Jelly Of The Month Club: Trader Joe’s Organic Super Fruit

This year, we’ve incorporated a couple of ‘monthly’ Achievements, things we’ll work on piece by piece from January through December (coming soon: the 10,000 Tables challenge). While we tried to pare the 2013 list down as much as we could, in the hopes of actually getting to all 101 this year, we couldn’t shy away from a few epic, year-long Achievements. And Jelly of the Month is one such Achievement.

So… what’s Jelly of the Month? Trust me when I say that this began on a car ride, and that it has to do with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

If you’re unfamiliar with baseball announcers, let me fill you in. They talk about everything. Argyle socks, lemon merangue pie, mustaches, you name it! Baseball, though I love it dearly, is kind of slow-moving (if you’re not a super game-time scorekeeper like myself), and that lends the color commentary to being very… colorful.

Last summer, when the Buccos were a billion games over .500 and the world was full of promises, our radio announcers (can’t remember who was in that evening, sorry!) launched into a discussion about an opposing player who, in the ’80s, lost his wallet. (I want to say this was the Reds, but seriously, there was one important detail from this rambling baseball story, and I’m coming to it.) A Buccos player found the wallet, and this Bucco was the second baseman. Now, under Pirate law (it’s a real thing, just ask Johnny Depp), there were two options presented to this second baseman: return the wallet, like a gentleman (aka, not a pirate), or choose to place random cards from the wallet on second base each time the opposing player was in a position to reach second base (pirate option).

Here is the radio quote, as best I can recall it: “So, he took to placing down random cards from [player’s name]’s wallet, each time he was up to bat. You know, [whatshisname] would come to bat, he’d put down a credit card. A driver’s license. His AAA card. The Jelly of the Month club card.”

The…. the what? The WHAT of the month? Jelly?

(I just want to say, that if baseball players really subscribe to Jelly of the Month clubs, baseball is either

a) really cooler than I ever thought
b) just as lame as we always thought; is it hockey season yet

I’m just saying.)

Anyway. From this radio commentary was our #8 Achievement born. If Jelly of the Month is good enough for the baseball world, it’s good enough for us. Rules for the monthly event are as follows:

1) The jelly must be chosen during the month, and cannot be Smucker’s, although it can be an off-brand version of Smucker’s, if I’m not paying attention when I buy the jelly.

2) The jelly may be: jelly, fruit spread, jam, preserves, or any reasonable fascimile thereof.

3) The jelly will be enjoyed at least three ways each month: on an English muffin, with peanut butter on Ritz crackers, and by Lucy. If necessary, additional servings of jelly may be added such as ‘spoonful’ or ‘thumbprint cookie’ or ‘PBnJ sandwich.’

4) Anyone who reads this blog and wants to participate is welcome to do so. You can participate by recommending a jelly for an upcoming month or by trying the jelly we choose and sending me your comments, at which point I will add the comments to our post.

5) Jelly consumption may occur at any time during the month, but MUST occur (at least)during the featured month.

6) Jelly will be rated according to the following criteria:
a. color
b. flavor
c. jelly-ness
d. bottle presentation
e. awesomeness

7) If jelly can be enjoyed during a Buccos game, it is preferable to non-Buccos-game consumption.

So! Without further ado, I would like to present our first Jelly of the Month for January, 2013: Trader Joe’s Organic Super Fruit Fruit Spread.

I don’t know what a ‘morello cherry’ is, but everything else sounds legit. I picked this jelly up on one of my recent ‘too hungry to be shopping at Trader Joe’s’ trips to Trader Joe’s. I had about six jellies to choose from at Trader Joe’s, but this one won out in the end.

As you can tell, the jelly was quite dark and full of chunks of real fruit. We had it on an English muffin, as well as with peanut butter on Ritz crackers (as protocol demands). I thought this was really great. Very fruity, not too sweet (it is sweetened with juice instead of all sorts of artifical sugars), and I loved the chunks of fruit. It made the jelly very meaty.

Lucy was very pleased to be included in the rating.

She thought the jelly was excellent. She liked its ‘yummy deliciousness’ (real dog quote).

Lucy wanted like… three more servings of jelly, at least.

Overall ratings:
color: 4
flavor 4
jelly-ness: 4
bottle presentation: 5
awesomeness: 4

I vote that yes, indeed, we would eat this jelly again and again.