Pumpkin Spice Salted Caramels

Trader Joe's is generally overrun with pumpkin everything during the month of October, offering way more products than we can really use up in a timely manner, so I am always thankful when they put a product on the sample counter so we don't have to buy it to try it. On one of our recent trips, they were sampling the dark chocolate pumpkin spice salted caramels. Salted caramel is kind of hit or miss for me, but A doesn't really mind it. I wanted to make sure we would like these if we were going to buy them.

A brought one back for me from the sample counter and I thought it looked really pretty. I popped it in my mouth and looked at A in a combination of horror and disgust. That doesn't happen with a lot of foods, even if I end up not being a fan in the end. It took an incredible amount of willpower to force it down and it left such an unpleasant taste in my mouth. I was so unhappy that I had to eat 2 samples of totchos (tots, bacon, and cheddar - so good) to "wash it out." Thank goodness for totchos.

I don't know what about this candy was so repulsive to me. According to the box, it was a combination of Belgian chocolate, caramel, pumpkin and spices, and Hawaiian red sea salt. The spices were supposed to be clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger, but none of those were listed separately in the ingredients so I guess, with the pumpkin, they're all just considered "natural flavor" (the penultimate ingredient). It's not really clear what part of that or what combination there just didn't taste very good. It was a little too salty, but that couldn't be the only thing that caused the unpleasantness. A also remembers it having a little bit of a Mexican spice taste instead of a pumpkin spice taste, but again, that shouldn't be enough to make it taste so bad to me. Although A didn't hate it like I did, he didn't really care for it either. Some people do seem to like it, but I don't really get it.

Buy? Not a chance (for me), probably not (for A).