Best New Trader Joe's Product October 2018: Maple Butter
It'll make you forget cookie butter ever existed
Trader Joe's just added another not-actually-butter to its canon (cookie butter, fig butter, pumpkin butter), and it's by far the best one yet.
The newly launched organic maple butter is 100% pure maple syrup, churned "until it reaches the perfect spreadable consistency," according to the jar's label. Think creamed honey, but wearing a scarf for fall. And at $5.99 for a 9.5-ounce jar, it's much more affordable than most quality maple syrups.
When I placed a jar on the checkout counter, an otherwise-taciturn employee launched into an impassioned description of all the ways she's been using it so far. That was all the inspiration I needed: 90 minutes later and I was spreading it on a still-warm slice of my favorite fall quickbread with joy, watching it melts into the crevices like real butter. Later that evening, it passed with flying colors on Brussels sprouts, Brie, roast chicken, ricotta toast and approximately seven other dishes at a fall potluck.
Despite the fact that it's the condiment equivalent of the Midas Touch, the best part of this new spread is that it makes maple pancake sandwiches less of a sticky mess and more of a reality.