Flavor-wise, Trader Joe's Pumpkin Flan is a pandemonium of pumpkin and pumpkin spice—a flandemonium, if you will. There's an off-putting aftertaste that really bugged Sonia. The spice blend is almost like potpourri. It's not subtle enough. There's an odd clove essence that just lingers long after you've finished your dish.
Furthermore, I actually taste the pumpkin puree. And by that, I mean I taste it too much. In my experience, good flan just doesn't need winter squash mixed into it.
For those of you who are new here, let's review. Sonia, the beautiful wifey or "la esposita bonita," is Latina and grew up with flan from a very young age. In fact, she can even make her own. While familiar with the dessert, I'm far from an expert, but we both gave Trader Joe's Caramel Flan the thumbs up with matching eight and a half star scores. We were both very pleasantly surprised.
That neutral, sweet caramel flavor is one of the things that made it so good—so much cleaner on the palate. So much safer. So much better executed.
Again, the texture here is very pleasant. The presentation is delightful. The ingredients list is top-notch and above board. Apparently pumpkin flan is widely recognized as a traditional holiday dessert in other parts of Latin America like Cuba and Puerto Rico, however, it's less common in Mexico. As Sonia puts it, "There's a reason nobody in my family ever made flan de calabaza." Perhaps it's just an acquired taste that neither of us has acquired yet.
$3.49 for two servings of pumpkin-flavored dessert found in the refrigerated section. In my opinion, there's just absolutely no reason to purchase this if the caramel flan is available. Feel free to disagree in the comments below. Six and a half stars from Sonia. Six out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Pumpkin Flan.
Bottom line: 6.25 out of 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment