These Are The Only Times Of Year You Can Get Marshmallows At Trader Joe's

There are plenty of items you can get from Trader Joe's at any time of the year. If you have a hankering for, say, Unexpected Cheddar Cheese or Chili and Lime Flavored Rolled Corn Tortilla Chips (both of which are in the Trader Joe's Hall of Fame), you'll be able to satisfy that craving whenever you'd like. But if you're jonesing for the spring-seasonal lemon bars or the dark chocolate plantain chips, you better hope you get a hold of them on time, because otherwise you're out of luck. Some items make sense to limit to a certain season, like anything with pumpkin spice. But why does Trader Joe's only sell marshmallows in the summer and the winter?

Part of it has to do with the two most common uses for those delicious white puffs of gelatin (although Trader Joe's marshmallows, being vegan, don't actually contain gelatin.) If you were on "Family Feud" and you were asked to name something you do with marshmallows, the top two answers on the board would probably be "toast them for s'mores" and "put them in your hot cocoa." These are activities you usually do in the summer and in the winter, respectively, so it makes sense that Trader Joe's makes them available around those times. The big marshmallows are for summer, while the mini marshmallows — the ones bound for mugs of hot cocoa or hot chocolate — are for the colder months.

Now, you may be wondering why Trader Joe's makes these treats seasonal when you can find bags of Jet-Puffed Marshmallows on the shelves of other supermarkets at any time of year. Well, Trader Joe's isn't like other supermarkets. You've probably heard about how Trader Joe's keeps its prices low by buying goods straight from suppliers, but another way the company does that is by carefully managing its space. That means, in order to clear shelves and keep things moving, it has to pick and choose what it can sell all year round and what can be sold seasonally.

How does it do that? Well, demand is one part of it, as evidenced by selling marshmallows only during peak marshmallow-buying times of the year. But another part of it is keeping an eye on when certain ingredients reach the right price. It may be frustrating not to have access to those tasty marshmallows whenever you want, but it's all part of the plan for this beloved institution. If you'd like to buy something other than marshmallows, however, you can check out this list of must-buy items from Trader Joe's.