheddar cheddar cheddar. I'm retroactively adding it to my Top Ten list.

Trader Joe's Beef Bolognese Ravioli

Once in a while, I forget to take a picture of something new I bring home from Trader Joe's. This was one such time. I had to fish the container out of the trash when I sat down to write this and realized I didn't have a photo.

The center of this ravioli is stuffed with a mixture of ground beef and what is effectively a pasta sauce--tomato paste and seasonings. Kind of oddly, it's as if the marinara is on the inside, instead of needing to add it to the outside.


Will I buy it again? 

No, even though I liked it a lot. This joins a line of TJ's products that I will buy once to try, but not again, because of wanting to minimize the amount of meat--especially beef and pork--in my diet.

But there's another reason here. Look closely at the list of ingredients as shown above (which I did not do until I had already finished eating). This is the second time that TJ's has slipped veal into one of its products and disclosed it only in the fine print, not prominently. My tolerance for beef and pork is low, but not zero. My tolerance for veal is zero. If you told me that this is an indefensibly arbitrary ethical line of demarcation on my part, I wouldn't argue with you. It probably is. But it's what I choose anyway. As a result, I would not have bought this if I had noticed that ingredient.

Oops: This was supposed to publish Tuesday, May 9, but I messed up the settings and it ran early. Oh well. Now that it's out in the world, I won't try to call it back.