Trader Joe's Fruit Floes: The Best Fruit Popsicle

Want to know what's most popular at Trader Joe's? Visit a store recently ravaged by returning college students or hungry commuters, as I just did, and you'll quickly find out which products make everyone's groceries lists. As I rounded the corner to the frozen aisle the other day, I was disheartened to find an empty bin where I would usually find the Caribbean Fruit Floes popsicle. Clearly, these popsicles are hot sellers.

The Trader Joe's Fruit Floes are, as the name implies, fruit popsicles sold in boxes of four for roughly two dollars a box. The Fruit Floes come in the flavors of Mango, Strawberry, Lime, and Caribbean. I consider myself a purveyor of fine fruit popsicles, and these are the best - even better than Edy's fruit popsicles, which are also a fine product. What sets apart the Trader Joe's bar is its robust flavor and texture. The Caribbean pop - my favorite - is like a smoothie on a stick. You will find chunks of passion fruit, strawberry, and mango shaped into four fluid ounces of bliss. Essentially, it's as if someone took all of the bags of frozen tropical fruit from the neighboring bins and fused them together into this magnificent treat. The Caribbean variety will set you back just eighty calories. Similarly, the Strawberry bars have a dense fruit flavor with pieces of strawberry scattered throughout the bar. Its flavor, though intense, lacks the complexity of the Caribbean bar and thus I usually relegate it to my "back-up" plan should the Caribbean bar be unavailable. The Lime bar, at just 60 calories, is a smoother, cleaner, tart choice. This is a more refreshing bar if you've been stuck outside in, say, 110 degree heat. The Mango bar is my least favorite, perhaps because it is so mild. While the very nature of the pulpy mango fruit makes it the creamiest bar, its flavor leaves me unsatisfied, especially having tried the other varieties. The mango bar is also the most caloric, at 100 calories per bar.

Living in a warmer climate - er, a scathingly hot climate - makes the popsicle a necessity in anyone's freezer. What better way to revive oneself than with an icy, flavorful treat, propped up on a stick, no less? I have been a devotee of the Trader Joe's Fruit Floes for a few years now, and the bar seems to be a staple in the store's freezer aisle year round. And with just four pops in a box, you do not have to commit to eight, or even twelve consecutive days of the same flavor. Mix and match to your liking.