Everybody in the US is familiar with soft pretzels, but those of us who grew up in Pennsylvania know them just a bit better than the rest. With a high percentage of German-Americans and a huge Pennsylvania Dutch community, PA produces 80% of the nation's pretzels. I even went to college with a guy whose aunt...is actually Auntie Anne, founder of the famous pretzel chain.
All that to say, my standards are pretty high. So how do Trader Joe's Soft Pretzel Twists hold up? Considering they're pre-packaged and shelf stable for a few days at least, they're not terrible. If you're just snacking on them straight out of the bag, you might not be blown away. But if you take great care to moisten them, heat them per the instructions, and apply the big, coarse granules of salt with precision, they're certainly passable.
Once again, we used our air fryer to heat the pretzels instead of the conventional oven. I just can't justify preheating the real oven just to stick a couple of pretzels in it for three minutes. At any rate, it worked. I was fine snacking on the pretzel by itself with maybe a dab or two of mustard. Sonia wasn't into the plain twists by themselves very much. She made pretzel dogs and quite enjoyed them that way, though. I did, too. If we'd had some pub cheddar on hand, they'd have been great dunked in it.
$3.49 for six soft pretzels. Kosher. Put this on the might repurchase list. Seven and a half out of ten stars from Sonia, who wishes the pretzels were bigger and came with regular salt rather than the oversized granules. Eight out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Soft Pretzel Twists.
I wasn't expecting much from this product, but it's surprisingly sweet and chuggable. It's not boring like plain coconut water and it's not quite as thick as your typical coconut milk. It's actually coconut water blended with tiny bits of coconut meat. I was bracing myself for something terribly chalky consistency-wise, but it actually comes off as creamy and smooth despite the pieces of coconut.
At $2.69 for just 8 oz, it's on the pricey side. But as usual, you get what you pay for. This product is imported from Thailand and is made from Nam Hom coconuts—apparently a highly sought after variety—and it shows.
Many specimens I've seen online are pink. Even the ones on TJ's own website show a very pink liquid in the bottle. The description on the packaging says the product "may take on a rosy hue." Ours stayed decidedly white for some reason. I'm fine with that. Sonia is too. Eight out of ten stars a piece for Trader Joe's Organic Coconut Smoothie.
Alrighty then. That's another unscripted video review down at the bottom of this post, so I'm just throwing out some bullet points about the product for you folks that enjoy my demented written ramblings or don't do YouTube for whatever reason...
The noodle rolls were very delicate by my estimation. They really wanted to stick to my pan and the shrimp even fell out of the rolls in a couple instances. There were plenty of shrimp and veggies, but there wasn't enough flavor. The bag even says to serve them with soy sauce or dipping sauce (not included). It was Trader Joe San Soyaki to the rescue. They were quite bland on their own.
$3.99 in the frozen section. Product of Vietnam. Listed as "Limited Time" on traderjoes.com. This item isn't awful, but we would not buy it again. Six and a half stars from me. Five and a half stars from Sonia for Trader Joe's Shrimp Noodle Rolls.
