Trader Joe's blog and cooking.
Trader Joe's offers a wide variety of condiments from sweet to savory. But quality can vary, fortunately, that's why you have this site!
From the seasonal Sugar Plum Jam to the Chile Lime Seasoning to the popular Enchilada Sauce find dozens of reviews of Trader Joe's condiments and see which ones are worth your time and which ones you may want to consider leaving on the shelf!
So, when I picked up a bunch of seasonal offerings, Trader Joe’s Herbes de Provence Extra Virgin Olive Oil made its way into my basket. To be fair, Herbes de Provence is a regular seasonal offering. But for those of us who enjoy a flavored olive oil then this a nice option.
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After Trader Joe’s released last year’s Carrot Cake Spread, I’m now truly concerned about the hype regarding anything in a little jar. Aside from pure disappointment if not outright disgust, I was hoping this jar would be something different.
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Bomba Calabrese. That’s what this little jar of Trader Joe’s Italian Bomba Hot Pepper Sauce is. But you want to know something? This jar is hot. Like Harissa levels of hot.
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Have you ever picked up a product and totally misread the labeling? I did with Trader Joe’s Strawberry Fruit Spread with Natural Rose Flavor. You see, I originally read this product as Trader Joe’s Strawberry Fruit Spread with Natural Rosé Flavor instead of what it really says which is “rose” meaning the flower.
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It’s been a while since Trader Joe’s has introduced a new condiment. The last creations Trader Joe’s introduced were the Umami Mushroom Seasoning and the Everything but the Bagel seasoning. One knocked it out of the park. The other is still sitting in my pantry cabinet. Now, we have a new seasoning that is oil based but seems like the partial contents of a spice cabinet have been emptied into it: Trader Joe’s Chili Onion Crunch.
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Trader Joe’s products sometimes like to play with fire. And when I speak about fire, I am referring to ghost peppers. This is by no means a humble jalapeno; this is many stages past it on the Scoville scale. For perspectives sake, a jalapeno is usually rated somewhere in 2,500-8,000 Scoville Heat Unit Scale. The assertive Ghost Pepper runs somewhere close to one million on the same scale. So, I cleared my calendar to try Trader Joe’s Ghost Chile BBQ Sauce.
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One of my most frequent snack purchases at Trader Joe’s has been their frozen Big Soft pretzels. When that first came out, it was difficult to keep them in the house. My husband and I were eating them like they were going out of style. With a tub of pub cheese no less. Now, I have something new to dip them in: Trader Joe’s Honey Pale Ale Mustard.
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In school, we learned about the color wheel and how to mix colors. We also learned about shades and tones of various colors. So when it comes to cooking certain rules of color just don’t apply. For example, in Italian cooking a Penne Vodka sauce starts off as red. When you add white cream to the sauce, it breaks all rules and turns a color than can only be described as being orange. Except some people also refer to that as being a pink sauce. However, there is a new pink sauce that is actually pink: Trader Joe’s Creamy Pink Primavera Sauce.
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It’s been a while since Trader Joe’s added anything to the dips and hummus options. They’ve taken away items, but not too much has been added back. Well, consider this a vegetarian (at least based on the ingredients) spin on the familiar 7 layer dip. Trader Joe’s 5 Layer Dip is new, delicious, and just needs something to dip it in or scoop it on.
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Trader Joe’s Green Sauce 2.0. However, this green sauce is different from the current green dragon hot sauce available on shelves. Trader Joe’s Jalapeño Sauce is overall pretty good and a completely different beast from the other green sauce, it’s a solid Jalapeño Pepper Hot Sauce.
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It’s back! On a recent trip to Trader Joe’s I noticed this little jar has made its annual return to store shelves. It’s packaged the exact same way as it has been for years which means the product is basically unchanged. For those who think it’s new, here are my thoughts on this from 2018.
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So, here is a product that looks like mango, but tastes pretty much nothing like mango. Think about how different sauerkraut tastes from cabbage. Or perhaps how different Kim Chi tastes from cabbage as well. They taste pretty darn different. All thanks to a process called fermentation.
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It’s not often that I don’t like something here. I’m not trying to be overly kind. I try to be objective on things. However, there are some items that hit my pantry and I need to call them what they are: basic. And Trader Joe’s Organic Rose Vinaigrette is just that.
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Does anyone else celebrate Taco Tuesday? I think we celebrate it on a lot of days during the week. I have a soft spot for nachos in particular. Who doesn’t love cheesy chips? I adore them. Just not Trader Joe’s Queso Dip. One of the cardinal rules of a dip is that it should never be watery or thin. This vegan dip does a better job of being cheesy than queso.
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Trader Joe’s sells Umami take two. Yes, this isn’t Trader Joe’s first dive into selling us something that is simply just umami. A couple years ago they sold Umami paste. That paste was all sorts of umami from tomatoes, to mushrooms, parmesan cheese, olives, balsamic and other forms of umami. This product is clearly different.
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Let’s be honest for a second, whenever you get a “gift set” it would seem that there is at minimum at least one item you don’t truly care for. This might be true for anything sold as a set. Usually you get one item you really, really like and then you muddle through the other items. But here is a rare case where that did not ring true.
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Behold, a two for one review. While most of this will center around the new and seasonal Black Truffle, I made it with the new seasonal pasta, Garganelli. Which by the way, looks a lot like a candy cane color. But for right now, truffle seems to be the flavor of the winter time. And there is no shortage of it.
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If there is one good thing about going to a Trader Joe’s before the holiday, it’s that the people in there seem just a big more kind and jolly than most grocery stores. The other grocery stores near me, the customers are miserable. Worse, the employees are even more miserable. So I hope you’ve done your shopping or are only running out for an item or two. As for me, here is a rare double review in honor of Thanksgiving.
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Every now and again, I pick up a product that I’m not totally into trying. But for the sake of public information, I put it out there. And every now and again, I get something I love and something I absolutely hate. Now, even though I have over 900 Trader Joe’s reviews, I can’t say that I’ve done too much of a deep dive into the salsas. Some people can say they’ve tried them all….
Every now and again, there is a product that I’m almost positive that I haven’t seen available anywhere else. This is one of those products. I’ve never seen maple butter before. But when I saw it, I knew it was going into my cart.
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So it seems like maple syrup might become the new pumpkin. I’ve seen so many new additions this year to this simple condiment. Just last week I tried the Ghosted Maple Syrup. And I hope to get my hands on the other new maple syrup hitting shelves: organic Vermont Bourbon Barrel aged Maple syrup. If you are looking at the title, and thinking “didn’t they have that in the past?” Yes, but it wasn’t organic and this has a very different label than the bourbon barrel aged maple syrup I tried in the past. So, I guess I’ll have to report back on to that how they compare.
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The pros: Trader Joe’s Vermont Ghosted Maple Syrup is new and is a very hot combo of maple syrup and ghost pepper.
The cons: This is not for everyone. Anyone sensitive to heat, be warned, this is hot. Also, this was listed as “HOL” on my receipt which usually means it is seasonal. So if you love it, stock up.
The verdict: …
When a reader, H M, mentioned that this was new to shelves I got excited. And then H M tried it. And gave it a big thumbs down. Intrigued, I hunted for this product….
The pros: Trader Joe’s Marinara Sauce is one of two new refrigerated sauces hitting shelves: this and mushroom medley alfredo sauce. The ingredient list is pretty simple and straight forward.
The cons: It isn’t going to be my first choice in sauce options. This would have been better if they had used San Marzano tomatoes. Keep some EVOO and some basil on hand if you are planning on using this. For the price, there are some equally good options in the jarred section.
The verdict: …
