I got blank stares and comments like "I don't like vegetables in my dessert" or "It just sounds gross to me." I mean what the WHAT? I get it if you had a few bites when you were a kid and noped out because it was too spicy or it didn't have enough whipped cream but I just don't get how'd you'd get to be an adult and never even tasted pumpkin pie. One of these instances was in college and the other was as a young adult in a major US city. I don't know if that makes a difference. I think chances of this type of travesty ever occurring in smaller towns out in the countryside would be far lower than either of the instances I named, but still...this happened to me TWICE. Not once, but twice was I made to feel like a freak because I had regularly consumed pumpkin pie around Thanksgiving time. Weird, right?
Anyway, I love me some pumpkin pie. And even I could count on one hand the number of times I've had a homemade pumpkin pie. Neither of my parents were skilled at baking and neither ever tried their hand at making pumpkin pie. We had some decent bakeries in my hometown that sold products that were pretty darn close to homemade. So we'd just buy those...or the stuff they made at the big grocery stores.
So I'm primarily comparing this product to other store-bought specimens—nothing gourmet, nothing baked up fresh by grandma—just your average, run-of-the-mill grocery market fare. And to me, Trader Joe's offering stacks up pretty well. I'm surprised by the amount of negative comments I've seen online about this product.
Some folks simply say they prefer other big grocery store chain pumpkin pies. Others say it has a cheesecake vibe that's off-putting somehow. More still say it tastes fake. I, personally, don't know what pumpkin pies these folks are eating and comparing TJ's offering to, but I think this is one of the best store-bought pumpkin pies I've ever had. If you've got a store-bought pumpkin pie in mind that you think is hand-down better than Trader Joe's, please let me know in the comments, and I will go out of my way to try it for Thanksgiving or Christmas—if not this year, then some year soon.
Sonia likes this pumpkin pie, too. She didn't grow up eating the dessert quite as regularly as I did, but she's had her share, especially in recent years, and she's a fan of this one. She thinks the density that others find unpleasant is the very reason she likes this one so much. We both agree it's quite yummy, especially with a lot of whipped cream.
$6.99 for a nine inch pumpkin pie, found in the baked goods section. Kosher. Would buy again. The beautiful wifey and I will both go with eight out of ten stars for Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie.
Bottom line: 8 out of 10.
I just picked up the pumpkin pie and I liked it. It was a tad less sweet than others, which is good.
ReplyDeleteYes. "A tad less sweet" is accurate. Thanks for pointing that out.
DeleteI bought one for Christmas and while it's not awful it's not a traditional pumpkin pie flavor to me. The price is right and I generally like Trader Joe's, but I like Costco pumpkin pie better (just tried a piece at work a few days ago since someone brought one in). I also like Safeway better, though their pies are a little on the bland and boring side.
ReplyDeleteWhat's I didn't love is mostly the extra tang like they dumped yogurt in it. It's also quite ginger forward (which I'm ok with).
I can't quite figure where the tangy yogurt taste comes from. Maybe the "cultured dextrose" in the ingredients? There is also a dry milk ingredient and a bunch of thickeners like inulin and other stuff.
I don't really mind the extra thickening, but the yogurt tang is a turn off to me. If I wanted cheesecake, I'd buy cheesecake and not a pumpkin pie.
Dextrose is a sugar, so shouldn't add tanginess, but I think the "cultured" part means they've added bacteria to the sugar so the bacteria are pooping out their bacteria waste (which is exactly what bacteria do in yogurt and vinegar).
It probably makes the product more acidic and maybe that helps it to have a better shelf life sitting out there unrefrigerated. Probably some of the food spoilage bacteria don't grow as well in an acidic environment so it's great for Trader Joe's to pump the pie through their supply chain with the preservative in there that way.
But I'm not a fan of yogurt or vinegar taste in my pumpkin pie. It also leaves a weird aftertaste in my mouth.
The pie won't go to waste and putting whipped cream on top masks the tangy flavor some.
But I gotta say that I'm not much of a fan of their tangy yogurt/baby-puke flavor in the pumpkin pie. Maybe a lot of people can't taste the difference, but I sure can and I'm not a fan of that taste in there.
I don't mind tangy in the right places. But pumpkin pie isn't where you should be putting that flavor.
Merry Christmas, Scott.
Delete