Trader Joe’s buzzy new products are hit or miss. Among things we’ve tasted recently, those viral corn ribs were just eh (seriously, just quarter your own corn cobs). Their Super Seedy Cheese Snack Bites, on the other hand? Give me a bib and a bucket of these, and leave me alone. That’s all to say that when these things hit, they really hit. So, how about the new Yuzu Ripple Frozen Dessert that recently appeared in the store’s ice cream case? We grabbed a pint, some spoons, and dug in.
I won’t beat around the ol’ yuzu bush (I don’t know where yuzu grows). This stuff is delicious. This isn’t the first time one of TJ’s coconut-based non-dairy frozen desserts has wowed us; their Black Tea & Boba Frozen Dessert was the best ice cream we tasted in 2022, and it isn’t even ice cream. They’ve really got a lock on that coconut base—it’s creamy and it doesn’t taste overwhelmingly like coconut, so the flavor of the ice cream isn’t yuzu and coconut or black tea and coconut. Just yuzu. Just black tea.
The yuzu is super tart, and you can really taste rind, which gives it a big punch of flavor. I knocked off half a point because editor-in-chief Justine Sterling thought it tasted more like tangerine than like yuzu, but all the same, it has a strong citrus flavor that lingers on your tongue as you eat. Senior staff writer Jordan Myrick suggested making an ice cream float with this and some Sprite and, you know, I just feel so lucky to work alongside geniuses.
If you like a citrusy ice cream, you should absolutely buy this.
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.
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Gwynedd Stuart
Matt Crowley
Jordan Myrick
