Review: Trader Joe’s Popcorn in a Pickle & Memories of the Last Day of School
JFG Nation, for parents around the nation, it almost time to rejoice because the kids will be back in school soon. Or has school already started for some kids? I’m not sure. But I was thinking about the last day of school today, and the emotions that came along with it. Looking backwards, here’s how it has been for me:
LAST DAY OF LAW SCHOOL: The last day of law school is not celebratory at all, because you have a sword hanging over your head – the friggin’ Bar Exam. Sure, no more law classes, but by the time I reached the end of my 3rd year, I barely had any classes anyways – everything was an internship or a paper or a seminar with presentations. And then yeah – the Bar Exam. Two months of pure stress that ended in an exam-blaze-of-glory. Looking back on it – wow. Someone get me a drink.
LAST DAY OF COLLEGE: The last days of college are sad because everyone is moving on, but it’s also not the cleanest break at all. In fact, I think the last days of college are some of the most awkward times – everyone is moving out at different times, saying rushed goodbyes because they have to catch a train or their parents are honking their horns. “CMON SUSIE MOVE IT OR WE’RE GONNA HIT TRAFFIC.” Or you’re like,
“Hey where did Bob go? I’m taking off and wanted to say see ya.”
“Dude, Bob left last night.”
“Oh.”
Thankfully, we now have intense social media where you can tweet Bob and say “WTF HEY THANKS FOR BOLTING WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE, JERK.” Ah, Bob. Miss that guy.
LAST DAY OF HIGH SCHOOL: Ok, here’s where the whole “last day” thing starts to crystallize a bit more. Here you’ve spent several years growing up with these folks, being ridiculed by them, waiting for high school to just END already (wait, was that just me?) BUT, there is definitely a sense of finality in high school. Last day of school. Last final. Graduation. DONE. One second you’re standing there looking at your old locker, the next moment you’re being shoved aside so they can scrape off that gum collection and steam wash the inside of that thing.
LAST DAYS OF GRADE SCHOOL: I feel like we always had a pizza party. PIZZA ON OUR LAST DAY! MRS. SMITH, YOU’RE THE BEST. *AND* we get to watch a VHS tape of Beauty and the Beast for the last two hours? I LOVE SCHOOL I WANT THIS TO GO ON FOREVER.
Although to be honest, my memories of last days of school have faded tremendously. Did I try to dress up for the last day? WAS there a big party? This was before these “moving on/quasi-grad” ceremonies that every single school has now. I really can’t remember. I do remember pizza being involved at some point.
What do YOU guys remember about your last days of school? Were you a nerd like me and found it sort of sad that you couldn’t study Latin anymore? Or were you, even at the age of 10, ready to light the joint on fire with arms raised yelling, PEACE OUT SUCKAS. Let me know in the comments below.
Today’s junk food: Trader Joe’s Popcorn in a Pickle!
Trader Joe’s Popcorn in a Pickle: The Money Shot
Trader Joe’s Popcorn in a Pickle! WHAT. Popcorn…flavored with dill pickle. This is either going to be amazing or horrible. TJ’s, what have you done??? Me, I LOVE dill pickles, so I am hoping for the amazing side of things. I’ll just state, blindly, that if you DON’T like pickles, avoid this now. Just don’t get it. Just pass on by.
But when I saw this green bag, it went RIGHT into my cart. Also, thank you TJ’s for making this flavored with dill pickle and not bread and butter pickles. Bread and butter pickles need to go away forever.
Ok….this image is slightly horrifying.
With every handful, get the pucker-y taste of dill pickle and the salty crunch of popcorn, huh? I like that description, TJ’s – straight forward.
SUNFLOWER OIL! For anyone who has listened to the Nosh Show recently, you’ll know that Sunflower Oil is now one of the ingredients I ALWAYS look for thanks to a reader who clued me in. Whenever a bag of chips is made with sunflower oil, you KNOW it’s gonna be tasty, because sunflower oil is tasty. Plus, only eight ingredients? WINNER.
I opened tha bag and sniffed – WHOA. It smelled like ajar of pickles. Bright tang, definite dill aroma, powerful smell. PICKLE PICKLE EVERYWHERE!
l popped some of this popcorn into my mouth, and BAM! I was hit with strong pickle flavor all at once! It was super briny, and had an immediate tang – I’m sure that pickle-juice-tang was accentuated by the added citric acid. And then as I chewed, that strong dill flavor came out – super herb-y. But, to me, despite the bold flavor, it wasn’t overpowering – the brightness faded after a couple of seconds and let that nice light popcorn flavor come out. There was nothing creamy about this; this wasn’t some kind of dill sauce flavor. This tasted exactly like TJ’s described – popcorn flavored like dill pickle. Spot on.
Like I said before – if pickles aren’t your thing, then avoid this. But if they are – I mean, buy this. I can;t stop eating this. SOMEONE TAKE THE BAG AWAY.
Have a good weekend, JFG Nation!
PURCHASED AT: Trader Joe’s, Bethesda, MD
COST: $1.99
Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.
Sincerely,
Junk Food Guy
Discuss - 20 Comments
Last day of college -meaningless (I didn’t graduate and can’t afford to finish even if I knew what degree I actually wanted to finish)
Last day of HS: I was pissed at a teacher anyway, and had somehow made it through HS without cutting a class, so I made it a point to cut his class. Nothing happened. It was my last day, nobody cared.
Last day of middle school – some ceremony in the morning and then everybody went home to get primped for the 8th grade dance. I got my nails done for the only time in my life.
Don’t remember elementary school.
Oh, how you make me wish I had a TJ’s closer than 45 minutes away…
I remember my last day of Middle school was we had to get gowns & diplomas at night at the high school, like it was a big deal – and get this – they were BLANK! To avoid mishaps, I guess & we got them later, making the whole ceremony a farce. I remember holding my empty holder and going, “Yeah, THIS is what it’s all about!” It was the only ceremony I ever attended; skipped high school one.
I ditched quite a bit in high school – I served 33 hours of detention – they make sure you serve your time.
@Jessica- 8th grade dance the night of the ceremony? FANCY
Last day of school – last WEEK of school – was like, “let’s get all our lockers & desks cleaned out, wrap up this last unit, we’re not doing anything”. Basically I remember a lot of us just talking & walking around from class to class. It’s June, it’s hot, we’re sick of this already, why should we even show up on the last day? I was no fan of school & was always happy when it was finally over. Elated.
My only regret is not riding my bike to school more in those first 9 years. It was WAY more fun than riding in that moldy old 1970s cigarette-smelling bus for an hour.
Oh! I remember my Elementary school last days – we had something called “Olympic Week” – where we ran around the soccer & baseball fields & did sports-type games in these organized sections. We spent basically the whole day outside. Why do I not remember getting sunburned? I remember when we ran the mile every day, I was always the last because I was a slow runner then & I was like, “You know I only had a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast!!”
@MP: Oh, I forgot the whole cleanout desk part of it. Memory lane
Last day of elementary school- The school would throw a big BBQ party for all of the elementary students. Instead of serving lunches everybody went outside at the patio to get delicious grilled hot dogs and burgers. The smell always fill the entire school and the smoky delicious smell is nostalgia. YUM. Then a special swim session with mixed grades. Like the 4th graders swimming with the 5th graders (usually they do it separate time)
Last day of middle school- We had a potluck with the amazing cafeteria staff (sadly they were laid off few years ago due to budget cuts. Replaced with lousy citywide kitchen staff serving frozen processed junk and none from scratch foods). The cafeteria staff cooked lots of variety of foods whatever they had left in the kitchen like mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, beef stew, and rice. So many choices and they even served cake! Delicious fluffy white cake with pink tinted frosting and sprinkles. In a school go figure (before everybody is so obsessed with nutrition). When I was in 8th grade I had to clean up my locker because middle school and HS uses different lockers but in a same floor. I would always do “experiments” in the locker. By taking few pieces of pasta and shoving in a cup then putting in the locker. Next day to see what it like all shriveled and dry. (I was young at that time I remember I did put butter cup (the ones that you might find in hotel breakfasts), pasta, piece of chicken, black beans, and I remember clearly I would hide a glob of mayo in a cup outside at the patio to let it rot with ants all over). Nobody found the mayo cup I would find it in my secret spot.
Last day of High School- When I was in 12th grade I was little emotional that I would be leaving my school that I attended for 16 years. My locker was a mess! Stacked papers, other junk, and binders. When I cleaned it out and the garbage bag was nearly full. I found a assignment that I did when I was in 9th grade!
Last of college A.A degree- Final exam.
@Alek: cafeteria potluck!? INTERESTING
Hey, I like bread and butter pickles. Actually, I like any kind of pickles, but pickle-flavoured items just sound unappetizing. :\
@PL Isley – LOL. Bread butter pickles go straight into the trash at my house!
pickle flavored things scare me.. i love a real dill pickle, but i don’t know why i’m nervous about trying pickle chips or popcorn now, i guess, ha. but i TOTALLY agree about bread & butter pickles – they are disgusting!
oh, and my last day of pharmacy school / college was similar to your last of law school. being terrified of all my boards coming up and finding a job and just becoming a real adult.. definitely not as awesome as my last day of high school felt 😉
@Kaitlyn: wait, how many boards do pharmacists have?
I had two board exams. For regulatory bodies, there’s one per state.
Last week of grad school: one or 2 finals, wrapping up my internship, packing up my side of the dorm room, saying goodbye to people, sending in job applications, mid-December graduation
Last week of college: finals, packing my room in the campus townhouse, goodbye to people, graduation
Last day of HS: finals, taking the last of my stuff outta my locker, goodbyes
I had a sample today. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. There was barely any dill pickle flavour in these, maybe a 3/10 pickliness for me. Oh well. The Wheat Thins limited edition dill pickle from last summer were about a 7/10 pickliness. Guess I haveto wait for a trip to canada to get my dill pickle snack fix.
@Sylvia: I think this is one of those things where you need to eat a few handfuls. I was sensitive to it 🙂
I had two handfuls at a party tonight. Better, ESP the pickle flavour, but still not enough vinegary dill. It’s all good. There’s other delish trader joe things!
Ps this coming from a girl who drinks pickle juice! Take my advice with a grain of salt.
I was over high school early on so I did dual enrollment senior year – Economics and 2 filler classes at high school in the morning, college in the afternoon. By December I had the credits I needed for HS graduation so I took the last 2 weeks of the semester off – basically just quit attending. Mom forced me to walk across the stage the following June to get my diploma but I was long past caring. I loved college! Would go back for more in a heartbeat.
@Jeni: Dual enrollment! Smarty pants
Based on my trust for JFG in all matters dill, I aims to try this appetizing-sounding snack at my earliest opportunity. But seein’ as how I’ve set foot inside any trend-setting Trader Joes emporium only three times in my brief earthly existence thus far, (its a store regularly visited by the type of (yuk) …’foodie’ I despise) …this may be a long time being realized.
Still…my appetite is whetted by the above review! Mouth, stop watering…
ps. the JFG site needs more user-participation. What about a contest where we all try to mimic the JFG style of food review? I think I’d nail it. Even though I hardly know the guy, four years of JFG posts should be pretty easy to channel..oh wait..problem: what incentive or prize?