Leave it to Trader Joe’s to come up with yet another viral seasoning. The champion of the Everything Bagel shaker recently released two new powdered foods to the spice section: Ketchup Sprinkle Seasoning Blend and Pizza Sprinkle Seasoning Blend. We tried them so you don’t have to.
It’s a great idea in theory. One of my favorite packaged popcorns is Bloody Mary flavored, which is not far off either pizza or ketchup’s flavor profile. But what do you do with seasoned tomato powder beyond putting it on popcorn? On the website, Trader Joe’s recommends “shaking it over hot french fries, roasted cauliflower, scrambled eggs, and creamy soups.” Okay, okay, I’m listening—especially to the eggs part. I love the idea of spicing up eggs with a dash or pizza. And we all know someone who dips their scrambled eggs in ketchup. So, now that we know there are actual use cases for these new seasonings, how do they taste? I tried each spice blend alone and also sprinkled a very heavy dose of each onto lightly buttered microwave popcorn to find out.
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Trader Joe’s Ketchup Sprinkle Seasoning BlendWhen I first licked this pale red seasoning off my hand as if I was eating a savory Pixie Stick, I was excited. It has a concentrated tomato flavor—like tomato paste rather than ketchup. So, it’s not powdered Heinz. But it’s still tasty. I had visions of sprinkling it onto a grilled cheese or some waffle fries. But then I tasted it on popcorn. Or, I should say, I tried to taste it on popcorn. It just didn’t show up. I poured on more, which is easy to do because of the big holes in the shaker top (points for packaging). I still couldn’t really taste it. It just doesn’t have enough oomph to actually season anything. My colleagues confirmed it. Sadly, until Trader Joe’s really flavor blasts this seasoning, I can’t recommend it to you unless you just want to eat it straight.
Credit: Liv Averett
3/10
Sporks
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Trader Joe’s Pizza Sprinkle Seasoning BlendMuch like the ketchup seasoning, the pizza seasoning tasted pretty good eaten alone. You get lots of oregano and dried garlic flavor, and a ton of tang. Out of the two, this is much more unique. It tastes like the tomato sauce that gets baked onto the crust of a Domino’s pizza. But, once again, it is not flavorful enough to make itself known on popcorn. I’m scoring the pizza seasoning higher than the ketchup seasoning because I think it would be very good on the rim of a Bloody Mary since you would actually taste it on its own that way. Maybe next time, TJ’s.
Credit: Liv Averett
5/10
Sporks
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