Trader Joe’s Crispy, Crunchy Broccoli Florets. Broccoli in recent years has fallen by the wayside as the great superfood of the moment, replaced by Kale. Kale is in everything now. Just walk down the aisles in Trader Joe’s and you’ll see it everywhere… Poor sad broccoli sits on the side lines and watches as kale gets all the recognition now! Funny… but in reality both plants are from the same family (cabbages) and offer many of the same benefits. So, you can’t go wrong eating either one!
I just recently reviewed the newest kale chips snack from Trader Joe’s, and didn’t like it that much, I know how popular these snacks can be with the vegetarian crowd looking for a healthy snack. I thought the Seasoned Kale chips were a mess and tasted like grass with some weird seasoning thrown on to cover the flavor. I hoped that these weren’t that bad too!
Just like the green beans and the kale chips, these are freeze dried, just all like that freeze dried food that campers and end of worlders hoard in their basement waiting for the apocalypse to wipe out all our food. Some of them can be quite good and very light, if you want to go camping and make gourmet food. But, I don’t think this was Trader Joe’s goal here.
I looked at the back of the package and saw that it said “Product of Thailand”. Then I saw the ingredients Broccoli, Palm Oil and Salt. Palm Oil? Hmmm… Really? This sounds like expensive popcorn. Then there is the whole Palm Oil thing. I know there is such a thing as Palm Oil and it’s used a lot in tropical locations, but I’m not sure palm oil and broccoli is the best thing. Oh and there is the whole anti-palm oil groups but I’m not going there.
OK, the proof is in the pudding as they say! First the bag is 1.4 ounces which is ridicously light, but at 220 calories, that must be mostly fat from the Palm Oil for good or bad. I would think that about 10% of total calories come from the actual broccoli. The broccoli looks almost like I pulled it out of the fridge. Nice bright green color with flecks of salt on it. The broccoli smells a little like cut grass. Popping them in my mouth, they were crunch, salty and slightly oily and didn’t have a texture that wasn’t all that different from popcorn. The taste on the other hand was like cut grass with some broccoli overtones. It wasn’t unpleasant, but not my favorite. My younger son (10 years old) ate the rest of the bag and loved it.
I really like this book on Broccoli recipes
Brassicas: Cooking the World’s Healthiest Vegetables: Kale, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts and More
I wasn’t in love with Trader Joe’s Crispy, Crunchy Broccoli Florets but they weren’t bad in the flavor department. You don’t get much and they have a ton of salt and calories from palm oil, if you care about that stuff. Plus it really expensive way to snack. I am going to award these 6 Bells!
Have you ever been to your local trader joes store, then days or weeks later think back and say wow that last weeks demo was really tasty, what was it again and how do I make it? Search “foodsampler” in the apple app store for an app that is updated by users like you and keeps every demo uploaded and saved to help you remember what was given out on previous days or weeks.