Was at the Peabody MA store today and they did as well. Wrapped up or not wrapped up.
And lots of bags of chocolate international coins.
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Hanukkah gelt. Spin that dreidel!!
Huh. No dreidel emoji.
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This happens pretty often with their 85% chocolate bars. Not my favorite. I always thought of it as a storage/transport issue. I think a lot of TJ products are great, but their storage and transport issues are consistently bad and affect quite a few of their products. Milk often goes bad before the sell by. Persian cukes often slimy within 3 days of purchase. I’ve bought their flour tortillas and immediately found they were moldy when bringing them home to put away. The list goes on.
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Nay to the TJ Advent Calendars. I should have realized that very low price and the very small total weight of chocolate (50 gm / 1.76 oz) for 24 pieces meant that each piece was microscopic. It’s all milk chocolate. The recipients were politely OK with it but this does not promote seasonal cheer and it’s better to pay more and get a product you don’t have to pick up with tweezers.
Meh to the TJ Crispy Thai chillies and sesame seeds. These are meant, I think, to be just eaten as a snack, and they are a bit insubstantial for that, while being rather spicy, though you do get the sesame taste too. I found the best use for these is to put as a topping on chaat or salad or similar. They worked fine there.
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Almost certainly. I once bought some fancy schmancy imported chocolate from a website I’ve long since forgetten, but included in their shipping advisories was a notice that they will endeavor to ship your chocolate through only sufficiently cool parts of the country if possible, and sometimes the extra routing would add time to the expected delivery. My package, ordered in late-spring/early summer, was routed through minneapolis on its way to me in Nor. California, rather than going through Tennessee, where the product might have gotten too warm, causing ‘bloom’.
For the record: bloomed chocolate is perfectly edible. If melted down into a recipe it has no bearing on the flavor. If you have bloomed chocolate and dislike the crumbly texture its taken on, you can always try your hand at retempering it, which will restore its snappy, shiny properties.
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There’s the transport issue, and there’s the potential issue of bad storage in the store. In any case, the moldy tortillas are a problem as are the cukes and the bad milk. They get tossed. The chocolate is edible, but not nearly as tasty or texturally pleasing as the ones without the white bloom. My only point was that I wished TJs would do better to keep its good products good.
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Had this happen with Knudsen brand half and half too. I was really surprised to see that brand at TJs as it is sold at regular chain markets here. I’d agree that it must be a storage and transport issue.
I haven’t looked for them recently, but I’ve had the potato pancakes in the past. They are made from potatoes that are mashed, not grated, so they don’t meet my exacting standards, but they are fine to have around for when you don’t feel like grating potatoes.
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I no longer buy milk regularly but back when I did, the quart jugs at the Burlington MA TJ’s always lasted much longer than quart waxed cardboard containers from Market Baskets or Shaws/Star near me.
I’ve had milk go bad before the carton date from any number of stores. TJ’s, WinCo, Safeway, Save Mart. It’s not consistent. I absolutely chalk it up to someone deciding they don’t need to close the door to the cold truck, or that the product can sit in the loading dock 'til after lunch, or similar.
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NAY to the dark chocolate covered gingerbread folks cookies. Softer, and less flavor, than lebkuchen (the inspiration for these). The dark chocolate coating is totally without chocolate flavor.
My South African wife said that those tiny chocolate advent calendars are more traditional. (We got one from Cost Plus World Market, made in Germany.) It’s only recently that advent calendars have gotten more luxurious (and expensive).
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I also got a Lindt Advent Calendar, and the contents, while quite small, were a little more discernible than the TJ one.
I am sure you are right about the traditional vs recent size. Overall, everything has seemingly increased in portion size over the years.
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These are different from the frozen latkes, right?
My DH is the only milk drinker in the family. He started buying the shelf stable boxed milk a while back. We always have one on hand, if the one in fridge is bad. I’ve had in on my Cap’n Crunch now and then. It works.
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No porchetta at my store
Potato pancakes / Latkes were being restocked, but I don’t like them deep-fried, so I’ll just make them at home.
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@vinouspleasure I think you were talking about different brandy chocolates, bec the manager at my store told me today that Brandy Beans were discontinued as of last year, the horror!
And since the search for brandy beans actually made me talk to someone, I also asked why so many indian frozen foods had disappeared — turns out they’re not discontinued, they’ve just had supply issues, so they’ll be back eventually (which made me happy because I was very afraid the palak paneer was gone forever)
Re boozy chocs, I did pick up the boozy chocolate truffles as a consolation prize.
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I’m assuming you mean you prefer shallow/pan frying them, and you wouldn’t be so… trefe as to, I dunno, BAKE them, or some foolishness…
(I know, ‘trefe’ is a noun, not an adjective, but…)
No baking
Start yo’self a latke thread and be prepared for the horrors… 
j/k
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They had just stocked the peppermint bark when I got to the store, so I bought a box — I have never before managed to get one in past years when I thought “oh I’ll get it tomorrow.”
Most of the Christmassy stuff is in stock at the moment, unclear if it will be restocked.
I didn’t pick up the star cookies or the minty mini stars, but they are both YEAs (yea also to my self control, lol). Also decided to forego Cassava chips, though they are delicious.
The Honeycrisp Apple Cider in a can is good, if you don’t want to buy the big bottle of sparkling apple juice, but I couldn’t discern much of a flavor difference.
In non-food, the Cedar Balsam Candle is lovely — smells like Badedas, if you know the reference.
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