Trader Joe’s talks spring favorites
From vinegar beverages to a samosa burrito, the newest Trader Joe’s podcast highlighted a range of spring product launches.
The podcast, hosted by marketing team members Matt Sloan and Tara Miller, presented a shopping list of “new favorites,” as the hosts went through products across several categories in the store. The closing item in the podcast was Trader Joe’s Rutland Red Leicester Cheese, which the retailer also featured in an individual blog on its website. The interesting, reddish-orange cheese is part of Trader Joe’s Spotlight Cheese lineup, and it’s only available through March.
The cheese comes from a cheesemaker in Leicestershire in the United Kingdom. Each block of cheese is hand-coated in butter and then hand-wrapped in cloth, so as the cheese ages and matures, the butter keeps it moist and the cloth seals in the butter, giving the cheese an extra crumbly texture.
The podcast pointed out that the cheese Trader Joe’s is selling has been aged for 10 months and they have 40,000 pounds to spread across its network of stores. The farmers producing the cheese have been around since 1911.
Another item mentioned during the podcast and featured online is a non-dairy frozen dessert called Trader Joe’s Cold Brew Coffee and Boba Coconut Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert. The alternative ice cream has a coconut milk base with Thai-grown Arabica coffee beans and chewy boba tapioca pearls.
Some other notable products mentioned during the podcast include:
- Grapefruit Body Butter — launching mid-March, the body butter is like a coconut oil but with a grapefruit scent and has aloe and vitamin E;
- Two cider vinegars — alternatives to soda, the beverages are rolling out in two flavors, a Ginger Lemon and Lemon Strawberry;
- Oven Baked Cheese Bites with Tomato and Chili — the newest flavor of its cheese bites product;
- Gluten-Free Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins — packaged muffins with cinnamon chips inside;
- Creamy Cauliflower Jalapeno Dip — a refrigerated dip anchored in the cauliflower but with Parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese and more; and
- Vegetable Samosa Burrito — filled with a vegan samosa filling of potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and peas, and a tomato chutney, the flour-wrapped burrito is in the refrigerated section of the store and is only 480 calories.