As I've whined before, it seems that every time I fall in love with an item at Trader Joe's, it's discontinued. The most recent item I had to bid farewell to was the Nutty American Trail Mix, which contained nothing but cashews, almonds, raisins, and chocolate chunks. We all ate it by the handful. The other TJ's trail mixes all have icky dried fruits or peanuts or other unwelcome ingredients. Peh.
I tweeted about my disappointment and (not surprisingly) found that I'm not alone. Within minutes, I heard from others grieving the loss of TJ's pear sauce, fig-flavored Greek yogurt, frozen shelled garbanzo beans, concentrated vegetable broth, GuavaBerry VitaBoost, chipotle sauce, key lime pie, and more.
How about you? What TJ's item did you swear to love until death only to find that it was gone the next day?
The italian coffee!
Posted by: Miguelina | July 14, 2009 at 08:25 PM
The Southwest Chipotle Sauce - who knew it was such a terrific paring with their potstickers? We am now waiting for the potstickers to be discontinued since it has become an almost weekly staple in our diet.
There have been some other good sauces along the way, but they stretch back too distant in memory to recall.
Posted by: Ken Homer | July 14, 2009 at 08:47 PM
Coffee sorbet. Sigh. They continued to carry other sorbets of the same brand. At the time, a store staffer told me it likely had to do with price. If TJ's cannot get it for the price they deem reasonable, they discontinue it. I don't know if that is true.
Posted by: Sandy | July 14, 2009 at 09:17 PM
I haven't seen the Mocha or Java Latte Floes this summer. (I think that's what they're called--the low-fat coffee-flavored Popsicle-type thingies.) I wouldn't mind having one right now--it actually got above 90°F in the Bay Area today!
And although I never bought the product, the geek in me always got a chuckle out of seeing Heisenberg's Uncertain Blend coffee on the shelf. If memory serves, it consisted of whichever beans were left over from the other blends.
Posted by: Nancy | July 14, 2009 at 10:14 PM
Oh, the spinach & tofu eggrolls. They were fabulous and I bought at least 8 packages at a time. And then one day...poof. Gone from the shelves.
Posted by: Alissa | July 14, 2009 at 10:56 PM
The pear and peach sauces and most especially the Mojito sauce that I used to make the most wonderful chicken breasts with.
TJ discontinues products if the producers can't keep up with demand or make changes to the product that change the product significantly. So many things come and go, and I usually mourn them when they're gone, but new things come along too. Only not as good as that Mojito sauce.
Posted by: margalit | July 15, 2009 at 12:19 AM
Coconut cashews - I think they were cashews. I had one bag and fell in love but it was a love left unrequited because on the next visit they were gone never to be seen again. le sigh
Posted by: Stephanie | July 15, 2009 at 01:53 AM
hot sweet mustard. pure heaven on their pumperknickel bread, also discontinued.
Posted by: elza | July 15, 2009 at 07:13 AM
I don't live very near a TJ, so I don't have to miss anything--but regular grocery stores do the same thing! That trail mix does sound delicious!!
Posted by: Margaret | July 15, 2009 at 12:18 PM
tangerine juice with added calcium
smoked sardines from Portugal
grainy dijon mustard from France
organic ground espresso in the gold can (for our Moka pots - it was better than ILLY and waaaaay less $$)
panko
Posted by: Risottogirl | July 15, 2009 at 04:11 PM
Lentil stew and white bean stew, from Spain... I them to work with me for days on end and never got tired of them. My fiber intake has plummeted!
Posted by: Sheila | July 15, 2009 at 09:47 PM
I've had this happen with Costco, too. Very frustrating!
Posted by: Tonya | July 17, 2009 at 10:18 PM
Ahhhhh Nutty American. It was delicious! We have been looking for it all along, only now to find out they're gone. A great loss.
Posted by: Erin Brown | September 18, 2009 at 08:05 PM