Trader Joe’s Bell Pepper, Garlic & Parmesan Cream Cheese Review

As a kid who grew up eating cream cheese on saltines, putting Trader Joe’s Red Bell Pepper, Garlic & Parmesan cream cheese on crackers was the obvious move. There are a lot of flavors going on there, and while I like savory, i figured it’d be flavor overload on a bagel. For me, anyway.

Garlic and parmesan come through the most assertively. Red bell pepper seems to be showing up just to add a little color. But my biggest complaint is: it’s salty. YMMV, but a couple of crackers with the spread was enough for me. Salt (or sodium) shows up 3 times in the ingredient list… in the cream cheese base, the parm and then sodium citrate. So I guess I should have known.

So, aside from topping crackers or bagels, what else could you do with it?

• Mix a tablespoon or so into some scrambled eggs to zhuzh them a little.
• Use it as a sandwich spread. Could be good with turkey or on a veggie sandwich if you’ve got other fixins to diffuse the flavor (and salt) a little bit.
• Stir it into some hot pasta for a quickie riff on mac n cheese (I wouldn’t, but you could in a pinch!)

But let’s get to the real question. Would I buy Trader Joe’s Bell Pepper, Garlic and Parmesan cream cheese again? Nah, too salty. We probably won’t even finish this tub.

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Check out some other We Tried’s from Trader Joe’s:

Carolina Gold BBQ Potato Chips

Sparkling Green Tea with Pineapple Juice

Vegan Tzatziki Dip

Peanut Butter Cocoa Marshmallows

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