Pumpkin Greek Yogurt

As a lover of all things pumpkin, I was thrilled to see pumpkin yogurt at Trader Joe's. I can't say I've ever even seen pumpkin yogurt before, but it seemed like such an obvious flavor choice for a seasonal yogurt. And I have been known to add pumpkin butter to my yogurt, so it seemed like it would be such a simple flavor to create.

Before I even saw it at the store, I had heard rumors of a seasonal pumpkin yogurt, and I had heard that it was supposed to be quite good. Perhaps my expectations were too high because of these rumors, because I was beyond disappointed when I got around to trying the yogurt. In fact, I felt rather annoyed by the fact that I had clearly been lied to.

At first bite, I thought perhaps the yogurt had gone bad, or was simply too close to the expiration date. But this was not at all the case. The yogurt had a very thin consistency for Greek yogurt, which I assume to be due to the fact that it is nonfat (rather than low fat, like most Greek yogurts). It also had a very unpleasant sour taste, which was just worsened by the fact that there was a noticeable lack of pumpkin flavor. The only noticeable flavor (other than sour) seemed to be a pumpkin spice flavor (or at least the clove and nutmeg).

I will definitely not be buying this again, and I would suggest that everyone else avoids this product. Trader Joe's really needs to rethink their source for this item. Surely there are some good pumpkin yogurts out there just waiting to be discovered.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spread

Fall is one of my favorite seasons, and not for the obvious reasons like the cool weather or falling leaves. No, I love the fall because of fall flavors, like apple and sweet potato, and most importantly, pumpkin. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm one of "those people" that goes absolutely pumpkin crazy, and absolutely *must* try every pumpkin enhanced food product available.

I've had pumpkin cream cheese before, but only the homemade variety (cream cheese mixed with pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice) and the seasonally available pumpkin flavor from Philadelphia Cream Cheese. So I was thrilled to see that Trader Joe's offers it's own variety, especially at the fair price of $2.99. On closer inspection I realized that it's not quite "cream cheese" it's "cream cheese spread. Because it's a spread, the consistency is not the same, and it's not particularly thick.

I still loved the flavor of the spread, but the consistency was more like a cross between yogurt and cream cheese, which wasn't all that appealing on my standard bagel medium. And my tub seemed to have quite a bit of separation, but I believe this may be due to the fact that mine had a date that was only a few days away (even though I opened it the day I brought it home). I will definitely give this item another chance when I can come across one with a better date, and I will find other ways to use what I have left, but I suggest that anyone that plans to buy it makes sure to check the date.