Wasabi Mayo - a CLASSIC RETURNS

And no sooner had I ranted and raved about Wasabi Mayo disappearing from the shelves of Trader Joe's did it RETURN!  If only all discontinued products had the same fate!  (Well, all of the good discontinued products that is.  I am perfectly fine if they stop selling the crappy products forever :) ).

Wasabi Mayo - I was sad it was gone, and I am psyched it is back!!!

But seriously, Wasabi Mayo is a king among condiments.  Wasabi Mayo is creamy.  It is sharp.  It is spicy.  It is freakin' awesome.  And I am glad it is back.  Here is a link to my original review of it:  Wasabi Mayo Review

Same great price - well worth the 3 bucks I swear

I have purchased a new jar, of coooourse, but I have not opened it yet to give it a taste.  I still have a teeny weenie little bit left in my old jar, the one I have been hoarding and using with extreme caution ever since I learned they pulled this mayo off the shelves.  Word on the street was that the NEW version might be from a different manufacturer.  I put the two jars side by side so we could take a quick peek:

Old jar on the left, new jar on the right

I guess I won't know for sure if this new version tastes the same until I crack it open and eat some!  And now that I know I can get MORE, I do not have to fret about finishing my old jar.

Life is good.

Me, having a quiet moment with my Wasabi Mayo while in the wine department

(P.S. - I am a pretty easy girl to please really!)

(P.P.S. - David was out of town at CLOWN CAMP last week, so instead of grocery shopping with him I went alone.  That means that these photos of me with mayo were taken by ME.  Alone.  In Trader Joe's.  Cuz we do not normally look foolish enough when we snap a zillion photos in TJs, so this time I had to set my camera up on a timer while kissing one of my favorite products...)

Discontinuing Products Sucks

I fully understand that Trader Joe's cannot carry EVERYTHING all the time.

Trust me, I get that!!  The stores would have to be huge ("These stores are yuuuuge, the yuuuugest stores you have ever seen...").  

But I just need to take a teeny tiny moment to WHINE, to complain, to bitch about something:  WHY DOES IT ALWAYS SEEM LIKE THEY DISCONTINUE THE GOOD STUFF???

Most recently I was sad to discover that the amazing condiment WASABI MAYONNAISE is no longer on the shelves.  Wasabi Mayo is gone!!  And that sucks.  Cuz it was really a special product, one that I have never gotten anywhere else.  It was the bomb smeared on white bread with some cheese and lunch meat - made the zingiest little sandwich on the planet.  

This.  THIS is how I feel when I go to Trader Joe's to get Wasabi Mayo and find it is DISCONTINUED.  As my mom used to say, "I wanna wring somebody's neck!".  (Now that I think about it, that was a pretty mean thing of my mom to say...)

Here is the original review of Wasabi Mayo (may-o it rest in peace...):  Wasabi Mayo Review

But nooooo, Trader Joe's had to go and ruin it.  Sigh.

Other notable discontinued products that I loved are Sambal Matah Sauce and Bollywood Popcorn (reviewed here:  Bollywood Popcorn ).  They keep the CRAPPY stuff (did someone say "Inner Peas" - Inner Peas review  and "Black Bean Rotini" - Black Bean Rotini review ) and they get rid of the super unique, interesting things.  It is just frustrating sometimes.

Did you like Bollywood Popcorn?  TOO BAD FOR YOU!
Cuz they stopped selling it.  Boo hiss.

But THESE crappy things, oh these are still on the shelves...

Oh, and course you can still get the barf inducing Black Bean Rotini...

And yes, before you lecture me, we COULD get a jar of regular mayo and mix in wasabi, like the TJ's guy told us to do.  But realllllly, when Trader Joe's could just SELL US A REAL JAR OF WASABI MAYO, should we have to DIY it???

Thanks for letting me vent.  Please comment below and tell me what products Trader Joe's discontinued that YOU loved!!  Maybe it we all get our gripes out here we will feel a wee bit better.  

P.S. - we also really liked TJ's Sambal Matah sauce.  Heck, they didn't even carry that delicious jar long enough for me to review it!  

Day 295 - Mayonnaise

David is the main mayo eater in our house.  He loves mayo.  Specifically, he loves HELLMANN’S.  But he was willing to experiment and try TJ’s mayonnaise for the sake of this blog.  He is a good sport.  After trying it, here is what he said:  “TJ’s mayo is a GOOD mayonnaise; it is just not to my taste.  I grew up on Hellmann’s mayo and I like the lemony, fresh ZING flavor in it.  The TJ’s is not quite as lemony, not quite as zingy of a flavor.”

David pre-taste test - a nervous man afraid he may have to give up his mayo....

I think that the TJ’s variety tastes a little sweeter (which is ironic, in that it has no added sweeteners…  Go figure…).  We did a blind side by side taste test.  I put a cloth over David’s eyes and had him taste blobs of each brand of mayo.  I even tried to TRICK him and give him two samples of the TJ’s one in a row, but he KNEW.  He could totally taste the difference. 

This is a good example of name brand loyalty.  David grew up on one brand, Hellmann’s.  The taste of Hellmann’s is, to him, the taste of MAYO.  The Trader Joe’s brand just doesn’t taste “right” to him.

It is not BAD, it really isn't!!  It just doesn't taste like the mayo he grew up slatering on his sandwiches

Before I began this year long project, I thought that store brands (plain label brands) were “beneath” name brand goods.  I felt that name products were superior.  But this year of eating so many Trader Joe’s branded products has opened my eyes to the fact that my preconceived notion about plain labels was often WRONG.  The vast majority of TJ’s brand things we have tried have been equal to and often times BETTER than more expensive “fancy brands”. 

But every once in a while, there is a name brand product that you just can’t bear to give up.  The store brand just tastes DIFFERENT.  That is not to say it is BAD, it just doesn’t taste like what you are used to.  And in those instances, it is worth paying a little bit more to have the taste you love.

Very good price

Here is the price comparison between the TJ’s brand and Hellmann’s:

Hellmann’s - $5.29 for 30 fl oz

Trader Joe’s - $3.99 for 32 fl oz

David did some math for me and figured out that the Trader Joe’s brand is about .5 cents cheaper per ounce.  That is a good cost savings if you like the taste!

All that being said, we will go back to Hellmann’s.  We will spend a bit more to keep my main squeeze happy.  Cuz if David ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.  J

Price – $3.99

Rating – 3.5