We Tried These 5 Trader Joe’s Items (And We Think You Should Too)

At the end of each week, it’s one of our simple joys in life here at Sporked to get to tell you what little nooks and crannies of Trader Joe’s we got our self stuck into throughout the week. This week there is absolutely no escaping fall while perusing the aisles, but we did our best to let you know what’s new in stores other than everything pumpkin spice. If you’re interested in that, we already detailed all of the pumpkin spice products in store in a different article. This article, on the other hand, is dedicated to the real groceries that not only kept us sustained through the week, but that we found particularly interesting and delicious as well. Let’s get into it, shall we?

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Agua de Kefir – Orange Peach Mango

After the roaring success and absolutely exceptional discovery of the Guava Paloma Agua de Kefir at Trader Joe’s a couple weeks ago we were extra excited to try out this different flavor. 

While the actual quality of this drink is equally impressive in its balance and delicately fermented flavor, this drink struggled in other ways. The main issue was just the way the orange interacts with the peach and mango flavors of this drink. Something about it makes it taste distinctly medicinal. It tastes like an Emergen-C packet more than anything. Safe to say, we’ll be sticking to the Guava Paloma flavor of this drink.

Rating:

4/10

Sporks

Carne Asada Ranchera – Thin Slice Beef Sirloin

We always like seeing what from the prepared meat section in Trader Joe’s we haven’t yet tried. Surprisingly enough, we hadn’t actually tried the Carne Asada beef despite its allure and universal attraction. The flavor of the marinade for this beef was actually quite good, but it was aggressively lacking salt. Which, in terms of cooking raw meat, is not necessarily a bad thing because it allows us to season it ourselves. But when we’re purchasing it as something that’s already marinated and prepared, I think most of us would assume that it’s also properly seasoned with salt. It’s an easy fix though.

We do also think it was strange that the entire packet was just one bundled up piece of sirloin. It was so long that it didn’t fit in a pan, so it required a lot of preparation that you would think would’ve already been taken care of in a packet like this. I suppose if you were grilling this, it would’ve been possible to cook it all at once. As it was, though, there was no way to cook it all at once without breaking it down a bit beforehand.

Rating:

7.5/10

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Uncured Calabrese Salami and Fresh Mozzarella Swirls

I really enjoyed these as a simple, salty snack. It’s not often that Trader Joe’s has a spotlight on a product that is a salty snack that isn’t frozen or just another variety of chip, so these being a bit heartier with cheese and meat made it a nice change of pace. These are a new addition to the Trader Joe’s product portfolio, and they were delicious. I mean, they were definitely simple because it is just mozzarella and salami, but I still finished the whole pack and enjoyed this addition to their stores. Will purchase again. Our only complaint is that the mozzarella was less tender and juicy than you would’ve expected for a fresh mozzarella. Regardless, we will purchase these again.

Rating:

9/10

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Organic Maple Butter

I liked that there was a festive “butter” option this season that didn’t involve cookie butter, fruit, or pumpkin spice. In fact, this maple butter actually only has one ingredient: organic maple syrup. But it makes the perfect addition to a fall toast as a spread. I’ve been enjoying it simply as an alternative to my morning sourdough toast that is pan fried in butter and typically topped with creamed honey. Instead, I’ve been swapping out the honey for this maple butter, and it has put me right in the fall spirit without having to touch any pumpkin spices or apples. We only wish the jar was bigger.

Rating:

10/10

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Sweet Picanté Peppers

Now these are not the new Sweet and Spicy Picanté Peppers that have just been added to Trader Joe’s shelves. In fact, we didn’t even know that they had these sweet ones until the Sweet and Spicy version came out. So, we figured we would try out the originals first. We’re happy we did though, because these are absolutely delicious. They’re not too salty or vinegar-y, and the cheese filling is the perfect amount of creamy, salty, and tangy.  Plus, they really aren’t spicy. They are just not a distinctly sweet pepper in themselves.  

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks