Trader Joe's: Droste and Van Houten imported cocoa

[Flexicon]

Ahhhhhh! Good call. How could I forget? Trader Joe's has some of the finest microbrews around! My fridge is always well stocked with Red Tail Ale, Sierra Nevada, and Sam Adams.

 

[bupkus]

Originally posted by: Flexicon
Ahhhhhh! Good call. How could I forget? Trader Joe's has some of the finest microbrews around! My fridge is always well stocked with Red Tail Ale, Sierra Nevada, and Sam Adams.

I think I'm in love. :heart:

 

[EvilHomer]

Im pissed ...over here in NY we can not get the 2 buck chuck wine or any alcoholic beverages at Trader Joes ....None of them have Liquor licenses ... and you can't even order that wine from anywhere ...you need to buy it only at Trader Joes..... hmmmm ..despair

 

[Muse]

These two brands are the only ones I EVER buy. I have several boxes of Droste on my shelf right now. This is a good price. The Droste is probably (undoubtedly) the better. The last time I bought anything else it was a can of Hershey's unsweetened cocoa (over 20 years ago) from a local supermarket. It was SO terrible, tasted SO bad that I brought it back and insisted on a refund. I NEVER do that! NEVER!They just don't make decent cocoa or chocolate in America.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: EvilHomer
Im pissed ...over here in NY we can not get the 2 buck chuck wine or any alcoholic beverages at Trader Joes ....None of them have Liquor licenses ... and you can't even order that wine from anywhere ...you need to buy it only at Trader Joes..... hmmmm ..despair

I get ALL my wine at Trader Joe's. Best prices around and for damn fine wine, lots of it. I always get red, preferrably the Cabernets. I get little else there, since most of it's expensive gourmet type food and not too good for you. I try to stay away from stuff like that. Good cocoa and wine are necessities of life, however.

 

[HarryK]

Originally posted by: EvilHomer
Im pissed ...over here in NY we can not get the 2 buck chuck wine or any alcoholic beverages at Trader Joes ....None of them have Liquor licenses ...

I thought we had it bad here in Ohio. Here the 2-buck chuck is $4 because there are MINIMUM linquor prices mandated by the State. But I guess I should be happy that I can get it at all.

 

[Tommyboy8]

Originally posted by: hansmuff
I'll go a little off-topic, still Trader Joe's though: they are the best *and* cheapest place for a lot of cheese products! Get Holland Gouda for 1/2 the price of cheap supermarket brands, and they have an awesome selection of really good (and, again, cheap) import brie.
Another great (cheese related) thing they sell is the small brie circles you heat up and serve as a snack.. ~$5 where supermarkets usually charge $10.

wow. Someone knows about Holland Gouda. By far the best cheese out there.

I much check TJ now, because I never knew they carried it. I just had some relatives from Belgium bringing over some Holland Gouda 2 weeks ago when they came to visit.

 

[kenkhanh]

I just tried out my first cup of Droste Cocoa today, with water and sugar only. It must be my lack of good sense, because I don't find it to be aromatic as much as I expected. I guess I'm too used to the smell of hazle nut. I guess pinch of hazle nut powder and substitute sugar w/ honey might do the trick.

My local TJ's has Charles Shaw Shiraz. Never seen it on "shelf" before. The 2 buk chuck of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay sure do taste like other $12-$18 California brands.

 

[VegasRobb]

Thanks for the tip. Picked up a tin of each to try out.

 

[bupkus]

Originally posted by: VegasRobb
Thanks for the tip. Picked up a tin of each to try out.

Just doing my part to spread the word about the proper attitude towards chocolate.

 

[hansmuff]

Originally posted by: Tommyboy8

Originally posted by: hansmuff
I'll go a little off-topic, still Trader Joe's though: they are the best *and* cheapest place for a lot of cheese products! Get Holland Gouda for 1/2 the price of cheap supermarket brands, and they have an awesome selection of really good (and, again, cheap) import brie.
Another great (cheese related) thing they sell is the small brie circles you heat up and serve as a snack.. ~$5 where supermarkets usually charge $10.

wow. Someone knows about Holland Gouda. By far the best cheese out there.

I much check TJ now, because I never knew they carried it. I just had some relatives from Belgium bringing over some Holland Gouda 2 weeks ago when they came to visit.

Holland Gouda rocks. And you can get a decent size chunk for ~$2.50 at TJ.
Try this:
- toast a slice of wheat toast
- put 2 slices of good ham on it
- put a slice of pineapple on it (from the can is fine)
- put a spoon of jelly in center of pineapple slice (the hole)
- cover the entire thing with a few medium thick slices of gouda
- toast until gouda is nicely melted

Enjoy! And this works only with gouda.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Tommyboy8

Originally posted by: hansmuff
I'll go a little off-topic, still Trader Joe's though: they are the best *and* cheapest place for a lot of cheese products! Get Holland Gouda for 1/2 the price of cheap supermarket brands, and they have an awesome selection of really good (and, again, cheap) import brie.
Another great (cheese related) thing they sell is the small brie circles you heat up and serve as a snack.. ~$5 where supermarkets usually charge $10.

wow. Someone knows about Holland Gouda. By far the best cheese out there.

I much check TJ now, because I never knew they carried it. I just had some relatives from Belgium bringing over some Holland Gouda 2 weeks ago when they came to visit.

I made it into my local TJ's the other day. Got 4 boxes of Droste. Two bananas at $.19 each (the BIGGEST bananas I'd ever seen!). Checked out the Gouda, all from Holland. They had 4 kinds, so I got a piece of all 4:

They had a red wax covered one.
Smoked
Reduced fat
Goat Gouda

The prices were all pretty reasonable compared to other gourmet cheeses. I normally consume much more New York Sharp Cheddar (try it, it's GREAT!) than any other cheese, and that costs me about $5/lb, so this Gouda was in line with that.

 

[sxr7171]

Originally posted by: kenkhanh
I just tried out my first cup of Droste Cocoa today, with water and sugar only. It must be my lack of good sense, because I don't find it to be aromatic as much as I expected. I guess I'm too used to the smell of hazle nut. I guess pinch of hazle nut powder and substitute sugar w/ honey might do the trick. My local TJ's has Charles Shaw Shiraz. Never seen it on "shelf" before. The 2 buk chuck of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay sure do taste like other $12-$18 California brands.

You might like it better with skim milk. All the commercial Hot Cocoa mixes have milk powder in them to make the drink somewhat milk based, but this kind of cocoa powder will not have any milk powder.

 

[bupkus]

Ok, here's my chocolate syrup recipe. It's easy and fun and can be done with the kids.
I put it in hot soy milk for an awesome cocoa, and nobody knows it's soy.

Cocoa Syrup
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups water
3 cups sugar ------- you can reduce this to 2 cups easily
1 1/2 cups Dutch-processed cocoa
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Directions
In a small pot, bring water and sugar to a boil and whisk in cocoa, vanilla, salt, and corn
syrup. Whisk until all of the solids have dissolved. Reduce sauce until slightly thickened. Strain and cool to room
temperature. Pour into squeeze bottles. Squeeze into cold milk and stir for delicious chocolate milk or serve on your
favorite ice cream. And, hey, it's fat free!

 

[blueribb]

Try searching for "Droste Cocoa" and "Van Houten Cocoa" at froogle.com if you don't have a Trader Joes nearby.

 

[mithrandir2001]

You can't get wine or beer in a supermarket...this is Pennsylvania after all, home of the State-controlled liquor store. At least the Trader Joe's I frequent has one of these "State Stores" next door. And now they sell booze on Sundays! The Bible Beaters must be beside themselves.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: mithrandir2001
You can't get wine or beer in a supermarket...this is Pennsylvania after all, home of the State-controlled liquor store. At least the Trader Joe's I frequent has one of these "State Stores" next door. And now they sell booze on Sundays! The Bible Beaters must be beside themselves.

Congrats to the Eagles! I was in Pennsylvania I guess Y2K. Didn't seem the most cosmopolitan place, suburban Philadelphia. I was on business and didn't do any drinking. Philly Cheese sandwiches, and I did find a pretty cool old fashion diner. If it weren't for that it would have been Hell. I did notice one thing - compared to the S.F. Bay Area (and CA in general) there seemed to be an inordinately high percentage of really fat people.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: sxr7171

Originally posted by: kenkhanh
I just tried out my first cup of Droste Cocoa today, with water and sugar only. It must be my lack of good sense, because I don't find it to be aromatic as much as I expected. I guess I'm too used to the smell of hazle nut. I guess pinch of hazle nut powder and substitute sugar w/ honey might do the trick. My local TJ's has Charles Shaw Shiraz. Never seen it on "shelf" before. The 2 buk chuck of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay sure do taste like other $12-$18 California brands.

You might like it better with skim milk. All the commercial Hot Cocoa mixes have milk powder in them to make the drink somewhat milk based, but this kind of cocoa powder will not have any milk powder.

I totally agree with this. I've tried cocoa + sugar + hot water and didn't like it. I always make my hot cocoa with skim milk. What I do, actually, is mix cocoa and sugar about equal by volume and store it in a bottle. When I want to make hot cocoa I start heating some water and meantime stir some of the mix with some non-fat dry milk powder. Then I add the boiling water and stir.

 

[mithrandir2001]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: mithrandir2001
You can't get wine or beer in a supermarket...this is Pennsylvania after all, home of the State-controlled liquor store. At least the Trader Joe's I frequent has one of these "State Stores" next door. And now they sell booze on Sundays! The Bible Beaters must be beside themselves.

Congrats to the Eagles! I was in Pennsylvania I guess Y2K. Didn't seem the most cosmopolitan place, suburban Philadelphia. I was on business and didn't do any drinking. Philly Cheese sandwiches, and I did find a pretty cool old fashion diner. If it weren't for that it would have been Hell. I did notice one thing - compared to the S.F. Bay Area (and CA in general) there seemed to be an inordinately high percentage of really fat people.

I'm afraid Hell is Texas. I "lived" in the Dallas area for 2 months on business. Yuck! Flat, flat and more flat and all the big houses are shoved right next to each other.

I don't think suburban Philadelphia is quite so bad. Near mountains, rivers, lakes and ocean, generally moderate weather, lots of medical and education facilities, plenty of malls, relatively affordable housing, major sports teams and media. Nothing overly extraordinary but nothing horrible either.

Fat people? Oh yeah, I see a lot of that but I'm not sure that's a regional thing. Americans are just fat period.

 

[blueribb]

A quick call to Biglots confirmed they "did" carry Droste Cocoa. But only at Christmas time.
After Christmas, they mark it down to "get rid of it" (her words)

You might want to check with your local Biglots to see if they have any left.

 

[Flexicon]

You fiends! Anandtech effect strikes again. My local TJ's ran out of Droste and they won't be getting any more. They were suspiciously low in the cheese, beer, and wine depts, too. Hmmm...

Originally posted by: bupkus

Originally posted by: Flexicon
Ahhhhhh! Good call. How could I forget? Trader Joe's has some of the finest microbrews around! My fridge is always well stocked with Red Tail Ale, Sierra Nevada, and Sam Adams.

I think I'm in love. :heart:

LOL! Here's to bupkus for starting this Trader Joe feeding frenzy! :beer: Maybe now they'll up their supplies of all the goodies mentioned in this thread.

 

[Muse]

I'm afraid Hell is Texas. I "lived" in the Dallas area for 2 months on business. Yuck! Flat, flat and more flat and all the big houses are shoved right next to each other.

I don't think suburban Philadelphia is quite so bad. Near mountains, rivers, lakes and ocean, generally moderate weather, lots of medical and education facilities, plenty of malls, relatively affordable housing, major sports teams and media. Nothing overly extraordinary but nothing horrible either.

Fat people? Oh yeah, I see a lot of that but I'm not sure that's a regional thing. Americans are just fat period.

There's PLENTY of fat people here too, but not as many REALLY FAT people!

I drove through Texas about 2 months after JFK was shot in Dallas. Lasting impressions:

1. Texas IS really really flat.

2. It takes a LONG time to drive through TX, even when you are flying, and my driving partner noted: "They FLY in Texas."

3. We ate at diners and the meals were cheap, very good, and served by the most beautiful waitresses I'd ever seen! I hope that hasn't changed...

 

[jpitblado]

I used AB's chocolate syrup recipe as well. Hershey's doesn't even come close. His hot cocoa recipe is good as well. Take it easy with the cayenne.
-----
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
2 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste
Hot water

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate evenly. In a small pot, heat 4 to 6 cups of water.
Fill your mug half full with the mixture and pour in hot water. Stir to combine. Seal the rest in an airtight container, keeps indefinitely in the pantry. This also works great with warm milk.
-----