If they were, they wouldn't have taken away my beloved Organic Tomato Bisque. It was the perfection of tomato soup, in my self-important opinion. And if it ain't broke, Trader Joe, please don't try to fix it.
Now, I'm not saying this roasted red pepper stuff is bad. It's certainly not. It's just that it's so similar to the tomato bisque, that it's kinda pointless. If it were a slight improvement, I could understand. But it's not. There are no soft lumps of perfectly-stewed tomatoes. And if anything, the tomato flavor is dulled down just a tad. To this product's credit, it does taste slightly of red peppers, but the tomato-pepper combo just doesn't do it for me the way the pure tomato lusciousness did in the bisque.
In summary, I think this soup falls just slightly shy of its potential. While the taste is similar to that of Trader Joe's Organic Tomato Bisque, whose spirit shall live on in the halls of our Pantheon long after its cans are forgotten by the shelves of your local TJ's store, this tomato red pepper soup's flavor is good but not amazing, and its texture is that of traditional creamy tomato soup. But make no mistake, as whiny as this post may sound to you, this soup is still really darn good.
My wife agrees, but she won't dock this product as much as I will. We gave the bisque a perfect score. She'll take away half a star for this soup. I'll have to knock off two full stars.
Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.
I, too, was an Organic tomato bisque devotee. When I noticed it was gone, I asked the store manager and he explained to me that the cost of tomatoes had gone up and the supplier wanted to charge 40% more per can, and since that would put the product as costing more than the other cans of soup around it, it wasn't possible to carry it anymore. Oh well- I did think it was really nice of the manager to go to the trouble of explaining it all to me....
ReplyDeleteThis is my favorite tomato soup. I'm now spoiled for any other brand. Never tasted the tomato bisque, though.
ReplyDeleteDid they discontinue lemon gingersnap ice cream??
ReplyDeleteI'm with Maeve, this is my fave too but never tried the other one.
ReplyDeleteVal, thanks for your insight about the cost of tomatoes. Sad. And thanks for agreeing with me about the bisque ;)
ReplyDeleteSusie, I have heard from multiple sources now that the Lemon Gingersnap Ice Cream has been discontinued, and we haven't seen it at our local TJ's for a while :(
Who told you lemon ginger snap was discontinued? It was at my TJs this afternoon.... I was once told their warehouse is in PA, so if I am able to get it, you should too! You can always ask them to place a special order/customer hold for you.
DeleteNathan, Thanks for the info. I just went to TJ today, and bought them before they are gone forever. Yes, the employee told me that they discontinued it. Very sad :(
ReplyDeleteI agree completely about the tomato bisque - heavenly. I won't miss this one. After the bisque, it doesn't cut it. I now pay a ridiculous price for Amy's Organic Tomato Bisque. Oh, how I wish TJ's would get back their bisque.
ReplyDeleteWe still have the ginger snap ice cream at ours. We no longer have this soup and we use to LOVE it!! I picked up a thing of the low-sodium version which was just alright and can't find that now either.
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ReplyDeleteThis soup definitely is not as good as the tomato bisque, but I have come to really like it. I think it's a bit bland, but a little Herbes de Provence or basil and/or sour cream really steps it up.
ReplyDeleteThis soup is awesome! I tried it during a 21 day liquid fast last month so of course, to me, it tasted like the back end of a meatball sub where the meat is all gone and there's nothing left but sauce and bread. Mmm yummy. Yeah the hunger may have played a big part in my enjoyment of this soup! However, I also had some sweet potato variety that made me want to gag That baby food mess is STILL sitting in my fridge.
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