I Tried Trader Joe’s New Enchanted Jangle, and I’m Disenchanted

Unicorns and rainbows — that’s the first thing that grabbed my attention when I spotted Trader Joe’s new Enchanted Jangle, a spin-off of the chain's Jingle Jangle and Springle Jangle snack mixes. Clearly this new summer treat is aimed at either children taken in by the package, or those who want to relive their youth through a nostalgic concoction of sweet and salty. But at $4.49 for a 10-ounce bag, is this “magical mix of assorted candy treats” worth it? My take: Some parts are strangely addicting, yet all together, it’s kind of a jumble, not a jangle.

Enchanted Jangle contains some old-timey goodies in the mix, like something I would picture myself eating while watching a circus: lemon yogurt confectionary-coated animal crackers, strawberry yogurt mini marshmallows sprinkled with rainbow nonpareils, and pink- and orange-swirled confectionary chips. Add in salted waffle pretzels and milk chocolate-covered pretzel nuggets, and you’ve got salt, sugar, chewy, and crunchy all in one bag. At 140 calories and six grams fat per serving, it’s not the worst-for-you treat. There are nine servings in the bag — if you stick to the portion size, that is. This stuff is all too easy to just mindlessly munch on.

It sounds like it would be a magical combination, but is it really? Quite frankly, I wasn’t spellbound. I tried to scoop everything together in one mixed bite, but a lot of the pieces are big, and you end up eating them alone. One cookie, a couple pretzels, a chocolate nugget — it’s all too much to fit in at once to get a varied taste experience. So I ended up eating the pieces separately, which was fine but not as good as eating better cookies or better chocolate.

The animal cookies were not as good as the classic, sprinkled, yogurt versions that have been around forever, and I thought the nonpareils on the marshmallows should have been on the cookies instead. The confectionary chips were uber sweet, and actually needed the pretzel with it to cut the sugar. The pretzels alone were just bleh, and unfortunately there seemed to be an abundance of them in the bag. The chocolate pretzel nuggets were tasty and definitely my favorite part of the mix; I admittedly picked most of them out and ate them alone in one fell swoop. (There weren’t that many in the bag.) After I picked through the chocolate, I went through the cookies and marshmallows, leaving nothing but basically a bag of (not very good) pretzels.

Would I buy this again? In my opinion, it’s sort of a weird mix — and certainly not one of the best things to buy at Trader Joe's. I think the bag is absolutely adorable for bringing to a summer gathering where you want to provide an interesting snack and make a statement. Would I eat it just for the heck of it when I want a treat? I don’t see that happening again, although other reviewers seem to love it. Bottom line: If I want pretzels, I’ll buy some pretzels, and if I want some yogurt cookies, I’ll just buy some yogurt cookies.

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