Say what you will about Trader Joe, but he’s a generous lover—especially when fall rolls around. The man behind the brand behind a million and one seasonal products isn’t only peddling pumpkin spice during these crisp autumn months. In fact, my colleague Jordan Myrick, a pumpkin-spice skeptic, recently tried every new fall product Trader Joe’s has to offer this year that doesn’t involve pumpkin spice, among them some apple caramels I thought deserved a closer look.
I love caramel. I love apples (one of my great joys is trying apple cultivars I’ve never tried before). Caramel apples are great, but a whole-ass apple covered in melted sugar is kind of a big commitment. Could Trader Joe’s Apple Caramels be a solution, minus the stick? Let’s find out.
The package advertises that these little wrapped caramels are naturally flavored and made with real apple cider, but I gotta say, they suuuuure taste like artificially flavored green apple candy to me. Worse, they really lack that buttery, indulgent caramel flavor. Blindfolded, I would have thought I was eating some kind of green apple taffy.
I also think these are a little softer than a lot of caramels, which means they really get lodged in your teeth (trying to review them in real time on camera was my “Aaron Burr” moment). Ultimately, they aren’t worth the time you’ll spend jamming your index finger into your back molars.
Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks.
Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction.
Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home.
Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!
Gwynedd Stuart
Will Morgan
Sporked Staff
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!