The pros: Trader Joe's Trofie Colore are fun colored pasta that have natural colors to them.
The cons: The pasta lost a lot of color in the cooking process. The reddish color stood out the most in terms of color loss. It was noticeable from the time I dropped Trader Joe's Trofie Colore into the water.
The verdict: For $1.99 you are getting a full pound of fun colored pasta. These are also not traditionally shaped either. This pasta is essentially little ribbons. You can compare the shape to something close to gemelli. What stood out for me was the coloring here. Maybe it's a generational thing, but clearly people are color obsessed right now. In fact, people seem obsessed with rainbows and unicorns and the colors associated with them.
Color obsession aside, I'm sad to say there wasn't really anything truly special about this product. It's still just a semolina pasta. The colors do lend a slight taste. I could only tell this by eating the individual colors. When I took a mouthful, the slight flavors disappeared into one another and my bites were basically indistinguishable from any other plain pasta I've tried.
Overall, if you want to try pasta that will leave an impression on you, reach for Trader Joe's Lemon Pepper Pappardelle or Trader Joe's Garlic Basil Linguine. While not cheap, the flavor was unique to anything else on the shelf. Trader Joe's Trofie Colore might get a kid to eat their pasta because of the color. As an adult, it just seemed more like a pretty pasta. I won't be repurchasing this.
The bag of Trader Joe's Trofie Colore in the new items section:
The nutritional information, the ingredients and how to prepare:
After being cooked you get:
Would I buy this again? No. There was nothing that really stood out about the pasta here. While the pasta was bright and colorful in the package, it lost its brightness through the cooking process.
Want to see more items I've reviewed from Trader Joe's? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe’s for a searchable list.
Did you try it? Let me know what you think in the comments section!
I've never seen tri color trofie. This is the pasta that is traditional in Liguria, especially the Cinque Terre, to serve with pesto. I've never had it with any other kind of sauce.
The package said to eat it right away. Can it be used as a leftover? I always cook enough for two dinners.
Yup. I had it. It was fine reheated. That one package is way too much for my household in one sitting.