Trader Joe's Gochujang Spicy Korean Style Hot Pepper Paste

As far as Korean or Korean-ish things from TJ's, I've tried Korean-style sausages, Korean-style BBQ sauce, pajeon or Korean pancake, and even kimchi (gochujang almonds too, but I don't really feel like that counts...). Although not all attempts at replicating Korean or Korean-ish/Korean-American cuisine have been particularly successful IMO, I definitely appreciate the attempts. And now the fact that a distinctly Korean condiment has landed on TJ shelves means that the forward thinking TJ's buyers think it's ready for middle America. That's awesome. :P 

That word "style" is pretty strategic. It gives enough creative space to deviate from the arguably more authentic original but doesn't tread too far into the "inspired" territory (where frankly all bets are off and if it resembles nothing of the original, it was inspired right? :P). Plus, Korean American artisans (omai..buzzword) signals to me that this is a "made in USA" product vs a "product of Korea." Anyhoo, what is gochujang? It's a savory sweet fermented red pepper paste used in a lot of Korean dishes, mostly for sauces and marinades and such. I discovered it when I first had bibimbap in Korea (life changing. A delicious, filling meal with sweet savory spice for under $5), and it was a huge part of my college diet.

Two things stand out to me: 1) there is no corn starch syrup, which is commonly found in store-bought gochujangs. Of course, such syrups are purposely excluded because TJ's ain't about that high fructose corn syrup life. It doesn't seem like it's a necessary ingredient per se. 2) Tomato paste. What??? Never have I ever had any gochujang with tomato in it. But okay I'll roll with it. 

The product display at my TJs advertises this gochujang as a straight-up condiment to be used on eggs, in stir-fries, and basically on any dish that you would douse with sriracha, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just a very American thing methinks (cuz if your food is flavored nicely, it doesn't usually need extra condiments but whatever). Aside from my college years where I ate gochujang with celery sticks (delicious but pretty pungent and salty), I haven't really used gochujang as a condiment by itself. But they've packaged it in a squeezable bottle, which means they've deliberately done so to make it easier to use this as any other condiment. 

The good news is that this gochujang isn't too far off the mark. If you aren't Korean or if you've never had plastic-red-tub gochujang before, you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. However, compared to the tub I currently have in my fridge, the TJ's gochujang is less concentrated/pungent/fermented, less spicy, saltier, and a bit sweeter. Most definitely saltier - the ingredients list a serving size as 1 tsp whereas mine lists 2 tbsp as the serving size (according to the ingredients list, this TJ's sauce has nearly TWICE the amount of sodium per serving compared to my tub O_O). Also, the consistency is thinner, which probably makes it easier to use as a condiment. The tomato paste presence definitely gives it a subtle but immediately noticeable ketchup backdrop that I'm not sure belongs in a gochujang, but it's not at all unpleasant. Just different.

A used this in the sauce for his usual gochujang chicken, a weeknight and lunchbox staple in our house, and noticed that it burned more easily. Evidence of more sugar content, so beware that more burning will probably happen if you use this in meat marinades and whatnot.

I also tried it with steak and atop cauli-rice above. It's not bad as a condiment actually, and I can see a lot of people enjoying this. In fact, it would probably taste really good on omurice, which most people top with ketchup. But does this replace the plastic red tub in your fridge if you have one? Methinks no. But if you live in an area without a decent Asian grocery store, don't want to pay exorbitant Amazon prices, and can sacrifice spice level and pungency for your personal needs, it's not a bad pick. As for me, the $3.99 for a 14.3oz TJs bottle doesn't quite trump 1.1 lb tub I can get at any Asian store for the same price.

TL;DR: Trader Joe's Gochujang Spicy Korean Style Hot Pepper Paste. Americanized gochujang. 6.5 out of 10.