Candy Food Junk food

Review: Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Covered Toffee Popcorn

Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Covered Toffee Popcorn in its packaging.

Popcorn is good. Toffee-covered popcorn is also good. And, it turns out, milk-chocolate-covered toffee-covered popcorn is also pretty darn fine.

At the centre of each piece of Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Covered Toffee Popcorn is a fluffy, dense piece of popcorn. It’s the lightest element in the concoction, which gains its heft by being weighed down with toffee and a layer of chocolate coating. At first glance, they look like giant Glosette raisins (a Canadian reference, I hear).

The taste and texture are curious. The toppings make it very sweet, but a bit of salt counters it and brings out the popcorn. Each element is clearly identifiable. There’s no difficulty picking out the toffee, which I thought might be a problem.

The slight puffy crunch of the caramel corn leads to a condition I like to call kernel-mouth, where little pieces of popcorn kernel jam their way into cheeks and in between teeth. A small trade off, but worth noting.

Overall, good enough that if I had a Trader Joe’s in my city, I’d worry about becoming addicted.

Look at all those little nuggets of chocolate popcorn goodness.

RATINGS AND DETAILS

Cost: $2.99 for an 8 oz. (227 gram) bag.

Value for cash money: Not bad.

Availability: Trader Joe’s in the U.S. I found mine in Seattle.

Nutrition?: 130 calories per 1/4 cup. There are 9 servings in the bag, so multiply that up, and presto: 1,170 calories in all. It’s very easy to eat half a bag without thinking about it. Small amount of calcium (that’s milk chocolate, after all), protein, and fibre. Lots of saturated fat and sugar.

The verdict: Tasty. One hell of a lot better than Trader Joe’s chocolate covered edamame.

A detail of the popcorn kernel, which is more dense than the popcorn I'm used to making at home.

2 Comments

  1. These sound yummy, but, 130 cal per a tiny 1/4 cup. I can imagine eating 2 cups in no time at all. Ouch! That hurts.

    • Agreed. It’s easy to eat half a cup without even noticing. I mean, how many plump chocolate-covered kernels are there in a quarter cup? A small handful? Eek.