This $10 Trader Joe’s Seasonal Gem Will Make Your Home Smell Like the Farmers Market

Quinn Fish
Quinn FishLifestyle Editor, The Kitchn & Staff Writer, Apartment Therapy
Five years and counting in the digital lifestyle media space, I cover cleaning, organizing, decorating, renovating, and everything else that helps you live your best life (when you're not cooking!) in the kitchen and your home. I’m also passionate about music, bars and restaurants, travel, and spoiling my bicoastal kitty, Sully.
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published Apr 18, 2023
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Woman holding trader joe's paper bag with both hands and smiling. Sunflowers sticking out the top
Credit: Joe Lingeman

We’re always on the hunt for hot new products that help us usher in the new season, and if you’re near a Trader Joe’s, you probably know about their stellar lineup of seasonal goods. From wreaths to orchids to room sprays, they make budget-friendly products that truly fill your home with joy — and their newest gem is no different.

Enter: the Tomato Leaf scented candle, an earthy, springy, savory candle that smells like the sun hitting a bodacious tomato vine bursting with ripening tomatoes. It doesn’t exactly smell like fresh-cut tomatoes on a BLT, but more like a tomato plant. With dual cotton wicks and 40 hours of burn time, the $9.99 soy wax, coconut oil, and beeswax candle also has “hints of bergamot, rhubarb, and geranium,” and will fill your home with the fresh, nostalgic scent of the farmers market for weeks this spring.  

Now, let me note that this candle isn’t for everyone — in fact, since its March 31 debut, it’s been tearing the internet apart. It isn’t a sweet-smelling candle in the traditional sense, but its festive, bright scent is perfect for lighting on a weekend morning for a touch of herbal bliss. After all, there really isn’t one candle on Earth that everyone loves.

Unlike most Trader Joe’s candles, the tomato leaf candle is a departure from the standard 5.7-ounce metal tin packaging, and instead comes in an 11.28-ounce brown glass jar with a metal lid, which will be great for reusing once your burn time is up. And what’s not to love about repurposing packaging? 

While you’ll really have to smell the candle in person to know if it’s your new favorite, due to its seasonality, it likely won’t be around for all that long, and is already popping up all over the web for resale (not that we endorse it!). For twice and even three times its original value, people are snatching up the unique candle every way they can. Run, don’t walk!