Organic Cherry Pomegranate Toaster Pastries (Trader Joe’s)

Trader Joe’s likes to be secretive when they go around private labeling some of their new products. There will be times that they will carry a national brand for years, it will suddenly disappear, and come back with a shiny new label. I’m pretty sure that they are well aware that they aren’t fooling anyone by doing this, however it’s an incredibly effective marketing tool. For years I stared at the Nature’s Path toaster pastries and never plucked them off of the shelf. It wasn’t until a couple of days ago that I spotted that they had switched up the packaging and popped the Trader Joe’s label on box with a new design and and interesting new flavor. The blueberry variety no longer existed. Cherry pomegranate stood in it’s place. Their switcharoo did the job and like a moth drawn to light, I had to have them. Here’s what I thought:

It’s a pretty simple package, with a clear photo posted on the front of the frosted fruit filled toaster pastries. They’re organic, which is nice for those that are trying to cut out some of those awful additives that other toaster pastries contain. Ingredients consist of a long list of organic elements highlighted by whole wheat flour and real fruit concentrates and purees. There are a few of those non-organic food compounds that round out the bottom blurb of the ingredient list, but nothing abnormal. They contain quite a bit of sugar and a serving size provides 200 calories for one pastry (but let’s be honest, you’ll eat both of them). I toasted them up. This is my favorite way to enjoy them as the pastry gets crisp and the fruit filling is pleasantly warm. They were delicious, and this flavor choice was an improvement from the blueberry. Just as expected from reading the ingredient list, they were heavy on cherry flavor with the sweetness coming from apple and a slight tart note from the pomegranate juice concentrate.

It’s a pastry, filled with sugar. There’s really no health benefit from these as they contain only a gram of fiber and no traces of vitamins. These are a nice addition to the pantry, and they will surely break some of the monotony of your breakfast diet. I would highly suggest these as a treat, but not something that you’d want to begin every morning with.