Chilly mornings, leaves falling, and a developing feeling of fall in the air, means one thing: Trader Joe’s fall items have been released! Pumpkin spice, apple cinnamon, and everything orange, red, and yellow, have Trader Joe’s fiends lining up ready to shop. We have put our enthusiasm to good use determining the ates, hates, and debatables of Trader Joe’s fall 2024 drop.
Pumpkin Spiced Teeny Tiny Pretzels:
The normal, salty pretzels have taken a seasonal turn, from beige to orange. These might be tiny, but they are mighty. Layered with pumpkin yogurt and seeds, spiced with nutmeg, and sprinkled with salt, they pack a punch! It’s the perfect mix of salty and sweet. If you are a pumpkin hater, these will change your mind as they ate!
Spiced Cider:
Spiced Cider is essential during the chill weather. Whether you drink it cold or decide to warm it up, it’s like a warm sweater. This cider was intriguing, from the festive packaging and the whiff of apple you get when you walk by. However, the flavor was not intriguing as it lacked the “fall taste”. It tasted like plain apple juice, not a single bit of cinnamon and“heavenly nutmeg” as they advertised. It was as delicious as apple juice, and you get your bang for your buck. As an apple cider, it lacked everything that made it different from apple juice and was a flop. Festive packaging, festive smell, festive taste?…that’s debatable.
Pumpkin Loaf:
Out with the old and in with the new, a switch from lemon loaf to pumpkin loaf. They had the perfect amount of pumpkin, tasting like Gilmore Girls in a bite. It was so good that we almost ate the whole thing, using the end part of a knife. These are the perfect fall treat and it seems like others agree as there was only one left on the shelf when we were there. Trader Joe’s baked and ate with this!
Fall Harvest Salsa:
Falling into fall, just like the leaves outside, is TJ’s Fall Harvest Salsa! We went in with worries about the taste, the texture, and the overall look of this salsa, we weren’t sure how successful apples and pumpkin could be in a salsa. Upon first bite, we got the fall produce flavors but we couldn’t decide if we hated it or wanted to go in for more. The texture was just like any other salsa, but the flavor was fascinating. There were apples and pumpkin, but also hints of the usual tomato and spice. After several samples determining whether or not we enjoyed this, we just couldn’t decide. Some bites were good, others strange, TJ’s seasonal salsa is truly the definition of debatable.
Pumpkin Overnight Oats:
Overnight Oats are always an iffy option, as both the texture and appearance are deterring to most people. However, we were intrigued by the pumpkin spice flavor and decided we should try it. We knew that these could be hit or miss, but we weren’t expecting just how awful they truly were. The sight of these oats was immediately off-putting, lumpy orangey brown clumps. As we cracked open the package we were met with a wonderful pumpkin spice scent giving us some hope about the oats. But, the flavor lacked in every way. Tasting a bite of these pumpkin oats felt like taking a bite of a pumpkin straight from the patch, in the worst way possible. These were not even debatable, they were just hateable.
Well, that’s a wrap! As we head into the fall, grab your coats and hurry to Trader Joe’s. From the pumpkin bread to pretzels, you now know what is worth the buck, just steer clear of the pumpkin overnight oats, yuck! We will return once the snow starts to fall and the bells start ringing.
