Hello. My name's Nathan, and I love Trader Joe's. My wife Sonia does too. She's a great shopper, has excellent taste and knows good value when she comes across it. As many of you know, Trader Joe's is unsurpassed in the world of good-value grocery stores, so we spend a lot of our time and money there. Although the store fairly consistently delivers great taste with its own unique line of food products, there are definitely some big-hits, and unfortunately, there are some misses...

After doing a couple of internet searches for reviews of TJ's food items, Sonia discerned an apparent dearth of good, quality reviews for the store's offerings. So, at her suggestion, we decided to embark on a journey of systematically reviewing every Trader Joe's product, resulting in the blog you are about to read...

A couple of months into our Trader Joe's rating adventure, an old college friend, Russ, who unbeknownst to me had been following our TJ's blog, decided that I had been slacking in my blogging duties (which, of course, I was) so he decided to contribute his own original TJ's reviews to the blog, thus enhancing it, making it more complete and adding to it a flavor of his own. He and his wife Sandy are also avid TJ's fans and, as you will soon discover, he is an excellent writer and is nearly as clever, witty and humble as I am.

Seriously though, Russ: You go, boy!

So here it is: "What's Good at Trader Joe's?"

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Friday, May 13, 2011

Trader José's Hot Chipotle Salsa

Finally, a hot salsa that's actually kinda hot. The little chile-meter on this baby is mostly full. Plus, it tastes like actual chipotle chile peppers. It's not quite as hot as chipotle peppers by themselves—if you've ever had one, you know that they're pretty spicy—but I think it's darn close. However, like all of their other salsas, Sonia thought this one lacked heat, too. I think it's a step in the right direction, though. I'm pretty sure this is the spiciest TJ's salsa we've had so far.

I wasn't aware of this before, but chipotles are actually a dried, smoked variant of the jalapeño. See here. Somehow, they seem much spicier than a regular jalapeño to me. But what do I know? Soy solo un gringo loco.

Most products they slap a "chipotle" label on here don't really taste that much like the real thing. I'm happy with the flavor of this salsa. Authentico. The label claims it has a "slightly smoky taste," and it's not lying.

Fat free. And in theory, it'll raise your metabolism. Burn baby, burn. Try it with the Super Seeded Chips or the Soy and Flaxseed Chips.

Sonia and I each give it a 4. Bottom line: 8 out of 10.
Posted by Nathan M. Rodgers at 1:58 PM
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8 comments:

  1. Hi! Just found your blog. I'm excited to read through it. We've been dying for a Trader Joe's here in Texas, and recent rumor is that we are getting one or several coming soon! :) I'm going to check out the rest of your blog now.

    :)
    nicolle in fort worth, tx

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  2. We certainly hope you get your Trader Joe's down there in TX. Thanks for reading our blog!

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  3. I have a strict rule about where I'll live: There has to be a Trader Joe's and a Target within 25 miles. Once you get a Trader Joe's in Texas, you'll feel the same way. :)

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  4. I have a TJ within 2 miles and a Target that's even closer opening within a month. My wife and I are debating setting up a direct deposit of our paycheck account there.

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  5. LOVE this stuff. We keep it around for all sorts of recipes and general eating. Even the wife - with her low Scovill tolerance - will use this on chips and burritos.

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  6. By "Authentico," I believe you mean "autentico" (no "h"). ;)

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  7. It's okay. The smokiness is an acquired taste. Good sodium numbers (40 mg per 2 Tbsp serving) compared with other salsas. I did have to spice mine up a bit.

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