Customers 'Audibly Gasped' at Trader Joe's Newest Product

New month, new year, new products at Trader Joe's. The beloved grocer is kicking off 2024 with a slew of new products to help us get back into the swing of cooking and perhaps even check "try new things" off our list of New Year's resolutions. That's because the store is stocking a product that's shocked, confused, and excited a ton of customers in its first week on shelves. Here's what you need to know about Trader Joe's new Tofu Sheets.

Trader Joe's Introduces New Tofu Sheets

In the last few weeks, Tofu Sheets began appearing in the frozen section of Trader Joe's, with reactions to the product causing a bit of a viral moment on social media. For those customers who were familiar with the product, including many vegetarians and vegans, it elicited a strong, positive response.

On one such Reddit post to /TraderJoes many commenters chimed in with how excited they were to see the previously hard-to-find ingredient available at their local Trader Joe's. "I audibly gasped!!! Yay!." wrote one. "You really made my night haha I love yuba," and, "omg I literally inhaled so sharply seeing this! I love yuba and there are so many recipes I want to try using it but my local Asian markets never have any!," others chimed in.

Tofu sheets are typically hard to find, especially in this format. At some Asian grocers, they're sold dried and need to be rehydrated, a time-consuming process. Trader Joe's tofu sheets come frozen, and thaw in the microwave in minutes, making them extra weeknight-friendly.

But for those who weren't familiar, the tofu sheets were met with confusion and genuine curiosity. In a post on the Instagram account @traderjoeslist that went viral with over 2.4 million views, creator Natasha Fischer posed the question, "Asking for a friend…how do I use these correctly?" Over 1,200 comments later, Fischer was met with more than a few ideas for how to use these tofu sheets.

What Are Tofu Sheets?

Tofu Sheets is another name for yuba, a staple ingredient in Japanese and Chinese cooking. The sheets are made from soy beans, like other forms of tofu, but have a very different texture than silken and firm tofu. Yuba comes in thin sheets (as its other name would suggest), that can be kept in a block and cut into different shapes or pulled apart into individual sheets.

How to Use Tofu Sheets

Don't know where to start? Try this simple Yuba Noodle Salad from Chef John, which has you slice the sheets up into noodles and toss in a delicious peanut dressing.

However, it's worth noting that there is no shortage of ideas in the aforementioned Instagram post. There are quite literally thousands of ways to use yuba. Try it fried, stir-fried, sautéed, or baked, trimmed into noodle-like strips, or used as a wrapper (like you would use rice paper). Like other forms of tofu, yuba is particularly good at soaking up sauces, so one of my favorite ways to enjoy it is in curry (it's actually in TJ's super-popular frozen Thai green curry, too).

Even if you're an adamant tofu hater, you should give yuba a try, as it's texturally totally different than other kinds of tofu. And priced at just $2.99 at Trader Joe's, what do you have to lose?