Traditional Tunisian Harissa

Price: $2.69

Rating: 8/10

When I first moved to New York, I quickly developed a love for gyros, eating at least 3–4 a week for the entire first year that I lived here. Most gyros here are served by street vendors with hot sauce and “white sauce” (a mystery sauce that’s sort of vinegary and definitely isn’t Tzatziki, but no one really knows what it is, so it’s just called “white sauce”) on top, in a more North African/Middle Eastern version of the gyro than the Greek version that most Americans are familiar with. When I’ve tried to replicate these on my own before, I’ve never been able to get a hot sauce that tastes as good as the sauce you get from street vendors, so I was psyched when I saw this harissa, knowing that it would probably be pretty close to what I was used to getting from street carts. Harissa, if you’re not familiar, is a paste made from chili peppers. While it’s not actually a sauce, it does have a similar flavor to a Middle Eastern hot sauce.

I whipped up some Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices to make myself a gyro from these, and slathered on a rather generous helping of the Traditional Tunisian Harissa. I thought I was going to breathe fire when I bit into it. Make no mistake, this Harissa is HOT. My eyes might start watering just thinking about it. I should have known to take it easy since it’s not actually a SAUCE, but a PASTE, and therefore is much more concentrated. I ended up whipping quite a bit off of the gyro, but once I got it down to a reasonable amount, I’m happy to say that I really loved this stuff! It is indeed an acceptable substitute for the hot sauce used at street carts. I’m sure there’s a way to actually turn this into a sauce by pureeing it with something else, but I don’t think I’m going to be quite that dedicated to figuring it out.

This goes great with gyros, but could also go great mixed with cream cheese or goat cheese and used as a dip, on sandwiches (maybe mixed with mayo to temper its spiciness), mixed with chickpeas, or with eggs. And since the stuff is so strong, you can probably make one jar last a long time. I’ve used it several times already and when I open the jar it doesn’t even look like any of it’s been used since I’ve used so little each time.

Apple Bourbon BBQ Sauce

Price: $2.99

Rating: 6.5/10

I'm a huge fan of apple flavored things, as well as barbecue, so when I saw this sauce, I was super excited. Unfortunately, after trying it, I was a lot less excited. The good news: this sauce is AWESOME if you want to eat it with pork. The bad news: this sauce is only okay if you want to eat it with chicken. I originally tried it on chicken and was disappointed by it. There was something about it that was too sweet, without much smokiness, tanginess, or spiciness that I could get into. I actually considered throwing it away, but I kept the bottle around, and a few weeks later when I had some pork I ended up deciding to try it again. I actually really liked it on the pork. It didn't seen as sweet, and the pork seemed to bring out some of the smokey flavor from the bourbon. I think if I'd have tried it on pork to start out, I'd have liked the sauce a lot more overall, but I didn't. That being said, while I'd buy it again if I was making a lot of pork, my odds of realistically buying it any time soon are low considering there are more versatile sauces I could opt for instead.

Tzatziki Creamy Garlic Cucumber Dip

Price: $3.49

Rating: 9/10

If your read the last post about TJ's Gyro Slices, you'll know that I'm a pretty huge fan of gyros. In New York, most street vendors sell them with "white sauce" which is a vinegar-y type sauce that a lot of people incorrectly call "tzatziki". I've read dozens of articles of NYers trying to crack the secret of what's in the "white sauce" every vendor has huge bottles of, but no one seems to know for sure (other than the guys who make it, and they're not talking). So since I can't duplicate the flavor of a Middle Eastern style gyro like we have on the streets here without a good "white sauce" recipe, I usually use this Tzatziki sauce to try to get a good Greek style gyro when I'm making them at home.

I've tried several types of tzatziki, from homemade, to kinds made at Greek stores in the city. Out of all of them, I think I'd rank this as the best. It's got a nice consistency that's not too thin or too thick, and has a creamy, tangy flavor. You can taste the garlic in it, which goes nice with gyro meat or falafels. But the really great part are the thin slices of cucumber in the sauce. It adds a nice texture to whatever you put it on and tastes fantastic. My only complaint about this sauce is that I can't think of more things to put it on!

100% Pure Maple Syrup

Price: $4.99

Rating: 9/10 

I’d always grown up eating that fake maple syrup that you buy for only a few dollars at the store, and thought it was great–right up until I went to visit my aunt and uncle in Virginia when I was 10 and my aunt gave me real maple syrup with my pancakes. That was the moment that my pancake-eating life was forever changed. I still spent quite a few years eating fake maple syrup until I eventually reached adulthood and could shell out the big bucks for the real stuff.

Unfortunately, the real stuff is pretty expensive to buy regularly, so I was excited when I realized I could buy it pretty cheaply at Trader Joe’s. This syrup, like most real syrup, is pretty great! It’s got a nice sweet (but not too sweet), earthy, maple-y flavor. It’s got a nice warm flavor, and is amazing on the standard breakfast staples like pancakes, french toast, and waffles. It’s also great in oatmeal or on ice cream. But my favorite thing to put it on is coconut pancakes from TJ’s Coconut Pancake mix.

Raspberry Chipotle Sauce

Price: $3.49

Rating: 9/10

Apparently I’ve been on a winning streak with TJ’s products recently, because almost everything I’ve reviewed has gotten either an 8 or a 9. This Raspberry Chipotle Sauce is no exception. It starts off with a sweet, fruity flavor, followed by a spicy and smoky kick from the chipotle. When I first saw this in the Frequent Flyer, I wasn’t sure how it was meant to be used, but when I saw that it could be used as a barbecue sauce, I knew I had to get it. I tried it on TJ’s Cocktail Pups, and will also probably try it on meatballs eventually. It would also probably go great as a salad dressing. It does have a very strong flavor though, so depending on how you’re using it, it might drown out most other flavors, which is the only possible downside I could see to this. However, I did find that if you mix it with a bit of Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Onion Jam, it does bring the heat level down a bit, which is helpful if you’re not a big fan of big spice.

Kentucky Bourbon BBQ Sauce

Price: $2.99

Rating: 8.5/10

Being from Missouri, I've always been a huge fan of BBQ. The only problem is that I've never been able to find a store-bought barbecue sauce that actually tasted good, so for several years, I'd make my own sauce from scratch. Unfortunately, making your sauce from scratch is not only time consuming, but it also doesn't last very long. Luckily for me, I decided to try out TJ's barbecue sauces a few years ago and was excited to discover... that they're pretty great! So anytime I see a new barbecue sauce at TJ's, I try to pick it up. Most of them have been pretty great, although there were a few I wasn't impressed by (I'm looking at you, Carolina Gold).

When it comes to barbecue sauces, I usually prefer a blend of spicy and sweet, or sweet and tangy, but this Kentucky Bourbon sauce has more of a spicy and smoky flavor to it. If you'd have described it this way to me, I probably wouldn't have been too interested in trying it, but I actually really loved this sauce. It wasn't overly spicy, but had a nice heat to it, and it left out the sweetness that a lot of barbecue sauces seem to have. So far, I've only tried it on TJ's Party Size Mini Meatballs, but I think this could go well on almost any meat. I'll definitely be buying another bottle in the near-future.