Day 361 - Partially Popped Popcorn with Butterscotch and Sea Salt

We had a fun visit this morning with our friends Korin and Josh!  They were in Florida for the holidays and managed to squeeze in a bit of time to have breakfast with us.  We ended up at a restaurant sitting outside with an ocean view (well, it had an ocean view when other diners didn’t rudely park their vehicles right in front of us instead of in the dang parking lot…). 

This was the breakfast view when no cars parked in front of us (and no motorcycles were driving on A1A...)

So, after the eggs and toast, I busted out the PARTIALLY POPPED POPCORN WITH BUTTERSCOTCH AND SEA SALT!

Here is what the bag looks like

As you may know if you keep up with this blog, I am a big fan of TJ’s original Partially Popped Popcorn.  I reviewed it here and was even kinda sorta addicted to it for a little while a couple of months ago – I wanted to eat it morning, noon, and night (well mostly noon and night).  It’s terrific!  So when I saw this new flavor in the store the other day I grabbed a bag.  Korin and Josh had never tasted the original Partially Popped Popcorn, so the whole experience was new to them.  Here is how things went down:

I used a little bowl that formerly held sugar packets to display the snack.

Josh:  “I really felt like the butterscotch was initially overpowering.  It grew on me a little bit, but not much…  I wish they were a little SALTIER.  I would give them a 2.”

Korin:  “I will second that!  I really liked the texture and the crunch and the size.  The size is excellent for small, ongoing snacking.  But I would say “no” on the butterscotch flavor.  I would prefer just salt.  (Editor’s note:  Korin needs to try the regular Partially Popped Popcorn, I think she would dig it!)  I think I am going to give them a 2.5.”

Korin and Josh displaying the snacks

David:  “I have already had the Partially Popped regular salty ones, so I knew what to expect.  But I think my score is gonna be higher because I kind of enjoy the BUTTERSCOTCH CANDY experience FIRST, then afterwards I am left with the sort of CORN NUT and there is enough remaining salt to make the chewing – FABULOUS texture and crunchiness – really work for me!  So I am getting 2, 2, 2 flavors in 1!!!

  

David trying the "lick them out of your hand" technique

But still, I would rather enjoy a CARAMEL, then have a handful of SALTY NUTS…  (Sophomoric giggles all around for the concept of “a handful of nuts”.) I would give these a 3.”

Me:  I have had the original flavor before, and I prefer that flavor to this one.  To me, the first bite of this product was YUCKY.  It almost tasted like a sugar free butterscotch candy disc, which is really crappy.  The second bite got a little better…  By the third or fourth bite they were good.  I would not call them excellent, they are not my favorite snack.  I give these a 2.75.

Snacks, friends, and sunshine.  Ahhh.  Oh, and COFFEE.  It was a good morning.  

The bag says the serving size is 1/3 of a cup, and every one of the tasters agreed that was optimistic to think someone would eat THAT MANY of these.

We debated what drink to pair this with…  Josh sort of thought a Dr. Pepper, but to me that would be way too sweet.  A beer with this sounded gross.  No one could come up with an adequate wine pairing.  So we agreed on WATER.  A nice, filtered, fancy, chilled water perhaps J. 

David feels that he has boiled down the essential problem with this snack:  schizophrenia.  He thinks it is a schizophrenic snack because it has two distinct personalities that are at war with each other. 

Overall, I say skip this flavor and get the original Partially Popped Popcorn.  You won’t miss anything by not trying this one, and you will enjoy the other kind!

Other big news here:  guys – we have seen TRADER JOE’S NIRVANA!  Ok, it is just the Trader Joe’s distribution center in Daytona Beach, FL, but we went there today and it is HUUUUUUGE.  We have not managed to get IN, mind you, but did get a peek at the highly secretive, massive buildings!!  More news tomorrow (after I call them again and see if they will let us in!).  All signs point to us NOT getting invited in, but it doesn’t hurt to ask!  J

More photos of the distribution center tomorrow, but just know for now THEY ARE HIRING!
Anyone in the Daytona Beach area need a job?  :)

Price – $2.49

Rating – 2.5

Rating of eating a tasty breakfast in the sunshine with friends we hardly ever see – solid 5

Day 282 - Dark Chocolate Covered Honey Grahams with Sea Salt

David was excited to get these treats.  He thought they sounded amazing and bought them on a shopping trip when I was not with him.  Therefore, he had opened the package and eaten a great deal of them before I got around to tasting one.  He is way more into snacking than I am.

I packed some of these as “Pope Snacks” and brought them with me to the “Pope Parade” to munch on while waiting for the Pope to whiz by in his Pope Mobile in Washington DC.  (That was a WHOLE LOTTA “Pope”s in one sentence!)  We had to leave home to get to the parade area around 5:45 am and I knew snacks would be required since we would be waiting around a few hours.

Pope card game!!

Pope snacks - gotta have 'em!

So these Dark Chocolate Covered Honey Grahams with Sea Salt were taste tested while sitting on a blanket on a very crowded DC sidewalk.  For me, the chocolate part of these graham crackers was a little bit too hard.  I cannot fully blame that on the product though, since David HAD opened the package a week or two before I ate them, so maybe they were not quite as hard when they were freshly opened.  The sea salt (in my opinion) was the best part.  There was not a ton of sea salt – just a tiny bit – but when you got a hint of it with a bite it was a nice zing of “savory” in with the sweet. 

The chocolate was quite THICK.  In the center of the cracker there is an equal amount of CRACKER and CHOCOLATE – making it thicker than it needs to be.  They taste much more like CHOCOLATE than graham cracker.

Multi-tasking - snacking, reviewing, and waving a teeny tiny Vatican flag.

David says, “These are very good.  Good chocolate.  The sharp sea salt bits that you encounter are delightful as a counterpoint.  I recommend letting the chocolate M-E-L-T, not rushing it in your mouth so that the smooth chocolate can floooow all around your mouth.”

These would be good to pop in your lunch bag before heading to the office.  Or in your kid’s lunch bag for school.  They are hearty so not as melt-y as some other chocolate items might be.  I think they would be a good dessert served with a nice espresso. 

Look!  The Pope went right in front of me in his Pope Mobile!!!!

UPDATE – Before I could post this review, we popped into a Trader Joe’s to get photos.  Remember, David purchased this one when I was not with him, hence NO PHOTOS of the price tag or the packaging.  But when we looked for them last night, we could not find them.  Frightened that they had been discontinued (common at Trader Joe’s), I asked an employee, who went to check then remind me that they had been RECALLED.  I remember seeing a sign about that in the store when it happened.  DRAT!  Apparently there was milk in them and it was not listed on the ingredient list, so they recalled them.  Boo!  (But better THAT than if, say, a salmonella scare…)  I called Trader Joe’s Customer Relations Department to ask when we might expect to see them again and they had no estimated time.  But they ARE getting them back.  I mean, think about it.  A really yummy snack.  A reasonable price.  Loads of people begging for them.  And the supplier just need to delete a line on the ingredients list!  I can’t imagine it’ll take TOO LONG – this is a total guess on my part but I would think they would want htem back on the shelves before the holiday season.  Here is a link to info on the recall:  http://www.traderjoes.com/announcement/recall-undeclared-milk-in-dark-chocolate-covered-honey-grahams

Flag flying in the sunshine - Washington DC, Vatican, and USA

When I see them on shelves again I will comment here to let you know – GO GET ‘EM!

Price - $3.99

Rating – 4.25

Bonus photo for anyone who scrolled down this far - POPE-A-POTTIES.  There were LOTS of them.  :)

Day 199 - Dark Chocolate Almonds

I have wracked my brain.  The only, and I mean ONLY, thing I can think of that I dislike about these Dark Chocolate Almonds is that I didn’t discover them sooner.  Why I have not been eating these amazing things for the last decade is beyond me.

Go. Quickly.  Don’t even read the rest of this review.  GO TO TRADER JOE’S NOW and get these!

FIND THESE - probably in the freezer section on the un-cooled shelves above the frozen stuff.  Buy them.  Eat them.

What are you doing still reading????

Ok, if you are going to sit here and read it I will finish the review.

This is a little plastic tub of awesome.  It is filled with roasted almonds.  Covered in dark chocolate.  That are then sprinkled in turbinado sugar (whatever that is, I approve).  But wait, that is not all.  No, I saved the best part for last.  They are also sprinkled with sea salt.  The sea salt is the FIRST thing you taste, and it is the LAST thing you taste.  And in between it is not salty at all!  It is wonderful!!!! 

The almonds are crunchy and nutty.  The dark chocolate is sinful and probably should have a separate sales tax associated with it.  And the sugar and sea salt are to die for!!!!!!!!!!!!  In fact, if I wasn’t getting cremated I might just ask my family to toss a couple of these puppies into my coffin when I go (but with cremation, I am thinking of the whole chocolate-melty-messy-mess…). 

Here they are in a little bowl.  See the sugar and salt bits?

We had these for dessert after dinner.  I believe they would pair amazing with a good red wine.  They would also be fun with a piping hot espresso.  In fact, they are damn good just on their own with  nuttin’ to drink, as witnessed by my afternoon snack today. 

The label says the serving size is 13 pieces.  I can see where that might happen, but it seems a bit extreme to me.  They are pretty rich.  I am not going to mention the fat content or calories because with something this delicious, that stuff doesn’t even matter.  Just EAT, EAT, EAT!!!

Oh sure, TJ’s has other varieties of chocolate covered almonds.  They have a little bag of them that only costs .99 cents.  But these are the ones, baby.  Get this little container of them!  Skip the bag.  (I will buy another little bag and review the other ones at some point, but not until I have eaten enough of these super good ones to make myself ill.)

I am a fan.  I endorse these with 2 strong thumbs up.  Give them as gifts.  Serve them at parties.  But most importantly, indulge in them yourself.  You deserve it.

Here is a link to an old article from the TJ’s site about this product:  http://traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article/498

  

Price – $4.79 (as you will see in the article above, in 2012 they were $3.99.  Trust me, they should be charging like, $10 for these things, but shhhhhhhhh, don’t tell corporate…) (Oh, also, for you unfortunate people without a TJ’s near you, I see there is a black market for them on Amazon and you can get some for like $12 (including shipping) here:  http://www.amazon.com/Trader-Joes-Turbinado-Chocolate-Almonds/dp/B007T43CNM )

Rating - 5

Day 157 - Milk Chocolate Jumbles

We had this little container of chocolate treats on a recent trip that found me WORKING and David SNACKING.  He was kind enough to tell me one night, “If you want to try those jumbles, you better grab yourself one, because I am going to eat ‘em all…”.  J

Around 15 pieces for $3.99 - not a bad price at all

So I have now sat down to taste them.  I ate one, and my favorite part was the “Himalayan pink sea salt” on the top.  Boy howdy was it salty!  But I wish the CHOCOLATE part was more CHOCOLATEY.  You know how sometimes chocolate stuff just doesn’t taste enough like CHOCOLATE?  I don’t know how to describe it, but that is how these jumbles are for me.

They are made of crunchy pecans (those were good!), toasted quinoa, and caramel, covered in milk chocolate and topped with a dash of the aforementioned HIMALAYAN PINK SEA SALT (cuz, you know, plain sea salt wasn’t fancy enough, so they had to make it a COLOR, then simple PINK sea salt just wouldn’t cut it, so they had to trek to the Himalayas to get it!!). 

Maybe if they covered them in dark chocolate they would be tastier to me.  As it is, I think I will let David finish the rest.  The label says that serving size is 3 pieces, and that is exactly how many are left.  Have at ‘em, honey!

David was excited about these even before he opened the package and ate one!

These are not bad at all, and many people will probably really like them.  It’s just if I am going to eat something chocolate, I want it to be CHOCOLATE.

Price – $3.99

Rating – 3.75 (in all fairness I asked David what HE would give these if he rated them and he said 4.75)

Day 155 - Coconut Cashews

Not only did we BUY this big bag of coconut cashews, we deliberately went back through line a SECOND TIME to buy them.  We had already checked out at the Palm Beach Gardens, Florida Trader Joe’s when David spied these and we thought, “Why not??!”. 

David is the cashew lover at our house.  Cashews are usually not good to me – too buttery or meaty or something (not that I have anything against butter or meat, I guess what I am trying to say is cashews are not my favorite…).  We were heading into a few days of rest and relaxation for David and stocking up on treats for him to munch on so these seemed like a good fit.  I would be working long hours, he would be munching cashews.

This looks like the perfect snack for a few days of relaxation, right?

 Only, not so much.  I came back to find him in the hotel room eating OTHER snacks but having only consumed a couple of these cashews.  “What’s wrong with them?” I asked.  “They are CASHEWS – you dig cashews!  And COCONUT – also on your “like” list.”  His reply – “They are, I dunno, they are just BLAH.”

So I tried one.  And I agree – blah blah blah.  Salt is listed as an ingredient, but it is the last one listed so I assume it is only a teeny tiny dash per 5,000,000,000 cashews or something.  These puppies could use a more generous dusting of SEA SALT.  We both agree that would perk the flavor up.

Cashews are always crazy expensive and these are no exception

The packaging says “We’ve married two favorite tropical flavors to come up with a Trader Joe’s treat that we bet you won’t be able to stop eating!”.  Well Joe, you lose that bet.  We stopped eating these right after we opened the big, expensive 14 oz bag and will be returning them today for a refund.  Sorry!  These just didn’t work for us.

Our suggestions:  add SEA SALT and package them in a very tiny bag instead of this huge one.  That will make them tastier and cheaper.  David adds, “Add something tasty to them to give them some zing – maybe LIME or CHILI POWDER!”.  Until then – refund please.

Price – $6.99

Rating – 2.5

Day 111 - Chocolate Covered Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels

This little candy is very, very nice!  Each morsel is a good size – not like some other candies where you eat ONE and feel like you have already had enough (or too much) sweet.  Nope – these are well proportioned little candies!  The nutritional label says a serving size is 11 pieces!!  (For me that is stretching it a bit – I would say serving size is about 8 per sitting, but maybe I am kidding myself).

Yum - this is a good treat!

Each piece of candy in this bag has a really good BALANCE – the creamy caramel in the center has a butterscotch taste that melts in your mouth, there is a touch of sea salt (but no hard chunks of sea salt, this is DELICIATE my friends) and the chocolate is dark and it holds everything together perfectly.

Each piece is about the size of a penny

I think this may be an ADULT CANDY.  We snuck it into the circus the other night (shhhh!) so we could have a nice (and cheap) snack during an outing with our teenage nephew.  I think he stopped at ONE PIECE (unheard of for a teenage boy, right??) so it seems like the taste might be for a “grown up” palate.  (Hey, that was fine with us, leaves more for Uncle David and Aunt Susan!)

Find these at your Trader Joe's and give them a try

We will get these again.  And who knows, perhaps we will follow the “serving suggestion” noted on the front of the package and actually display them in a BOWL instead of snarfing them right out of the bag!

Price – $3.49

Rating – 4.5

Day 74 - Partially Popped Popcorn

We did NOT expect to like this.  We saw it on an end cap of “New Products” and we looked at one another and went, “Ewwww!”.  I mean, it bills itself as “…the little crunchies usually found in the bottom of the popcorn bowl…” – aka the WORST PART OF THE POPCORN EXPERIENCE.  I hate those bits at the bottom of the bowl, doesn’t EVERYONE?  They are hard, don’t taste good, hurt your teeth, and worst of all they break into little razor sharp bits that deposit themselves deep into the bed of your gums where they annoy the heck out of you until you get off your butt and find a toothpick or dental floss to force them out!!!  (Can you tell by my description that the bits at the bottom of the bowl are NOT my favorite part?)

Partially Popped Pop Corn??  David's teeth hurt jusst THINKING ABOUT EATING IT!

Anyway, the description on the back of this bag goes on to say that these bits have, “…a texture that makes them almost addictive and easier on the jaw”.  Hmmmm, color me a doubter on this one…

But we need to try loads of Trader Joe’s products this year – reviewing one per day requires COMMITMENT, folks.  And like they say, in for a penny, in for a pound!  So, we needed to try this.  We asked a Trader Joe’s associate if she had tried it yet, she hadn’t and she sort of wrinkled up her nose and agreed with us that the premise sounded bad…  However, as Trader Joe’s employees are wont to do, she offered to OPEN A BAG SO WE COULD TRY IT!  Yuppers – right there in the store. 

And try we did (as did she).  Turns out – THESE LITTLE SUCKERS ARE GOOD!  They are CRUNCY but not tooth-hurting crunchy.  They taste GOOD.  And they somehow managed to eliminate the little bits that love to get stuck between your teeth!   We put a bag in our cart – sold!! 

La Jolla, CA Trader Joe's sign - each store has an in-house artist to make signage so your sign will look different than this one

We soon found a terrific pairing for this snack – beer!  We snuck the bag into a craft brewery in La Jolla, CA and ate Partially Popped Popcorn with beer – yummmm!  They almost have a “corn nut” flavor (which got me to thinking, “I haven’t had corn nuts in years.  In fact, what IS a corn nut????” – this deep thought may have been because of the beer…).  One negative thing about these – they are made with butter and sea salt, and that really sticks to your fingers.  But heck – just lick ‘em off when you are done!

I highly recommend you pick a bag of these up and TRY THEM.  We are now on our second bag!    If you get them and do not like them, remember, you can always return the opened bag and Trader Joe’s will happily refund your money.  Seriously, they give you no grief about returning a product.  (But I don’t think you will return this one because they are delicious.)

Price – $2.49

Rating – 4.75