Price: $3.49

These gummy belts are a great gummy option. They were perfectly sour and sweet and tasted like any classic gummy belt or rope. These are just a reliable, good candy option from Trader Joe’s.

Passion fruit sorbet

Rating: 5/5

Price: $4.99

This was by far the best thing I tried. I love passion fruit. When I was little, I used to break the ripe, spherical fruit open and eat the insides with a spoon. And when I tasted my first spoonful of this passion fruit sorbet, it was just like that. The taste was sweet and tart and simply delicious. This is going to be one of my go-to sweets all summer long. Definitely a must-try.

Strawberry fields gummy candy

Rating: 3/5

Price: $2.99

These gummies were good, but not as good as the other strawberry candy. The slight tart flavor was nice, but I was expecting something a little sweeter, considering they are covered in sugar. I know these gummies had the whole “natural flavors” thing going on, but if I’m going to eat gummies, I’ll take the artificial flavors.

Root beer float pieces

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Rating: 2/5

Price: $3.79

The name of this snack immediately had me interested, if not a little skeptical. I used to love late July nights and root beer floats with my family when I was a kid, so I was excited to try these.

The packaging describes them as “vanilla sandwich cookie pieces with popping candy covered in a root beer-flavored confectionery coating.” Yes, popping candy.

While the taste itself was okay, and they do actually taste sort of like a root beer float, the feeling of the snack in my mouth was strange. I’m sorry to say, the popping candy just made it weird. You couldn’t feel them while you were eating the actual cookie — it was an aftertaste, and the “after feeling” threw me off when mixed with the root beer and creme flavor.

However, I would still recommend trying these for the experience because I’ve never seen anything else like this.

Strawberry mini sheet cake

Rating: 3/5

Price: $5.99

No Trader Joe’s list is complete without the classic mini sheet cake. This rendition was moist, light and sweet. It is a thin layer of strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting on top. The biggest thing to me was that I wished it had a strawberry flavor. I think it would have been even better with more strawberries blended into the frosting. This is a great cake for a summer birthday or picnic, though.

Trader Joe’s has so many different summer products, some hits, some misses, but it is definitely worth a trip to the store to wander down the aisles and see what might be new.

@dthlifestyle | lifestyle@dailytarheel.com