If you are new to Trader Joe’s, you may not know about
HOLIDAY PRODUCTS. Oh, November and December
are magical months at Trader Joe’s!!
Products appear on the shelves that you have never seen before (or at
least haven’t seen since last holiday season)!! The die hards (like me) rush to Trader Joe’s
as soon as word gets out that the holiday items are trickling in. And each trip to the grocery store turns into
an exciting journey – what will I find this time? What will be new? What special treat will make its way into my
cart???
It was in that holiday
haze that the FRUIT FANCIES made their way into our lives.
Aren't they pretty? And don't they look FANCY? I mean, the word FANCY is right there in the NAME! |
I asked my dad to make a funny face. He did. I love it. |
Only, we never got around to eating them in Omaha… So, they came back, unopened, then made their way to Florida! “We will bring them next door and share them
with the neighbors,” I reasoned. Only,
you see where this is going, we didn’t do that either.
Christmas Day 2017 - too busy to be bothered by Fruit Fancies... |
So, before you know it, it was the last day of January and
the Fruit Fancies were still unopened. But
after we ate dinner while watching “Amazing Race” (go team Brainiacs!) , David ripped
into these special treat, and, well, they ended up being not so special after
all… Oh, and before you say, “Susan, of course they
tasted like %&*#, they were a HOLIDAY ITEM and you let them sit until
almost February! They were too old!” –
N-O. They didn’t expire until 11/18.
OK, here is what we thought of them:
David: “Well, these
are different. They are like Fig Newtons that have even less
moisture in them, and perhaps a little extra fiber. They are dry.
The mouth feel is not a joy ride for me.
These things suck the moisture right out of your mouth! I give them a 1. The reason I am not giving
them a 0 is that they do not taste bad,
they just do not taste good. The box is alright, but it is a little skinny
to use for anything else. I have to
respect the dovetail jointing.”
David didn't fancy these, did fancy them at all. |
Susan: I am just
gonna say it – I was duped by the wooden, dovetailed box. They punked me! I think the term for this type of duped is “The Hickory Farm Effect”. You know how Hickory Farms always had (is it has – does PF still exist in the MALL SETTING
where they had special displays of meat and cheese for the holidays?) really
attractive PACKAGING? Like, “Put it in a
basket, then the dyed orange cheese with pimentos and nuts will sell!!”. Yeah – Trader Joe’s Hickory Farmed me with this one!
The treats looked very pretty in the packaging. Each one was topped with a whole nut on top –
some with almonds and some with walnuts.
The things that “encrusted” each piece – sesame seeds or coconut – looked
lovingly applied. Each piece looked like
a fancy, Mediterranean delight. To my EYES, they looked like they would taste
a bit exotic, sweet, a bit juicy, perhaps fig-like, and yummy.
But EYES are
not what actually TASTE things…
These are a product from Turkey. But they are not “from Turkey” in a sexy,
romantic, exotic kind of way. They are
not good. I ate 2 – one of each
variety. I thought David ate ONE, but
later learned he could only stomach ¼ of 1 and threw out the rest (that man never
throws out a sweet!!).
The NUT on top of each piece was nice, but there was only
one nut per piece. I guess a person
could just pop the nut off the top of each one and eat only that, but it would
be easier and cheaper just to head over to the TJ’s nut aisle and get yourself
a whole bag of nuts. I will give this
product a 1.5 (the majority of the
score is for the cool box and the nuts on top).
Sorry Trader Joe's, we don't really want these anymore.... |
Let this be a lesson to me (and to you): not ALL Trader
Joe’s holiday products are lovely. Even
the pretty ones are sometimes duds.
Luckily, Trader Joe’s happily accepts any returns, so we took this back. Our cashier saw the return and said, “Oh
yeah, I didn’t like those things either…” 😊 .
You can’t get this product at Trader Joe’s right now
since it was seasonal, but if it does come back next year, I suggest you pass. Grab some of the other delightful items, and
leave them for some other sucker to get Hickory Farmed.
Price: $5.99
Rating: 1.25
I think you mean Hickory Farms, not Pepperidge Farms (Milano and other cookies) and yes, they still sell summer sausages and cheeses at the mall at holiday time. Glad I skipped these!
ReplyDeleteBwahahaha!! Oh. My. Goodness. You are so right! I was not PEPPERIDGE FARMED, I was HICKORY FARMED! Thank you for catching that. :) My bad.
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