Come on, Joe, you’re letting me down. This stuff is one of the only things that makes one of my fam members feel better. It is medicinal for him. Yet you hardly ever have it in stock. I’ve been Googling for it and it is unbelievably difficult to find.
I could try to make it but it would be easier to buy it by the bag.
My two local TJ’s don’t carry it currently.
Anybody else here spot it in their store?
What’s the difference between crystallized and candied ginger? I’d always thought they were synonymous.
Chowhound has a dedicated section on chain stores and restaurants, with an ongoing Trader Joe’s thread. There’s a mention of the ginger about halfway through this, a month ago: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/756766 They discuss specific products and specific stores.
Note that they have terrible software and searching is tedious. It might be easiest to register and post about your local store.
This is a perennial problem with Trader Joe’s. They get you hooked on something that no one else carries, and then it disappears.
I still miss the frozen escargots-in-the-shells that they had back in the '80s. God, those were good! And their merguez sausages, and frozen ducks. More recently: Cocoa Almonds. (I don’t care as much for the ‘black’ ones they replace them with.)
So what is the difference, about which GilaB asked?
Why don’t you ask to talk to the manager at your local TJ’s and find out what the deal is? It’s my experience that the employees there are unfailingly pleasant.
From what I have been told - Trader Joe’s model is to always be eliminating their bottom 10% sales performers.
I can only speculate that this is a problem with items that would not be expected to be big sellers in the first place. Whereas milk and eggs would always be sellers, escargot or candied ginger would not. And yes, I always experience the same syndrome - my favorite items disappear from the shelves
It’s useless to talk to your store manager, because these decisions are made by the number crunchers somewhere else.
Yeah, I’ve got people in several counties calling their TJs and the consensus seems to be that they are hoping to get them back in stock in mid-April but they cannot rely on promised due dates. Also, the supplier is in Thailand, so maybe that’s an issue?
Crystallized = sugar syrup
Uncrystallized = no sugar syrup but still sweet
Both are called candied.
Try The Ginger People. I love the ginger chews.
Unless your family member can’t have sugar, the Penzey’s crystalized ginger might be an acceptable substitute. It is cut small and somehow not as sugar coated as some others I’ve tried.
But it can be useful to know if they’re discontinuing the product, or if they just happen to be out.
TJ’s model is funny in that way. As someone else said, reading all the quarterly TJ threads over at chowhound.com is probably the fastest way to see if a particular item might have been discontinued or has been reformulated. It can be a PITA to scroll through the threads, given that there’s over 100 posts in every one, but there’s a lot of info there.
I’ve never been a huge TJ’s shopper – it’s a hike for me on a regular basis – but the times I do stop in to get something I’ve always known/loved, chances are it isn’t being carried anymore 
Looks good! He can have some sugar, and that price looks a bit more reasonable than some.
thanks
I popped into the thread to suggest this very product. We have a jar at home and I’ll pop a tidbit from time to time when I’m rummaging through the spice rack for something else. Definitely not too sugary.
I stir it into my morning oatmeal.
I found it when a relative of mine was using ginger and ginger products to settle her stomach.
Crystallized is crunchy. Uncrystallized is chewy. Big difference, especially when your tummy’s upset.
I really prefer the chewy.
Ginger is such a great medicine, isn’t it? I have used it for motion sickness as well as for a digestive aid.
My brother’s conditions are multiple: AVM (arteriovenous malformation) and a bundle branch block (heart circulation/conduction disorder); both have caused pain and dizziness. He says he feels better if he is up and moving around, if he donates blood, or when he eats that chewy ginger.