Lime & Passionfruit Curd product reviews

When I was given a jar of this spread, I was interested in finding out how successful the combination of ingredients might be. It was quite different from the usual range of jams and other spreads, but limes and passionfruit are separately two of my favourite fruits, so I felt I was pretty sure to enjoy the combination.

First, I tasted a little on the end of a teaspoon so I could check it out without the addition of toast or anything else that might affect the flavour. It was even nicer than I had expected. Although there is a certain amount of sugar in the product, the main ingredient is lime juice and that counteracted the sweetness, and also the richness, of the eggs and butter. I also appreciated the fact that all the ingredients are natural products with no artificial preservatives being added.

I did the usual taste tests - on a sandwich and on toast - but I wanted to see if there could be other ways in which it could be used. One of my favourite summer desserts is fruit kebab. This is a recipe I learned originally in Samoa, although it is seen at lots of kiwi barbecues these days. You thread different pieces of fruit on a metal skewer (banana, mango, pineapple, pieces of coconut flesh, and anything else you happen to have in the fruit bowl), drizzle it with honey, and then barbecue it lightly until the fruit is just starting to brown at the edge. If you want it to be extra tasty, you can dip the kebabs in coconut cream before you eat them.

I figured the lime and passionfruit combination would work well as a honey substitute. I did not want the curd to separate so I put a blob on to each kebab just before I took it off the heat rather than putting it on at the start. This worked well and it gave the curd a slightly smoky tang which brought out the flavour. I left out the coconut cream dip, but next time I will try that as well to see if it makes a difference.

So, all in all, I am impressed with this product. It is flavoursome without being too sweet and I can see all sorts of other possibilities for it. A word of warning - it needs to be kept in the fridge in hot weather, but my jar disappeared so fast it was hardly necessary!

I was lucky enough to win 3 scrumptious jars of the St Andrews Limes Lime and Passionfruit Curd during the KIWIreviews 12 Days of Christmas competitions. I have to be honest and say I haven't had a lot of experience with lime flavoured products before as I tend to find that most products similar to this are usually based around lemons, none the less I love passionfruit so was looking forward to trying this out.

The first thing I did when I got home with this was take the lid off and dip my finger into it as I was curious as to how it would taste, it was very tart with a very strong lime taste to it, you could certainly taste the passionfruit but the tang of the lime was definetely the strongest of the 2. The texture of the curd was lovely, rich and creamy and a beautiful bright yellow in colour, reading the list of ingredients on the back of the jar it was great to see there were no hidden nasties, preservatives or colours but simply a list of kitchen staples; sugar, egg, butter and off course limes and passionfruits.

My Mother in Law noticed my jars of the curd in my cupboard so I offered one to her to take home and she got busy listing off a whole bunch of ideas of what I could use it for, so I guessed she certainly wouldn't have it go to waste. It just so happened that this morning we went around to her house for morning tea and she had made pikelets, which she served up with whipped cream and the Lime and Passionfruit Curd, this went great as a topping - the flavours were rich and strong but not to sweet and the cream balanced it out perfectly. She also told me how well the curd went on her toast she has for breakfast each morning.

For Christmas I decided to use my other 2 jars of the curd to make a white chocolate, lime and passionfruit cheesecake. One of the jars was swirled around amongst the cream cheese mixture, it seemed to mix in well and I had no problems with it separating. The other jar I used as the topping of the cheesecake and this looked really appealing due to the colour of the curd. Two jars seemed the perfect amount for the cheesecake and the flavours went together beautifully with the white chocolate and cream cheese.

I will certainly be buying more of this when I see it around, I think it would also make a great addition to a gift basket for perhaps somebody's birthday who loves different kinds of spreads, dips and crackers.