Honey Crisp Apple Cider is BACK!

Everyone who is a regular at Trader Joe's has their "go to" items, their favorites.  We mourn them if TJ's discontinues them.  But if they are seasonal, we DELIGHT when their season rolls around and they magically appear on the shelves again...

May I have a drum roll please....

Party in the juice aisle - Honey Crisp Apple Cider is BACK!

HONEY CRISP APPLE CIDER IS BACK AT TRADER JOE'S!!

If you haven't had the pleasure of drinking this cider, boy are you in for a treat :) .  It.  Is.  Delicious!  I have to warn you though - last year I developed a bit of an "addiction" to it...  Every afternoon last winter for about 90 days I would get incredibly sleepy around 3:00 pm.  It was like clockwork!  The clock struck 3:00, my yawning started.  But the yawning was accompanied by a CRAVING...  I neeeeeeeeed a mug of hot Trader Joe's Honey Crisp Apple Cider!  Lucky for me, that is an easy, healthy, cheap, and legal craving to satisfy!  So for about a month and a half there, I drank a mug of this warmed up every afternoon!

And, truth be told, I sort of drank too much of it.  "OD-ed" on it, if you will.  I had stocked up on a few bottles, but left them untouched until this fall rolled around.  I have since busted them open and resumed my adoration of this cider.  And you should, too!!!

Who has 2 thumbs and think this price point is perfect for a cider this good?  THIS GIRL!!

If you have tried the other TJ's ciders and think those are good - well I hate to say you are wrong, because we all have our own preferences.  But...  TRY THIS ONE, TOO!

And if you like it (and you will) make sure to squirrel away a few bottle down in your wine cellar (ok, seriously, is anyone who shops at TJ's rich enough to have a WINE CELLAR?  Perhaps I guess.  I squirrel away my collection WITH the wine in the basement, which just so happens to be stored in a rack on top of a shrunk (which is like an extra pantry closet). 

THIS IS THE ONE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR!

Wherever you have room to store it, all I am saying is, get a few bottles!  Because it is seasonal, and like most good things, seasons will change and this will disappear until next year. 

Price:  the same as it has been since I first wrote about it 2 years ago, $2.99 and not a penny higher
Rating: still an amazing 5 stars

New Zealand Sweet Apple Rings

I bought this bag of dried apples at the Omaha, Nebraska Trader Joe’s but ended up bringing with us on a long flight to Los Angeles.  I thought, “Dried fruit will be great to munch on while on the flight or while driving from LA to Palm Springs!”.  It turns out, in David’s mind at least, I was oh so wrong…

From New Zealand - they must be exotic and delicious, right????

I have to confess that the MARKETING message swayed my purchase.  I am embarrassed to admit it, but the fact that these were not just “apple rings” but NEW ZEALAND Sweet Apple Rings did make me think they might taste exotic, fancy, New Zealand-y.  The front of the package says they are Braeburn, Royal Gala, and “Seasonal Varieties” of apples, but if you read the fine print on the back you see that “seasonal varieties” must mean Fuji and Pink Lady apples.  I guess TJ’s thinks “seasonal varieties” sounds sexier than listing them all out, and that must’ve worked on me, cuz I bought ‘em.

And David was not a fan.  Here is what he said, “No likey.  It’s not pungent.  It’s dry.  Leathery.  A little big cardboard-y.  It has none of the juiciness, none of the tartness, none of the FLAVOR that makes an apple worth chewing.  Umm…  It has a lot of PULPINESS (said with a disgusted look on face…) if you like that sort of thing…  I do not like these.  They taste a little bit of some desiccating agent that maybe they sprinkled on it…  I don’t know what that would be.  Maybe some sugar, salty, some sort of FLAVORING??  (When I explained they are unsulfured and unsweetened, he retorted “Well then I guess they are just naturally UNTASTY!”).  They have all the flavor of a Red Delicious apple (which David dislikes…).  I give them a 1.”

Us at the wedding in Palm Springs, CA.  We disagreed on the dried apples, but agreed that the wedding was lovely.

I did not think they were as horrible as David did.  We do not normally buy dried apples.  I think I have only had them before as little squares in dried fruit mixes (not from TJ’s).  And those little apple square bits were always my favorites in the mix!  I would pick them out of the bag and eat them first. They were always tasty and somehow JUICY, even though they were DRIED, and had a good texture.  So when I saw this bag at TJ’s that was JUST THE APPLES, I thought BINGO, a whole bag of the best part of dried fruit mixes!!   Sadly, these are not as good as the little squares I remember from my youth.

Omaha TJ's signage.  I think David would disagree with the "sweet and lovely" part.
And, umm, why is there a squirrel playing a banjo on the sign?

I disagree with David’s “cardboard-y” assessment.  I think they do have moisture in them, but they do not have a lot of taste.  They are a little boring and bland.  You would NOT want to eat the whole big ass 8 oz bag in one sitting.  David ate ONE apple ring on the airplane and I had to force feed him one more on the car ride just to get his review.  The package says the serving size is ten rings, but David theory is that if you ate ten of them you would throw up.  J  (He exaggerates if you ask me, they are not that bad.) 

David was the officiant of the wedding.  Check out how well he tied his bow tie!!

I think if you have kids and you pack a lunch for them, you could put 4 or 5 of these apple rings into a Tupperware container or baggy for a healthy dessert or snack.  (David says if you pack these in a kid’s lunch it is child abuse…)   Or if you work at a desk I can see eating 4 or 5 of these in the afternoon with a cup of tea.  You might be able to bake with them, but I haven’t tried that.  I think I will sneak some of these in David’s lunchbox when he is not looking.  I suspect they will still be in there when he gets home, unless he cons an unsuspecting coworker into eating them. 

I give these a 2.75.

Since David was so down on these things, I thought it would be good to get a 3^rd opinion, so I chose Adelaide.  She just turned 2 and was attending the same wedding in Palm Springs that we went to.  Being only 2 years old, she doesn’t really TALK all that much…  But I gave her some apple rings and she really liked ‘em!!!  She two fisted it for a while – apple ring in each hand.  And she was happy to put a few apple rings in her dad’s pocket so she could eat more later (her shorts had fake pockets (fockets) so she couldn’t tote the rings around herself).  Anyway, Adelaide thought they were really yummy.  If she could talk and knew her numbers, I think she would give them a 4. 

Adelaide helped me with a bit of artwork

Would I buy them again for US?  No.  Would I buy them again if Adelaide and her brother and sister came to visit?  Sure enough.

Adelaide taking a quick dip in the pool with her dad

Price – $3.49

Rating (average of 3 raters, one of which was too little to give her own score so I had to surmise it…) – 2.5

Day 236 - New Day South Cider

This is a pretty good cider.  We got it at the Indianapolis Trader Joe’s, where the employees are kind and friendly.  We wanted some local products so this one jumped out at us. (Of course it did not literally jump out…  When I say “jumped out” I mean I NOTICED it as being made in Indianapolis…)

See - the sign says FROM INDIANAPOLIS, IN - so it is LOCAL!

We drank this cider served very cold in a glass (not from the bottle).  Perhaps we were trying to be fancy, I do not know.  J

It is dry (ish) and has an apple-y flavor, but not as apple-y as some other ciders, which in my opinion is a good thing.

Sorry, this photo is a bit blurry.  And it was taken BEFORE I had anything to drink!

This cider would be a good drink for an evening where you want something refreshing to drink but are not quite in the mood for beer.  It comes in a good sized bottle- 16.9 ozs (we shared one).  It would be nice served with a sharp cheddar on a fresh baguette.

Me pretending to chug a cider while still in the store.  Note the cap is still on...

If you are in an area where they sell this (I am guessing only Indiana), it is worth a try.

Price - $5.49

Rating – 3.75

Day 222 - Cripps Pink Apple

We are not hip.  I mean, if you could not figure that out from the fact that I take the time to write about a GROCERY STORE every day, or from looking at our photos on here…  We are in fact a bit quirky and dorky.  Ok, a lot quirky and a bit dorky. 

So, when I saw this CrippsPink Apple, a variety I had never seen before, I immediately thought of the Crips (is it Cripps?  Crips?  Krips? ) GANG.  I do not even know if the Crips are still a gang.  Are they??  Ok, I looked it up on Wikipedia.  It is spelled Crips, and yes, they are still a gang.  Here is the link if you would like to know more:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crips

All of this is to say, this apple made me think of a GANG, which might not be the best correlation for a piece of fruit.  But I asked David to throw a gang sign and here is what he came up with.  I think it looks more like Sue from “Glee” (“And THAT is how Sue sees it!”) than a gang member, but hey, it’s all good.

David, a faux member of the Cripps, a faux gang of produce lovers

Now, to the review.  We ate this apple with our breakfast and here is what we thought:

Susan – This apple has a good crunch.  What is LACKS is enough flavor.  The color of the outside is dull-ish and the flavor on the inside is dull-ish (so I guess it is consistent).  In a head to head battle the Cripps apple would lose to the Honeycrisp apple every single round.  I rate it a 2.5.

Dull.  Not juicy.  Not tasty.  No thanks.

David – It’s okay.  It has a lot of texture.  It’s pretty mild, not very juicy.  Not tart.  It is fairly sweet.  It is kind of unsatisfying.  I give it a 3.

This apple does not go on our imaginary list of favorite produce.  I doubt we will bother with it again.

Price - .79 piece

Rating (average of 2 raters) – 2.75

Day 156 - Very Green 100% Juice Smoothie

We visited YET ANOTHER Trader Joe’s today!!!  This one was in Pembroke Pines, FL.  The Captain (manager), I think her name was Sarah, was super sweet.  And I really liked some of the signage in this store – it was all beach-y/Florida themes!  Nice. 

Their sample area is called THE GECKO GALLEY - perfect for Florida!!

This was a big painted sign on the front window - "Trader Joe's, where shopping is always a picnic"  :)

One product we picked up was the Very Green 100% Juice Smoothie.  While I adore green veggies, we do not often drink green drinks.  David, in fact, wrinkled up his nose at the prospect of tasting this…

You can tell he is thinking, "Do I really have this??  It is YOUR project, Susan...."

The label on the front says this smoothie is a blend of banana, mango and kiwi purees, apple and pineapple juice, and (I quote) “green foods and other added ingredients”.  Hmmm….  The “green foods” part was a bit off-putting…  Green WHAT?  Oh sure, I doubt it would be green M&Ms, but still, why the secret???  However, when I took time to read the nutritional information, I found out what all of the ingredients were, including the seemingly top secret ones not listed on the front:  apple juice, banana puree, mango puree, pineapple juice, kiwi puree, spirulina, chlorella (what the hell is that one??), natural flavor, dried greens blend (broccoli, spinach, barley grass, ginger, blue green algae, parsley, garlic).

GARLIC?  In a SMOOTHIE? 

As you can see it really IS very green!

But guess what?  It is not half bad!  It says 2 servings, and I would say that is accurate, not sure I would want to chug the whole 16 oz container in one sitting, but it was good.  The first and strongest taste I got was banana (ironic, since bananas are not green, unless of course you are eating/drinking unripe bananas…).  We also could taste the mango and apple juice and perhaps a hint of pineapple.  It tasted like I was drinking something HEALTHY, but not like I was trying to force down medicine or anything.   I think it is quite expensive for the amount of drink you get, but I guess if you think of the cost of all of the ingredients it is probably not over-priced.

And guess what again?  EVEN DAVID LIKED IT!  Oh sure, at first he only took a teeny tiny sip cuz he was nervous.  But after a drink or two he had to admit that it was good.

Price - $2.99

Rating – 3.75

Day 132 - Fleur De Sel Caramel Sauce

This.  Sauce.  Is.  Amazing.

Seriously, this is good stuff.  You need to get a jar, and then you once you lick every bit of caramel out of THAT jar, you will get another, and another, and another…

This is the jar!!!  Get it!  At our Trader Joe's it is in the baking section.

I try to make sure we keep one of these in our fridge.  Cuz you never know when you are going to need to dip an apple slice in caramel…  Or have some vanilla ice cream that could use some sprucing up with a drizzle of warm caramel sauce.  Or some blueberries that want a topping.  Or a slice of apple pie that could use some pizzazz…  Or, oh, oh, oh, I just remembered this lusciousness I invented – a crumpet with oozing butter, thin banana slices, and warm caramel sauce…  OH MAN am I getting hungry!

Just look at it!!!  Isn't it lovely?  It is even more DELICIOUS than it is pretty

The only “bad” thing I can even think of to say about this product is that it is hard to get out of the jar.  We keep it in the fridge after we open it, and it seems weird to me to heat the whole jar up in the microwave if we are only going to use some of it, only to have to cool the rest of it down in the fridge again.  So I try and scoop the right amount out and put it in a little dish to heat up, but it is tough to scoop out.  It is a two spoon affair.

But I cannot hold that against this caramel sauce.  Dinging it for that little issue would be cruel. 

Get this.  Eat it.  Love it.

Price – $3.49 (a bargain for this much goodness packed into a jar)

Rating - 5

Day 110 - Opal Apples

You might think, an apple is an apple.  But not so fast, my friend, not so fast.  Haven’t you ever heard of a “bad apple”??  I was a wee bit nervous when I saw the Opal Apple at Trader Joe’s.  It looked like a cousin to the Golden Delicious Apple, which (in my opinion) is anything but delicious (talk about a misnamed fruit!).  Golden Delicious apples (again, my opinion only…) tend to be dry, pasty, and bland.  So when this “new” (to me) apple caught my eye but looked slightly like a Golden Delicious, I was leery.  But I needn’t have been!

Opal Apples - only $.89 and taste so good

Opal Apples are lovely!  They are not at all mushy.  They are not DRY, but they are not so drippy wet that you get juice down your chin.  They are sweet.  They crunch.  They are GOOD!  I ate one just alone as an apple and dipped another one in a luscious caramel sauce from Trader Joe’s (to be reviewed soon).  Both ways they tasted grand!  I wonder how they would fare in a pie…

In general, Trader Joe’s produce is sold by the PIECE.  This is cool, because you know before you get to the register what you are in for.  And for the couple of products I have price compared with other stores, the “by the piece” method as opposed to “by weight” saves you money at Trader Joe’s.

Try an Opal Apple! 

Price – $.89

Rating - 4