Seasonal snack from Ireland voted Best New Product
OK, Trader Joe’s fans, time to open the envelopes and let you know if your nominees made the grade.
On Monday, the beloved alt-grocery chain announced the 16th Annual Customer Choice Awards — 11 in all, with a new category for 2025, Best New Product.
TJ’s devotees started casting votes late last year. The only products not eligible for these honors were the ones that have won so often over the years that they’ve been installed in the TJ Hall of Fame. (Among those GOAT honorees are the Unexpected Cheddar, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups and Mandarin Orange Chicken.)
This year’s winners are:
Favorite Lunch & Dinner: Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice, for the third consecutive year.
Favorite Beverage: Spiced Apple Cider, a seasonal product. (Coming in second was the French Market Sparkling Lemonade.)
Favorite Cheese: Goat cheese, in all its variations (Crumbled Goat Cheese, Chevre with Blueberries, Chevre with Honey and Chevre with Cranberries for the winter holiday season).
Favorite Produce: Teeny Tiny Avocados, up from second place last year.
Favorite Appetizer: Creamy Spinach & Artichoke Dip
Favorite Breakfast & Brunch: Hash Browns
Favorite Sweet Treat: Sublime Ice Cream Sandwiches
Favorite Snack: Chili & Lime Flavored Rolled Corn Tortilla Chips — for the fifth time, which means this product now goes into the Hall of Fame.
Bath, Body & Home: Brazil Nut Body Butter, a seasonal product that will return in May or June, TJ’s says.
Favorite Overall: Again the Rolled Corn Tortilla Chips, Chili-Lime flavor, won top honors.
And the new category, Favorite New Product: Cashel Blue Cheese Irish Potato Chips, made in Ireland with Ireland-grown potatoes and an Ireland-produced blue cheese.
As the Trader Joe’s award announcers noted, this came as a surprise because, for starters, blue cheese is a “polarizing” flavor — you either love it or hate it. Also, they said, this limited-time offering arrived in stores late in the year, in November. But there’s something new coming soon from this producer — a garlicky potato chip.
OK, Trader Joe’s fans, time to open the envelopes and let you know if your nominees made the grade.
On Monday, the beloved alt-grocery chain announced the 16th Annual Customer Choice Awards — 11 in all, with a new category for 2025, Best New Product.
TJ’s devotees started casting votes late last year. The only products not eligible for these honors were the ones that have won so often over the years that they’ve been installed in the TJ Hall of Fame. (Among those GOAT honorees are the Unexpected Cheddar, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups and Mandarin Orange Chicken.)
This year’s winners are:
Favorite Lunch & Dinner: Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice, for the third consecutive year.
Favorite Beverage: Spiced Apple Cider, a seasonal product. (Coming in second was the French Market Sparkling Lemonade.)
Favorite Cheese: Goat cheese, in all its variations (Crumbled Goat Cheese, Chevre with Blueberries, Chevre with Honey and Chevre with Cranberries for the winter holiday season).
Favorite Produce: Teeny Tiny Avocados, up from second place last year.
Favorite Appetizer: Creamy Spinach & Artichoke Dip
Favorite Breakfast & Brunch: Hash Browns
Favorite Sweet Treat: Sublime Ice Cream Sandwiches
Favorite Snack: Chili & Lime Flavored Rolled Corn Tortilla Chips — for the fifth time, which means this product now goes into the Hall of Fame.
Bath, Body & Home: Brazil Nut Body Butter, a seasonal product that will return in May or June, TJ’s says.
Favorite Overall: Again the Rolled Corn Tortilla Chips, Chili-Lime flavor, won top honors.
And the new category, Favorite New Product: Cashel Blue Cheese Irish Potato Chips, made in Ireland with Ireland-grown potatoes and an Ireland-produced blue cheese.
As the Trader Joe’s award announcers noted, this came as a surprise because, for starters, blue cheese is a “polarizing” flavor — you either love it or hate it. Also, they said, this limited-time offering arrived in stores late in the year, in November. But there’s something new coming soon from this producer — a garlicky potato chip.