Lime and Vanilla Bean Syrup product reviews

A little too much to handle in large doses, this is a flavour best used in moderation. After a few trials, such as drizzled over French Vanilla ice-cream and fruit salad, added into a custard and poured over sliced bananas and pears... the best result came from using it in a gel topping in one of our delightful cheesecakes! Photo to come later - we are re-doing the cheesecake to make a really nice photogenic one.

Another interesting use I thought about was using it to flavour the filling in a custard tart - giving it something of a citrus zing would go really nicely, as I think custard would round off the sharpness of the lime in this. On it's own, this is way too 'vigorous' a flavour - it needs to be a part of something a little creamy or sweet to settle it a bit and balance it out.

Overall, a surprisingly tasty ingredient, and one that can be used to good effect in small doses - which is great for me, as I want to experiment a little more wildly with some summer dishes... and drinks! I have a sneaky suspicion this will prove invaluable and a bit of a 'secret weapon' in the Summer Cocktail experiments.

Umm I wasn't so taken with this. Ingrediants are sugar, water, lime (12%) and vanilla. The vanilla appears to be some crushed and then a vanilla bean pod in the bottle.

The overwhelming taste of this is sugar and lime. The vanilla flavour is completely overpowered by the lime.

I tried this by itself - taste is of lime and I didn't like the after taste or feeling on my tongue.
I also used on a summer pudding - Lime complemented the sweetness of the berry pudding so was a nice addition.
On ice cream - not something I would try again as ruined the ice cream flavour.

I think this is probably best used as a complement to berry based deserts as suggested on the bottle. It is also suggested to try with Mascarpone cheese which makes me wonder if this is worth trying with grilled figs and cheese when they are in season.

On the whole though this is great if you want a lime syrup but I was disappointed in the lack of the vanilla flavour (in my bottle anyway). I would only buy again to use as a lime syrup but then again the same effect could be achieved by boiling up some sugar, water and limes.......

- Do read reviews of other St Andrews Limes products though as this is the only product that hasn't taken my fancy!!

Wow this is a flavour sensation! As soon as I received it I tried a little (very sneaky!), and wow the lime flavour is so sharp but teamed with the sweetness of vanilla creates a fresh sweet syrup. I love the vanilla pod that is in the bottle, not only adding to the flavour but it looks great as well, kind of more natural than a processed syrup.

I could think of many uses for this from cheesecakes, to fruit kebabs or as we did by drizzling over some vanilla ice cream. Perfect!! Just be careful when using, as too much does get sickly ...I didn't think it was possible as its so fresh tasting, but I did overdo it the first night I tried it!

This would be perfect for a special desert over summer, or to add into a gift basket for a different type of gift at Christmas (or any other time of the year). This isn't something i would buy all the time as I don't 'do' desert all that often, but it is something i will keep in mind for special occasions and gifts. 10/10 from me on this!! YAY for NZ made goodness!