Product Reviews:

I used the new spice rub from Dizzy Pig, Bayou-ish, on various baked chicken dishes. This great tasting rub is designed for searing and blackening, but can also be used for baking or stir frying.

I purchased two of Farmstead Ferments’ sauerkrauts from Relay Foods: the Apple Kraut (made with red cabbage) and the Classic Kraut. The producer is based in Charlottesville, VA, and creates raw, naturally-fermented foods and beverages made by hand in small batches. She uses “eco-locally grown” fruits and vegetables. You don’s want to kill the probiotics, so don’t cook the kraut. I use the krauts on good whole wheat Portuguese rolls with turkey sausages and mustard, but use a sweeter mustard (such as honey Dijon) with the (extremely strongly flavored) red kraut for the contrast in flavors. You can use this code (JXDVAG) to get $30 off of $50 on your first Relay Foods grocery pickup (they have pickup spots throughout the area) or delivery.

I tried two of Saffron Road‘s simmer sauces: the Korean Stir Fry, and the Harissa. I used both of the sauces (separately) in chicken and vegetable dishes. Both sauces are tasty, and included combinations of flavors I didn’t expect (both include pear juice as an ingredient). I have a couple of other simmer sauces to try out, so I’ll report back on them later.

I sampled a number of NAR Gourmet Turkish products. They products I tied are all are kosher (pareve), but only some are organic.

NAR’s Organic Cumin and Organic Chili Pepper (flakes) are both good quality products; I used them together in a variety of dishes including home fries, and green beans. The Organic Chili Pepper arrived in a small glass bottle with a cork stopper, so, when I opened it, I half expected a genie to materialize. The Red Wine Vinegar and Early Harvest cold pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil are both good quality products, and what I expected; I used them on several delicious salads.

NAR’s pressed Pistachio Oil is a new product for me, which is why I ordered it. It also took me a while to think of how I wanted to try it out. I considered making something with filo dough, or maybe a pasta salad, but did not have appropriate ingredients.  This morning, I combined the oil with butter and used it  to pan fry French toast with spectacular results. (We are talking spectacularly good, not spectacularly bad.) This is a great product.

The last two NAR products that I tried were the Traditional Lemon Peel Jam and Traditional Mandarin Marmalade. They may both be traditional in Turkey, but I’m unsure that either one translates well to the US market.

This particular “marmalade” isn’t what we (in the US) know as a marmalade (a jelly with some suspended slivers of rind), but a product that seems to be blended. As such, all you taste (besides a little sugar) is rind, and this is an overly bitter combination with an odd texture; I did not enjoy this product. My recommendation here is that NAR emulates how marmalades are made in the US (or even the UK, which is big on marmelades), in  order to produce a product appropriate to the market they are targeting.

The Traditional Lemon Peel Jam is actually closer to a preserve than a jam, but I would describe it as candied lemon peel in syrup. The lemon peel is rolled up into little wheels, and aren’t really that enjoyable to chew on because of how big/thick the pieces are. Do I see possible uses for this product? Yes, if renamed something like “candied lemon peel in syrup,” I can see people using the candied lemon rinds and syrup in cooking, baking, and creation of  cocktails. You would chop the peels up to cook or bake with them.  I am sure they is a way to slice the peels up to use them to garnish a cocktail, and the syrup could definitely be used in cocktails.

-JAY