Chinola Passion Fruit Liqueur

Neither Sonia nor I are super fond of heavy, syrupy liqueurs like this one by themselves, but as mixers, they can be interesting. Like the bottle suggests, this beverage is bursting with the flavor of passion fruit. It's very sweet and slightly tart, fairly thick yet velvety smooth and devoid of actual fruit pieces like your typical fruit nectar.

And let me tell ya', those Dominicans love their fruit nectars. I had a chance to visit the country on a mission trip in the early 2000s. We helped a little fishing village on the southern coast build a cinder block church on a concrete foundation. I sweated out what must have been about half my body weight each and every day down there. In addition to chugging obscene amounts of bottled water, I sampled these little white boxes full of fruit nectars including peach, pear, pineapple, and yes, even passion fruit. Somehow they were much more delicious than the fruit juices we typically find here in the US.

It wasn't particularly en vogue for the Christian missionaries to slip out of the bunkhouse to sample the local liquors, but if I'd been so bold, I might have discovered a Dominican rum or two back then. Chinola wasn't even founded until 2014, so I still would have missed out on the joy of passion fruit liqueur.

It's not bad on the rocks, but it's still quite syrupy sweet and thick. Mixed with a bit of rum and banana liqueur, it makes a delightful cocktail. It blends quite well with gin, as well. Sonia even enjoyed it mixed with actual banana and yogurt as a slightly spiked smoothie.

$25.99 for the 750 mL bottle. 21% alcohol by volume. Product of the Dominican Republic. Sold at Trader Joe's but not exclusively at Trader Joe's. Might buy again for a specific drink recipe. Sonia and I will go with seven and a half out of ten stars for Chinola Passion Fruit Liqueur.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Cinnamon Bun Pancake & Waffle Mix

"If you're gonna have carbs, have 'em first thing in the morning."

That's what Sonia always says. Makes sense. If you eat them early, you burn through them by the end of the day. It also helps optimize your metabolism and other good stuff.

Of course, it doesn't work if you keep eating carbs all day long and into the night. Not that I would know anything about that...

Anyway, we tried Trader Joe's Cinnamon Bun Inspired Pancake & Waffle Mix for the first time the other day and liked it for the most part. Sonia used the mix along with eggs, milk, and butter to whip up some batter and then poured it on her stovetop griddle to make pancakes. Yum.

There are little caches of cinnamon throughout the product, but both Sonia and I found ourselves pining for more cinnamon. The taste is quite reminiscent of a typical cinnamon bun but not nearly as indulgent. Add butter and maple syrup and you're getting a little more richness and sweetness, but it's still not on the same level as a true cinnamon bun in terms of comfort food status.

And for most folks, that's probably not a problem. It's just kind of a fun breakfast item that's not particularly decadent or fancy other than some cinnamon confectionery bits and brown sugar. But still, it's easy enough to make and the flavor is pleasant enough that we'd consider a repeat purchase.

$3.99 for the 16 oz box. We'll give Trader Joe's Cinnamon Bun Pancake Mix eight out of ten stars.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Chocolate Coffee Granola

So numerous readers and viewers mentioned this product when I posted my review of Trader Joe's Vanilla Almond Granola a couple weeks ago. I try not to look at two cereals so close together, let alone two fancy granola cereals, but hey, Trader Joe's has discontinued half of the other products I had on deck for review, so we've got slim pickings if we want to look at something that is currently relevant. I've heard only good things, so I'm excited to try it. Sonia, the coffee connoisseur, is also quite eager to taste test a bowl.

It's a rich, dark flavor—nearly equal parts coffee and dark chocolate. The cereal contains both cocoa powder and dark chocolate in the ingredients. Coffee extract appears further down the list but it's potent enough to shine through all the other elements. It's surprisingly not sweet to my tongue, but still quite pleasant overall.

Predictably, Sonia really enjoys it. She prefers this over the vanilla granola and most other Trader Joe's granola flavors. I like it about the same as the vanilla one, but I'm not hating on this flavor at all. On the contrary, I think most adults who appreciate the flavors of coffee and dark chocolate would gravitate to this option over the vanilla almond granola and most other cereal products at Trader Joe's or anywhere else.

The milk left at the end of the bowl is quite tasty, taking on whispers of both coffee and chocolate. Of course, it's a much lighter, creamier flavor than the cereal, but I find it even more appealing than the granola itself. Sonia is eager to try this product on yogurt or ice cream.

$3.99 for the 12 oz resealable bag. Kosher. Eight out of ten stars from Sonia. Seven and a half out of ten from me for Trader Joe's Chocolate Coffee Flavored Granola.

Bottom line: 7.75 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Salsa Verde

The base for most salsa verde is made from tomatillo. Meaning "little tomato" in Spanish, the tomatillo plant is not actually a type of tomato but a distant cousin, also a member of the nightshade family. As you can see, the first two ingredients in this product are tomatillo and green chili pepper, both of which are green, giving this salsa its signature earthy green hue.

The flavor? It's a refreshing, bright, lightly sweet yet tangy taste, not very spicy at all. It goes well as a topping for burritos, tacos, chimichangas, etc. It's not my favorite for chip dipping, though some may disagree.

Salsa verde is an integral part of Mexican cuisine, hence Sonia's proclivity for it. She often pairs it with black beans and rice and serves it as a side for just about any Mexican meal. She's even used it as a base for a very tasty white bean chicken chili soup.

There are plenty of seeds and tomatillo bits throughout the salsa, but I don't think anybody would call it "chunky" in any way. I'll admit it's nice to have a tomato-free option on the salsa shelf of our pantry. Also, both Sonia and I have grown more sensitive to spicy foods as we've grown older, so it's nice to have a milder option when we need it. This one shows about a 3/8 on the little chili spice-o-meter on the side of the jar. I might even put it a little lower than that, despite the presence of jalapeños.

$2.29 for the 12 oz jar. We both like Trader Joe's Salsa Verde but Sonia is definitely more into it than I am. She's purchased it many, many times over the past 15 years. Crazy we're just getting around to the review now. Eight and a half stars from the beautiful wifey for Trader Joe's Salsa Verde. I'll throw out seven and a half.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Salsa Autentica

In all our years reviewing Trader Joe's products, I'm fairly certain this salsa has been sitting there on the shelves pretty much the entire time. We finally decided to try it during our big salsa roundup video. At around 12:20 into the discussion, we taste test this Salsa Autentica for the first time.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much. It looked and poured a bit watery and thin—like your typical complimentary restaurant salsa. However, I found this one to be significantly tastier than most salsas of its kind. There's a smidge of heat, but I wouldn't say it's truly spicy. The little chili meter on the side shows it's 5/8 full. I think it's more like 3/8 on my chili meter.

It's not as good as the Pepita Salsa in terms of flavor and texture. And I'd generally prefer chunky selections like the Cowboy Caviar or Thick and Chunky Salsa over this one, especially for simple chip dipping, but the yellow chili pepper, onions, and garlic give it enough zesty flavor to make it worth a purchase. I think it works best when paired with beans or meat or poured over a taco so its thinness isn't quite so apparent.

Sonia says she'd like to play around with this salsa in some recipes she's eager to try. $2.29 for 12 oz. Not too pricey. Would buy again. Eight and a half stars from both Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Salsa Autentica.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Our FAVORITE Trader Joe's Brand Salsas!

Well, I guess it's "Cinco de Mayo weekend" if there is such a thing. Don't get us wrong, we like the Fourth of July and all that patriotic American stuff, too. But in case you needed an excuse to pig out on some good Mexican food and margaritas, Cinco de Mayo is just around the corner. Here's a video where we have a lengthy discussion about our favorite Trader Joe's brand salsas of all time. Maybe I'll circle back and put links to all the reviews of the products mentioned in the video, but for now, you'll just have to click play. Thanks for watching, and happy Cinco de Mayo (a couple days early)! 

Trader Joe's Organic Unfiltered Apple Juice

So...apparently most apple juice has all the cloudy stuff filtered out of it while this selection from Trader Joe's leaves it all in. It's still pasteurized and all that. Obviously, it's made with organic apples and there's no sugar or other juices added, so it sounds pretty healthy if nothing else. Let's see how it tastes.

It's good. I'd say it's slightly richer than your run-of-the-mill apple juice if that makes sense. It almost seems a tad less sweet, too, but not in a bad way at all. It's almost like half way between regular apple juice and apple cider to my tongue.

TJ's website mentions that there was an unfiltered apple juice on their shelves for 20 years that got discontinued in 2022 due to an organic apple shortage. Never heard about the apple shortage and I don't know if I remember that older version of this product. Sonia says she remembers it, but I don't think we ever got around to reviewing it for some reason. If you remember that product, let us know how it compares to this one in the comments.

$5.49 for the 64 oz bottle. Did we mention it's organic? Kosher too. Shelf stable until you open the bottle, it's found with the unrefrigerated juices. Sonia gives Trader Joe's Organic Unfiltered Apple Juice nine out of ten stars. I give it eight out of ten.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Crispy Oatmeal Cookies with Sea Salt

Why does Trader Joe's hate soft cookies? We've reviewed obscene amounts of cookies on this blog and very few have been truly soft and chewy. I mean, it is possible to make non-crispy pre-packaged cookies. Just ask Keebler and Nabisco.

That said, we keep buying their crispy cookies because once in a while there's a product that breaks the norm and impresses us. The most recent example of that would probably be the seasonal Italian Amaretti Cookies. They kinda need to be dunked to be amazing, but they're really freaking unique and tasty when served with java.

I think dunking improves any crunchy cookies, honestly. Whether it's coffee, hot cocoa, or just plain milk, dunking makes crispy cookies softer and often wakes up their flavors a bit, too. These oatmeal rounds are no exception.

Sonia and I both thought the sea salt concept was a little weird, but I mean "salty and sweet" is a thing, and if you like that combo...well, that's what we have here. You can taste the salt for sure, but it's not totally overbearing. If you dunk the cookie in coffee, the flavor of the beverage tends to overpower the saltiness.

All in all, this isn't a terrible product to nibble on here and there, but it doesn't do anything super special in our opinions. I would eat these again if they magically appeared in our pantry, but I wouldn't go out of my way to pick them up a second time.

$3.99 for the 7 oz box. Sonia will throw out seven and a half stars. I'll go with six and a half for Trader Joe's Crispy Oatmeal Cookies with Sea Salt.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Chicken Mole

Believe it or not, this is actually the third mole product we've reviewed on this blog. The earliest instance was back in 2012 in the form of a frozen dish that came with its own white rice. The second was a "pumpkin mole burrito" just five years back. The first was quite similar to this product and got a thumbs up from our team, and while the second wasn't a complete disaster, it was simply nothing like the mole that Sonia and I are used to.

For $6.99, you get a pound of mole here. It's similar to what Sonia would call "mole rojo" or red mole. The richness and color comes from a variety of peppers including pasilla and guajillo rather than chocolate or peanut butter. The packaging even states that "most moles don't contain chocolate." That was certainly not my experience in Los Angeles, with numerous co-workers and friends who grew up with the dish introducing me to chocolate or peanut butter-based moles almost universally—including Sonia and her family.

Nevertheless, this mole rojo will get a thumbs up from both Sonia and me despite it proclaiming so boldly that it's made with dark meat chicken. Sonia always grew up with mole that used chicken breast, and I'm a much bigger fan of white meat than dark meat.

The sauce is thick and bold enough that the type of meat doesn't matter much. It's mild to moderate in the spice department—I'd say about a 4 out of 10—and more importantly, it's quite flavorful and delicious. There are plenty of medium-sized chunks of shredded chicken throughout the dish and every bite has more than enough sauce. We served it with nothing but white rice and it worked out great.

Pick up this seven dollar product in the frozen aisle. It's a great introduction to the world of mole and less expensive than most restaurant offerings. We'd buy it again. Eight out of ten stars from Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Chicken Mole.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.