Let's get this Halloween month kicked off right with a seasonally-appropriate set of spooky gummy candies. Not to be confused with Trader Joe's Halloween Gummies, these felines and flittermice are sour snacks. We've got green, purple, and orange bat and cat shapes here, as opposed to skeletons, skulls, and pumpkins.
Ever since the departure of Trader Joe's delicious sour T's and J's, we've been pining for a replacement. There's been a contender or two for sure, but nothing has taken the title from those discontinued sour citrus legends. These gummies have their work cut out for them.
And once again, they're okay. Not stellar. But not bad. What I like here: these gluten-free and kosher gummy candies are all natural, colored with fruit and vegetable juices—as are many of Trader Joe's candies—and they contain no animal gelatin. They come in a resealable plastic bag for freshness. They're soft and chewy and covered in a generous amount of sour sugar.
They are indeed somewhat tart, but they're not super sour. I think each of the three colors in the bag represents a different flavor. Only the orange flavor really appealed to me. The other two are okay. I guess I might find them more interesting if I knew what they were supposed to be. The orange flavor might be, you know, orange. The purple ones don't taste much like grape to me but that might have been what they were going for. The green ones? I'm thinking sour apple...but they're definitely not the best sour apple candy I've tasted.
In the end, they're a fun treat with decent ingredients. Kids would probably love 'em. I don't think we'll have any problems finishing the bag, but Sonia and I probably wouldn't pick this particular product up again unless we had children coming around for some reason. $3.49 for the 14 oz bag. We'll go with seven out of ten stars on Trader Joe's Spooky Bats & Cats Sour Gummy Candies.
Considering all the unusual things we've seen pumpkin-spicified over the years, cold brew coffee seems downright tame in comparison. Pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin spice coffee are some of the first pumpkin spice products I ever heard of. If they can make macarons, mochi, and madeleines work, you'd think cold coffee would be a walk in the park.
Well, maybe not. Sonia is way more into pumpkin spice beverages than I am, and even she has yet to find an acceptable cold coffee pumpkin spice product. Starbucks, Stok, Dunkin—none of them hit the mark according to the beautiful wifey. This Trader Joe's offering is no exception.
No matter what I mixed it with or how much I diluted it, there was still that notion that I was sipping on a scented candle. Sonia preferred the term "potpourri," but the essence is still the same. It just doesn't taste like good pumpkin spice to us, but more like a batch of chemical-laden cleaning products.
The bottle says to mix one part of the concentrate to two parts water or milk. It's slightly more palatable with milk, I'll admit, but still nowhere close to anything I'd reach for with any regularity.
Sonia has a bottle of Hollander's pumpkin pie syrup this fall, and she's been putting it in everything from beverages to breakfast foods and raving about it constantly. A generous dollop or three greatly improved the flavor of this cold brew beverage. Even I have to admit it's excellent stuff. Unfortunately, they do not currently sell it at Trader Joe's.
While I'm not a huge fan, Sonia likes Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Hot Coffee (which is apparently now available in K-Cups). But we both agree this particular product won't be a repeat purchase. $8.99 for the eight serving bottle. Five out of ten stars from Sonia. Three out of ten stars from me.
Cranking out review after review, day after day, week after week gets old after a while. Sometimes, I just lose inspiration and don't want to post on this blog at all. And then I'll fix breakfast or lunch and open up a TJ's product I haven't tried yet and it just absolutely blows me away and suddenly I remember the spirit that instituted this site in the first place.
That's what happened here. This sauce is delicious. I thought for sure it was going to be a repeat of last year's Chunky Garlic & Jalapeño Hot Sauce. For the life of me, I can't see what the fuss is about with that stuff. But this? Have you tried it? Holy cow. It's sweet like a sweet potato and spicy like a habanero pepper.
It looks just like the aforementioned garlic and jalapeño sauce, except that one was red and this one is an unappealing brownish-greenish color. I still wouldn't call this one "chunky," but it has tiny bits of veggies floating around in it much like its predecessor. But the flavor? Oh man, this has a wonderful bright zing to it and a burst of flavorful heat. It's got a significant amount of kick, but it's not over the top either. White vinegar is the number one ingredient but it's well-balanced with sweet potato and habanero deliciousness.
So far, we've tried it with eggs, chicken, and beef. We've used it in tacos, chili, and omelets, and it works quite well in every case. This is my new favorite hot sauce and quite possibly my new favorite condiment, period.
It might be a seasonal item. After all, sweet potato is a fall flavor. I better stock up if that's the case. If you don't like spicy foods, you might wanna sit this one out. It's also conceivable some folks will find it too sweet. Otherwise, I can't recommend it highly enough. The beautiful wifey loves it as well.
$2.99 for 5 fluid ounces. This looks like a pantheon product all the way. Let's go with nine out of ten stars from Sonia and me on Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Habanero Hot Sauce.
