Mango Coconut Flavored Caramel Corn

It looks like a good idea for a snack food, no??

We ate this Mango Coconut Flavored Caramel Corn while on a road trip.  We were on I-95 somewhere in Southern Virginia when I busted the bag out.  I had picked it up at TJ’s during a MANGO RUN one day when I was throwing a plethora of mango items into our cart.   I should have paid more attention to the quiet conversation between two TJ’s employees that I overheard that day…  One, pointing to a bag of this snack, said, “Have you tried this yet??” with a sort of glazed look on his face.  The other employee replied, “Ummm, yeah, I did…  It’s not great…  But it might be, like, a good PICNIC food or something…”.

WHY didn’t I heed the warning signs and take it out of my cart then?

Look - David thought it would be an IMPROVEMENT on your everyday, run of the mill caramel corn...

Here is what David, who was driving while taste testing this, said, “This is NOT an improvement on caramel corn.  In fact, it is a DE-provement.  It is like somebody squeezed a coconut and dripped the coconut pee all over your good caramel corn.  I didn’t even remember that there was supposed to be mango associated with it, but I can only presume that mango is what gives it that sort of “too-flavorful-like-somebody-has-rubbed-an-air-freshener-dangling-from-their-rear-view-mirror” onto the popcorn after the coconut pee has been on it.  I am gonna give this a 2.5, and hope that god rewards me in heaven for my charity.”

He wasn't as happy with it here, in the car, after he had actually TASTED it

Side note:  DAVID LOVES ROAD TRIP SNACKS.  He would eat snacks the entire 14 hour drive in the car if he could.  In fact, he has eaten so many “natural” (white cheddar) Cheetos on a road trip once that he got sick.  All of this is to say, David will basically eat ANYTHING on a road trip (except an Arby’s sandwich, he draws the line at Arby’s “meat”…).  Yet, I still had to practically force him to eat bites 3 and 4 of this popcorn so that he would have tasted enough to form a considered opinion for this review. 

As for me, I regret buying this.  At the time, it seemed like a good idea.  But even when I pulled this out of the bag of road trip snacks to open it, I was hesitant.  After we tasted the first bite I understood why I was nervous to try it. 

Misleading (but clever) signage.  I wouldn't say there was a "party" in this bag of popcorn.  I would say there was an
AIR FRESHENER in this bag of popcorn.

First off, when you open the bag, it SMELLS BAD.  It doesn’t smell like FOOD.  David hit the nail on the head when he called it an “air freshener”.  That’s what it smells like!  And the mango tastes fakey to me.  I don’t imagine it is – I mean, most stuff at TJ’s is pretty darn healthy, but it tastes fake in this product.

The coconut tastes like suntan lotion – ewww.  We love caramel corn!  So honestly, this product could have been a big winner!  Like, an improvement on caramel corn!  If they nailed the flavoring on this one I think we would have really liked it.  But I would rather have naked caramel corn any day of the week than this.

We adore Trader Joe’s Caramel and Cheddar Mix (formerly known as Chicago Style) – reviewed here.  You should buy THAT instead of this yucky seasonal caramel corn.  As for the Mango Coconut Flavored Caramel Corn, they need to nix the mango and coconut flavorings and just make it plain ol’ caramel corn – that would be yummy. 

We don't like to return stuff, but we just had to bring this bag back.
 Not to worry though, we filled our cart with our yummy stuff at Trader Joe's!

David says that even though he remembers eating so many Cheetos before on a road trip that he threw up, he prefers to eat the last 1/3 of the bag of Cheetos that remain in the car and risk getting sick again instead of eating more of this caramel corn.  (David also ate at least 8 store bought chocolate chip cookies on this road trip…  We are all about the healthy, apparently!!)

I am surprised at David’s high rating of this.  I can’t give it any higher than a 2.  I recommend you do not buy this one.   David (in a rather hesitant voice) says, “It is CRUNCHY, and this IS some caramel in there…  So if you are desperate, it’ll do….”

BONUS ROAD TRIP PHOTO!!!  No drive down I-95 would be complete without a stop at SOUTH OF THE BORDER!!!!  And I have a new photo series called "Dhavid's Dhoti" - where he wears his dhoti (men's attire from Southern India) in fun and interesting locations!  So here is Dhavid at South of the Border!!  Classy, no??

Dhavid's Dhoti at SOB

Price – $2.99

Rating (average of 2 raters) – 2.25

Day 258 - Popcorn in a Pickle

This is a product I DID NOT want to get.  PICKLE POPCORN?  Doesn’t it sound disgusting???  I mean really – I like PICKLES and I like POPCORN – but I thought, “Let’s just keep it at that…  Pickles and/or popcorn.  Not pickle flavored popcorn!  Ewwwww.”  To me it sounded like something a pregnant woman might crave.

Look - David was not too sure about this one either....  We got it at the Indianapolis Trader Joe's\

BUT (that is a big BUT) a friend of ours, Tony, told us Pickle Popcorn was fabbbbbulous.  It was great, according to TONY…  He even had a clever name for it, “5 minute popcorn”.  He said it should be called that cuz once you open a bag it is gone in 5 minutes.  Tony was a student of David’s many years ago.  Tony and his wife Beth sang in our wedding!  Tony and his family recently came to visit us and even helped us rate some products after we all shared a dinner on the front porch (see the whole gang in a funny photo and read one of the reviews they helped with here - http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/07/193-triple-ginger-snap-cookies.html  )

So what I am saying is, TONY IS A GREAT GUY.  We needed to at least T-R-Y this disgusting sounding popcorn if he was raving about it.  I also talked with a stranger in the Indianapolis Trader Joe’s who had this popcorn in his cart and said his family looooved it. 

So we got a bag to take with us on a road trip.

Multiple warning lights on our dashboard...  Not looking good...

Only, the road trip got off to a really rocky start.  Before we could even get out of town nearly every warning light on the dashboard of our Prius was lit up!  We had a 9 hour drive ahead of us but obviously couldn’t keep going without getting the car looked at.  We pulled into the nearest Toyota dealership, sat in the sparse, cold “customer lounge” waiting to hear how much we were going to have to pay to fix our 2005 car with over 160k miles on it, and OPENED THE PICKLE POPCORN…

We had it, might as well TRY it...

The first bite of popcorn was YUCK-O-RAMA.  Yet, it was intriguing… 

So it led to a 2^nd bite…

Which led to a 3^rd bite…

(Which led to a 4^th and 5^th bite – you get the picture here…)

It didn’t take me long to realize that Tony was correct – this popcorn could easily become addictive.  It tastes exactly like dill pickles, yet it is POPCORN.  It is the texture of popcorn with the taste of pickles.  It has just enough salt.  The pickle flavor is not overpowering.  Overall it is quite nice!

David says, “My first bite was, ‘What the HUH?  Are you KIDDING me??’.  But then later it was kinda goooood.  Not bad!  Quirky!  I am not sure it would ever replace my love of white cheddar cheese popcorn, but a nice refreshing change.  And a good example of ‘high marks for thinking outside the box and making it work’.”

David then invented an even FURTHER outside the box flavor combination by pairing PICKLE POPCORN with an OVER RIPE BANANA (washed down by Pepsi).  Ewwwwwwwwwwww.  If pickle flavor popcorn sounds disgusting, the combo of pickle popcorn and mushy banana sounds downright barfable!  But he liked the combo! 

We continued munching on this treat after we got back on the road

Updates: 

1.        We lost quite a bit of time by hanging out at the Toyota place, but it didn’t cost us a penny!  Turns out a different Toyota place who had recently serviced our car did not tighten something correctly and that loose nut or whatever had almost caused the hybrid system to overheat!!  Thank goodness this mechanic just tightened it and sent us on our way.

2.       Tony reports that his Trader Joe’s in Michigan is OUT of Pickle Popcorn for the season.  Sigh.  I feel bad for his family.  Here is how he feels about it:

Poor Tony - no more Popcorn in a Pickle for you.

Price - $1.99

Rating - 4

Day 254 - Baked Cheese Crunchies (Cheese Flavored Corn Snack)

I have recused myself from reviewing this product.  I like regular style Cheetos, but not the crunchy ones, and these just look too much like Crunchy Cheetos for me.  I fear my dislike of Crunchy Cheetos would negatively and unfairly color my review, so I am allowing a CHEETO EXPERT, David, to review these alone. 

David munching on Baked Cheese Crunchies while on a road trip ON HIS BIRTHDAY!

We picked up this snack in the Columbus (Easton) Ohio Trader Joe’s.  We saw this AWESOME sign there, which reminded me of another reason why I love TJ’s:

As if their good quality food, great prices, friendly employees, and clean stores weren't enough reasons to HEART Trader Joe's - here is yet another - THEY GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITIES they are in!!  Thanks TJ's!

Ok, on to the review of the product!

David:  (While snacking on these Baked Cheese Crunchies in the car on our drive home from Cincinnati) These are good…  They have less CHEESE and SALT taste than Cheetos.  But the bready taste of the actual corn thing-y inside is quite pleasant and flavorable.

Here is what the bag looks like

Susan:  Do you prefer THESE or the Crunchy Cheetos?

David:  CRUNCHY CHEETOS!  Cuz I like the salt. 

Susan:  Do these taste HEALTHIER than a Crunchy Cheeto?

David:  Yeah, I think they do…

Susan:  They come in a smaller bag.

David:  Yeah.  And it feels like I’m not eating as much powdered, flavored stuff.

Susan:  So what rating do you give ‘em?

David:  a 3.75

Susan:  Are they a good road trip snack??

David:  They are a good road trip snack.  IF you can’t get your hands on Cheetos…

Susan:  Have you ever eaten so many Cheetos that you threw up??

David:  Why, yes I have…

Susan:  (giggling) Last question – would you like a taste of this COCONUT WATER that I just opened to wash the Crunchies down with??  (giggle)  (Note - to read the super bad review Coconut Water got recently, look here:  http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2015/09/day-251-coconut-water.html

David:  …  I am good, thanks…

As you can see, he was not sure he would like them while we were at the store, but all turned out okay

Price - $1.99

Rating – 3.75

Day 136 - Dried Apricots

We got these as a “road trip snack” but have ended up eating them (and sharing with other artists) as a “theatre festival snack”.  They are nice!

Last minute addition to our shopping cart - dried apricots from Turkey

They are dried, but not “shriveled-up-no-liquid-left-dried” like some dried fruit.  I thought this was exciting and unique, but when I shared one with a fellow artist he declared that no, this was not unique, this was indeed how most (all??) dried apricots are, and that these were, in his opinion, average.

Way to be a Debbie Downer! 

I will follow my original opinion of this snack and not be swayed by a dried apricot connoisseur.  J 

Not all shriveled up and dried

These are plump, moist, tasty apricots.  The bag (1 lb) is plenty big to share with friends old and new.  I have not tried cooking with them, just munching them straight out of the bag.  They make me feel like I am eating a healthier pick-me-up than, say, a bag of Doritos (which, let’s face it, happens sometimes…). 

Good snack. 

Price – $3.99

Rating – 3.75

Day 130 - Way More Chocolate Chips Cookies

We picked up this little tub (16 oz) of mini chocolate chip cookies to munch on during a 13 hour road trip (that turned into a 15 hour road trip, no fault of the cookies…).   We hadn’t had them before.

Little plastic tub of little cookies

From the product name, Way More Chocolate Chips Cookies, it is apparent that the main thrust of this particular sweet is number of chocolate chips per square millimeter (cuz they are tiny…) of cookie.  And the chocolate chips in the cookies taste good, I will give them that.

But let me just say, there is more to chocolate chip cookies than CHIPS.  There is also, as the name implies, the COOKIE to consider.  And it is the cookie where these little puppies fall short. 

I like chocolate chip cookies, but the cookie part has to be good.  Sadly, these cookies taste fake-y – sort of like Chips Ahoy.  The TEXTURE of them is much better than blecky ol’ Chips Ahoy – they are not hard and they do not crumble.  But there is no buttery goodness to be found here.  L

One cookie with an apple, so you can see how petite the cookies are.  Very cute.

So these get pretty high marks for the chips – chocolatey and tasty.  And the size is convenient – tiny little mouthfuls of dessert.  But the cookie brings the score way down.  Even David, who will pretty much eat any cookie you put in front of him, had to agree that the cookie part needs improving.

At our Trader Joe's these are in the frozen food section, on the cookie shelf above the frozen stuff

Price - $3.99

Rating – 3.25