Sids Feijoa and Chilli Sauce product reviews

I LOVE feijoa and I like chilli far more than my wife does, so when she told me she was getting a bottle of this to review I was most excited.

A favourite dish of mine is to grab a tortilla, pop some rice on it and then top it with some tinned tuna, usually I do mayonaise on top but I decided to add some of the feijoa and chilli sauce to it, as why not? I have to say this added a bit of spice and a GREAT flavour to the meal, you don't even need to use too much to get a great addition to your meal.

My preferred meal for using the feijoa and chilli sauce though... I cook up some garlic pizza, that's covered in cheese, and the pour some of this sauce over it, omigosh, so nice! I even used it in a pasta dish (full of good veges) and whilst I wasn't sure if it would improve upon the taste of the overall meal or make it worse, I have to say that it added a nice tang to the meal, a bit of heat and complimented everything really well.

While I'm not a fan of the price, I do realise that a little goes a long way, so I would probably get my moneys worth out of it in the end.

When we were asked to give a list of what we would like to try from this range and review I felt that I needed to give this a try, I love feijoa and whilst not a big chilli fan I did want to push myself a bit and try something out of my comfort zone and this was the best opportunity for that.

Gave the bottle a good shake and dipped my finger in to get a taste of it before I used it in anything. My three children all wanted a try and so I obliged and wasn't surprised when all three declined to have any more. My first use for this was with a favoured quick lunch meal. Rice, canned chicken bits on a tortilla with bbq sauce and mayo on top. I added just a small dash of the Feijoa and Chilli to it as well as I figured everything else would make it enjoyable even if I didn't like this sauce. Well.... I found that it added a really great flavour to the meal and since then have added this to the meal each time.

Last night was one of those nights where you just don't feel up to cooking anything fancy. The kids had eaten their dinner and were tucked in bed, but what to eat for mummy and daddy? I ended up cooking some cheesy garlic pizza for our dinner and thought that since I was enjoying the Feijoa and Chilli so much, I should add it to this. Once cooked I put a healthy dollop of a basil pesto dip on the plate and poured the sauce over my pizza. It was divine and I could have easily eaten a second helping done exactly the same way. I did get a little bit of heat off this, but no where near as much as I expected and I really did love it, dinner finished in next to no time at all.

Usually when I eat dumplings I just go with the tried and true route of soy sauce for dipping but I went with Feijoa and Chilli sauce instead since it is a nice and thin sauce. This went really nicely with the dumplings and gave it a great taste.

For the Feijoa and Chilli sauce I am finding that a little gores a long way. I've used it for two dinners are three lunches and still have half a bottle left. My husband isn't a huge fan of it, but that's OK, more for me.

With the warmer weather now creeping up on us, I managed to sneak in a couple of BBQ's recently. Using this sauce to make a steak marinade seemed a bit of a no-brainer to start with, and the results were astounding... though I was the only one who thought so, since the rest of my family are still trying to come to grips with food that carries a hefty spice stick and swings it low and dirty.

The recipe was pretty simple - a hefty dollop of this, some Manuka honey, a good grind of sea salt, no pepper required this time, and some smashed-to-near-pulp garlic - well blended and shoved in a bag with the steak, which you have pricked all over with a sharp knife to make flavour-wells. Mash it all around to get the meat well coated, then run it through the vacuum sealer to cram the flavour in deep. In the fridge, pull it out the next day and burn it, baby!

Stunning stuff, full of flavour and all the rich spiciness in the sauce comes out and wraps around the meat, giving it a delicate sweetness and a heavy warmth. Serve with something like a green leafy salad or potato salad and something with a bit of zing like a pickled tomato, onion and cucumber salad and you have a meal fit for the mates.

As a bit of an experiment, I also bought some avocados and used them, some chopped onion, a few spring onions, some chunky chopped tomatoes, a couple of cloves of smashed garlic finely chopped, and a hefty dose of this to make a guacamole salsa spread. It was great on toast, but even better speared in a freshly toasted pita pocket and loaded with sliced ham, cheese, beetroot and lettuce. A wonderfully refreshing yet tangy lunchtime treat - and so healthy too!

Overall, this was a very tasty and versatile sauce, but it really is not for those who think plain mashed spuds are a meal highlight. You have to enjoy flavour - which this has in great amounts - and spicy heat - which this has in moderate amounts. It's not a sauce for the soft-stomached brigade. It's like HP Brown sauce, with attitude!