Trader Joe's fancy junk food

Trader Joe's has a lot of interesting food, but not a lot that is particularly special. Whenever I had the chance to shop there, I tended to stick to the cheeses and the fancy junk food. This is a haul which I picked up in the company of Liza.

One of the things I miss about the United States is the variety of goods that come with being such a large country. As strange as it sounds I did most of my organic shopping at Walmart. New Zealand junk food has its bright spots, but for the most part it is a pretty lacklustre.

In any case, Trader Joe's was my go to place for interesting junk food that didn't contain crap like high fructose corn syrup.

Trader Joe's Almond Clusters

As a snack, these were okay but nothing special. Just a almondy tasting nut with a chocolatey coating. I can't say that either aspect stood out and I wouldn't recommend them unless you want a generic chocolate nut that doesn't taste cheap.

A closer look:

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Chile Spiced Dried Mango

The mango was more there for texture than flavour, the key thing that stood out was the tang of the chile and the bitterness of the dark chocolate. Definitely worth trying.

A closer look:

Trader Joe's Thai Lime and Chili Cashews

The idea of these is something that could possibly be extremely nice. But in practice they are just okay. I'd recommend them over other generic flavoured nuts and would have picked them up again if I wanted something spicy and tangy.

A closer look: