Barker's Marinade - Plum & Five Spice product reviews

Barker's... Wow, you have done it again. We in this household love Barker's products especially their sauces so when I saw they now do marinades I wanted to try them. Again, Barker's have not let us down.

Trying the Plum and 5 spice marinade was a no-brainer. We love the spicy plum sauce so we were expecting this to be good. We had chicken drumsticks out for dinner so on went the marinade. Something came up and I did not end up cooking the chicken so they ended up marinating in the fridge overnight.

Opening the packet, the marinade was quite thin but smelt delicious. it was a very generous amount and coated all the chicken well. Pulling it out of the fridge the next day the marinated chicken was looking and smelling great. Giving the chicken another splatter of sauce from the bottom of the container we placed it on the tray and cooked. Sitting down to eat everyone commented on the chicken. The marinade had soaked through the whole chicken piece. It had a subtle plum/spice taste but enough. All the chicken went that night.

Barker's are good with their packaging. The bright purple packet with large writing is very eye-catching. It is easy to open with a little section to tear. The 300g was more than enough to coat the large tray of chicken drums that we had. The back of the packet had a recipe of sorts explaining how to make Plummy Pork Chops. It also had the normal nutrition information and ingredients.

This plum and 5 spice marinade was a big hit in this house. I like how the package is 6 serves as many only cater to 4 which is not helpful to bigger families. But saying that this packet I think could easily serve a few more. I also love that it is a New Zealand product and gluten-free. This marinade is being added to my pantry staples as it would be so versatile to add to anything for a delicious plummy taste.

When I saw Barker's had a range of marinades out, I knew straight away that I would love to try them out, I have been a huge fan of Barker's for as long as I can remember, especially their cordial range, and let's not forget the dessert sauces! Barker's products are always delicious and of a high quality, so you know what you are getting is going to be good. I decided I would like to try the Plum and Five Spice marinade, and I had the perfect piece of meat that I was going to use it on - Pork Belly!

The packaging size of 300g is good and the price is reasonable considering the high-quality Barker's makes their products. The packaging is effective at catching your attention with the majority of the front of the packaging being the plum colour, however the writing could stand out more and I thought maybe the text being in white would of been more effective. I found the packet was easy to tear into and the aroma that came from within was mouthwatering, I placed the pork belly in a dish and smothered it with the rich coloured marinade and then popped in the fridge for an hour.

Once cooked the smell just intensified even more, now I have very rarely used Five Spice in my cooking so I was intrigued how the balance of flavours would go. I plated up the pork belly with the vegetables and the rest of the meal and sat down to try it. The flavour combination worked well; the spice is certainly there but not too overpowering. The whole family had empty plates after and my youngest asked if there was any more.

I look forward to trying the other flavours in the range and experimenting with them to develop some bold dishes, I highly recommend this marinade as a quick, hassle-free way to add flavour to your meat.

I have never cooked with a plum and five spice sauce before, but figured now was as good a time as any. I must say that I am not a huge fan of the packaging on this one, just because everything was so similarly coloured that all the little words and symbols down the bottom and on the side, don't really stand out at all, and those little symbols etc down the bottom of the packet are usually the first piece of information that I am looking at. Since we aren't big meat eaters in our house, I needed to come up with some sort of way to use these, which the kids wouldn't turn their noses up at.

I decided to throw some rice in our express cooker and I then rolled some balls of falafel and cooked them as I usually do in the oven. Once they had done their time, I smothered them in this plum and five spice sauce, before returning them to the oven to cook for a little, so that the sauce could soak in and heat up a little. We then popped our falafel balls on their bed of rice with a side serving of sauteed broccolini. The kids ate theirs up with one saying that they really liked it, the others saying they would eat it but wouldn't be in a rush to eat it again. I found I enjoyed it more than I had anticipated and I liked that the sauce went a long way. We may well get this again and try it with something else next time.

As mentioned in the last review we have all had/have the flu, our appetite is out the window, taste buds are just returning and still basically all still feeling under the weather. I am so thankful that these sauces have arrived when they did because they are a godsend to make an otherwise bland meal becomes something of a master piece.

All you need is pork chops and a very easy, very yummy meal is taken care of. Ripping open the packet is easy and it rips nicely. I placed pork chops on oven proof paper and then poured the marinade over the chops. Placed in the fridge for an hour or so and then placed into the oven. It did suggest using a barbeque and said you only needed to cover for 30 minutes but it worked perfectly.

My nose is still out of sorts but even I noticed the lovely spicey aroma. The first bite reminded me of a delicious Chinese marinade and I automatically thought of spare ribs or chicken. This is one of those items that is require in the pantry as it can be very versatile and can sharpen up any meal. Be great on kebab sticks or in wraps.

My only complaint again is with the packaging. I found the colours to be too hard to read and in the end did not bother. Maybe it is just because I am still not feeling the best but I found it to be too hard.

I do like the pouches the sauce comes in and it pours beautifully out and you can control where it goes which is great. I also found the sauce at the bottom of the pan spooned beautifully on to the meat for an added bonus. It also went on to the potatoes great. Definitely an item we will be having again.

5 spice is one of our favourite mixtures - not just for Asian inspired meals, but to jazz up boring vegetables like carrots or swedes. Testing out Barker's new product was a challenge because we could think of so many ways to use it - it was a matter of sorting out what we had available. In the end a friend decided for us; he would be passing through town and would call in for dinner. And he would supply the meat - was belly pork ok? Was it ever!

Belly pork is one of those cuts just designed for 5 spice; although it is generally a sweetish mix, the peppercorns and cloves which are usually two of the five tend to cut through the richness of what is often a fatty cut of meat. The individual ingredients are not listed on the pack, but the other three spices are commonly cinnamon, fennel, and star anise. Certainly, the heady smell which filled the air as soon as I opened the packet smelled authentic!

The sachet contains six serves, but I prepared it all because I did not want to shortchange our friend. However, as the meat he brought was quite a small amount, I added a drained can of chickpeas once it was nearly ready to serve. The chickpeas soaked up some of the marinade, giving the appearance of sophisticated baked beans. We served the cooked pork and chickpea mixture over a base of cauliflower rice with a winter salad of freshly chopped raw ginger, onion, garlic, and cabbage (both red and white) stirred in at the last minute. The marinade trickled down to the vegetables. Although the combination of textures was delicious, we regretted not adding some peanuts as well to add crunch. I had thought about it but decided against it; next time we will include them.

Marinating the meat before cooking it was a brilliant move; the plums in the marinade would have helped to break down the fibrous bits. Once cooked, the meat was meltingly tender and every scrap disappeared. I had hoped for leftovers for the next day but that was not happening; we were hungry, and our cats, who were watching closely in case we dropped something, were sadly disappointed. The only criticism was that there could have been a little more salt; both my friend and my partner added some although it was fine for me. But rather too little than too much; it is easy to add that at the table.

Next time I use this marinade I might use it with a vegetarian dish. I think it would be ideal with black beans and nuts (possibly almonds) over stir-fried vegetables and rice noodles. There again, I might just go for belly pork again. Either would be delicious.