Tamarillo Chutney product reviews

My partner does not like tamarillos so I had hoped to get the entire jar to myself. It was not happening! One taste and I realised I would have to fight to get any at all - apparently it surpassed all expectations and the contents of the jar were vanishing before I had so much as served them with anything else. In the interests of salvaging some so I could actually write a review, I grabbed the jar quickly and put the lid back on. There was more left than I had thought so there would be enough to work with after all. I got a clean spoon and tried a little myself - and then I realised what all the excitement had been about. The chutney was so tasty that it could indeed be eaten on its own.

The jar is small but attractive, and I can see it being useful to put in a gift hamper for someone living alone - a small portion is often handy when there is only one person to eat it. My initial reaction was that it had exactly the right balance of flavours, neither too acid nor too bland. There was a sweetish aftertaste, reminiscent of a sweet-and-sour sauce, but even then it was understated. I think the children might like it too but they will not get a chance this time round; I can see the pair of us finishing the jar in record time.

Having regained control of the jar, I was able to dish up reasonable portions with our evening meal. Our dinner that night consisted of silver beet, basa goujons, beetroot, and cauliflower bites. None of these items is strongly flavoured, with the possible exception of the beetroot, so the chutney would be an ideal accompaniment. It certainly was, and to our surprise it actually improved the flavour of the fish. Basa can be a bit nondescript so the chutney was just the spice it needed.

I still had half a jar left so the following day we had a "ploughman's lunch" - thick slices of ham, crusty bread rolls, cheddar, and half each of one very small out of season tomato. That was a great success too; the tomato had almost no flavour and I would have regretted buying it had the chutney not been there to come to the rescue. I made sure there was enough left for a third helping next day!

I had intended to cook something more complicated, but life got busy so I put together a macaroni cheese dish. Rather than serve the chutney separately on the side of the plate, I stirred it into the cheese sauce before combining it with the cooked macaroni. It transformed the dish into a completely new flavour sensation - I had not been sure it would work, but it was utterly delicious. We are mararoni cheese fans in our house, but I had never imagined this combination would work. My one reservation is that the jar is now empty. Hopefully, Castle Rock will bring it out in a bigger size so a group of people can all enjoy it.

I have to admit I requested this for review when my brother was staying with me as he LOVES chutney, I am not so much of a fan. When this turned up my brother was long gone, but I was cooking dinner and inspiration hit. I opened the jar, which had a really cute label, looking both professional and home made at the same time. There was a real chutney smell, which to be honest worried me a little, but I signed up to trial it and that is what I was going to do. I had chicken out and I basted it in the tamarillo chutney. It looked just like home made chutney that my nana would buy from church fetes.

When I turned the chicken I put it on thick, and left it on top like a sauce, I dished it up to my family, and was very hesitant about my middle child, as she doesn't like chicken, and had never tried chutney.... It was a huge hit, it was delicious, and everybody thoroughly enjoyed it. The proof as they say is in the pudding and the next time I got chicken out my youngest asked if I could make it the yummy way again! I did take photos but I'm not clever enough to work out how to up load them, but I recommend this as a go to simple recipe if you are having unexpected guests. The chutney has a texture and smell that really looks like you have worked hard to make it yourself, and the flavour is delicious.

I will buy this product again, which is something I didn't expect from this experience. I was going to gauge the taste and experience through my brother, so I am pleased he wasn't here when it arrived so that I could give it a honest trial and be pleasantly surprised.

I picked to review the Castle Rock Tamarillo Chutney as I love both tamarillo's and chutney. When I received the chutney I opened it straight away. The lid was hard to get off but I got it off eventually. The chutney has such a lovely sweet, savory aroma and I had to try it straight away. I spread a thick layer on some crackers and was pleasantly surprised by the delicious taste of the chutney. I love the sweetness of the brown sugar with the savory taste of the onions. I couldn't taste tamarillo as such but could definitely taste something fruity.

I love the simple label, it was basic yet effective. I love that it is made and produced right here in New Zealand. On the back of the jar is the ingredients list. It's nice to know everything in the chutney is ingredients that can be found in most pantry's like malt vinegar and mustard. It doesn't state if it may contain traces of nuts, dairy etc so not so helpful from an allergy point of view. I like the jar it comes in and being that it is glass it can be reused.

I think the jar size is only 100g so doesn't last long at all but nice as a treat with some cheese and crackers. It doesn't actually state on the jar what size it is. I can see on their website they do have an online shop for you to purchase 100g jars & 250g jars. For value for money I would purchase the 250g jar as it's only $9 on their website but shipping is an additional $8. So will wait until I'm in the Coromandel next time to buy more.

Overall this was by far the best chutney I have tasted and I will definitely be purchasing more. It would be the perfect christmas present paired with a box of crackers.

My partner absolutely loves chutney and he also really loves tamarillos, however due to the price of them it is not something he gets to enjoy often. When I saw this chutney available for review I was most keen to give it a go, especially after the rest of the Castle Rock range was such a hit in our household.

The chutney itself comes in a cute little glass jar, the jar itself doesn't state the weight of the chutney but there is enough to enjoy a generous amount as a spread several times over. The label clearly tells us what the product is (Tamarillo Chutney) and also has a clear list of ingredients used to make the chutney, I love the fact that the ingredients listed are all those which you are likely to find in your own kitchen at home, and that the chutney has no added colours, flavours or preservatives, something which is seen far to often in mass produced products!

When I first removed the lid from the chutney and gave it a smell I thought it smelt very fruity, but also could pick up the smell of the vinegar and spices. The chutney appeared to have quite a lot of liquid to it so I gave it a stir to try and thicken it a bit, unfortunately this didn't really seem to help. The chutney had some lovely big chucks of apple, onion and tamarillo in it which I was pleased about as this meant it was going to be tasty and full of flavour.

I first used this chutney on crackers which I topped with cheese for a afternoon snack as we had visitors, everybody loved the flavour combination, but nobody was able to pick that the flavour of the chutney was tamarillo, but they rather thought it was a caramelised onion type flavour. The next time I used this chutney was in chicken wraps, the chutney was spread over the base of some plain white wraps and then dressed up with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, cheese and crispy chicken tenders. The flavours of the chutney worked beautifully and I loved the fruitiness that they brought to the meal, as did my partner who said this was a nice change to his standard steak or BBQ sauce.

Last but not least I mixed a small amount of the remaining chutney into my bacon and egg pie mixture before cooking, this was absolutely delicious and the chunks of fruit were amazing paired with the eggs, bacon and cheese, and created more of a gourmet taste to the pie than when I use standard onion. With a few spoonfuls left in the jar I added a dollop of the chutney to the families meals, and this made a great dipping sauce for our chips, even Miss 3 happily ate hers up.

This is another lovely chutney from Castle Rock which I feel is a great way to dress up any meal, the price is a little steep but in saying that you are paying for a product made by a small company, and it does seem to be made with love. This is something I would buy again, and also something I think my family would enjoy so perhaps something good to add to a gift hamper at Christmas time.

I picked this chutney up for review because my husband loves tamarillos. I grew up in a house where we had a tamarillo tree, and so I have eaten a lot of them in my time. They are not a favourite for me though, because they have such a sharp tartness to them. My husband loves sour things. Because I know what tamarillo tastes like I thought I had a good idea of how this chutney would taste. I was not really looking forward to it.

We sat down with some bread, crackers, cream cheese and some of this chutney. I shared the jar with some friends as well to get a few more opinions. Right from first taste this chutney was a crowd favourite. No one had a bad thing to say about it. I was surprised, because I was expecting a real tartness, but that wasn't really there.

The chutney does taste like tamarillos and it's a good chunky mixture. It tasted perfect on bread and we all wanted to try it on hot toast with butter. So that happened, and it was absolutely perfect. We added a little cheese and again, found this chutney to be a winner.

For me the stand out flavours in this chutney were the apples and onions, with some tamarillo flavours as well. It was mild, with a nice level of spice but warming with caramel flavour notes too. I loved this so much, I could easily see myself eating it on cheese toast every morning for breakfast. I had it mixed in with a cheese sauce this week and it was such a treat having it that way.

My only issue with this product is that the jar is quite small. 100 grams of chutney doesn't last very long, especially when it is so delicious that you can't ration the amount you want to use. So value for money was a little affected for me. But the quality of the product, the flavour, and the fact that it was a crowd favourite means I would definitely be keen to buy it again.

I have always wanted to try tamarillos but have never been brave enough to try them my mother in law often makes tamarillo chutney but I had never tried it so was excited to try this chutney when it arrived. I opened the jar and had a smell and loved the savoury sweet aroma coming from the jar. I had heard that a tamarillo was a sweet tomato but wasn't expecting such a sweet smell or on tasting it taste.

First taste and I was sold this was fruity and spicy and had that real savoury kick of say a ploughmans chutney I really really enjoyed it. As I had made this comparison I thought it only fair I test it out on a ploughmans platter so I prepared some breads and salamis, crackers and cheese and this little jar of chutney. We were entertaining so I thought it was the perfect occasion to get some opinions from friends.

Paired with cold meats and cheese and crackers this worked perfectly it was a great little chutney for this occasion and enjoyed by everyone. A couple of people had thought I had made it as it has that homemade look you can tell real good quality ingredients are used and all the flavours are there. I would love a bigger jar if I were to buy more as it would be good to keep in the fridge for jazzing up meals.

There is something deliciously naughty when, after putting the girls to bed, my husband and I sit back enjoying an adult beverage with a tray of cheese and crackers placed in front of us while watching a movie. Knowing at any time you could get busted by one of the girls and have a very stern telling off for not sharing the goodies with them. This has been our life for the past couple of nights and it has been fantastic!

I got my love of cheese and crackers from my dad as he would always have an evening snack while watching tv so the ritual as continued in both myself and my brothers. It is one of the fastest dishes you will ever create, get tray, put crackers on it, butter very lightly, cut cheese, place on cracker, put dab of relish on the cheese and hey presto its done. Heaven on a plate!

The other tradition I picked up was from my grandad of having cold left over roast on a sandwich covered in relish. Seriously another devine flavour addition to any menu. The Tamarillo Chutney has been perfect on my roast lamb sandwiches for the past two days. Just perfect. Its not so much the flavour but more about the warm sensation I receive from adding it.

I find the taste is rather subtle to begin with, but then I get a heat burst from the chutney and then find I am really enjoying the after taste. It has been a great addition to my various meals and has quickly become my husbands favourite relish so far. As you only need to use a little bit each time I think this could survive in our house for a couple of weeks at a time and definitely the one I would consider purchasing again in the future.

Having not really enjoyed the Chilli chutney I was very keen to try the Castle Rock Cafe Tamarillo Chutney and see if it was more pleasing to my palate. The labelling on this jar doesn't indicate the size of the jar but it was small enough for me to consider worth having as I take a long time to eat condiments and didn't want to have yet another jar of chutney languishing away in my fridge til it was past its expiry date. With this jar as well as not knowing the portion I was under no caution as to a use by date either. Very dangerous in my fridge! I would like to see a weight or volume on the packaging and a use by date and possibly a date of manufacture as well. This product rather lovingly does not have any extra additives or preservatives which makes it even more important to know its approximate shelf life and life in my fridge after opening.

The ingredients are very simple. Tamarillo, malt vinegar, apple, onion, brown sugar, mixed spice, salt and mustard. There are no allergen warnings on the label so I would be cautious if these are an issue. I appreciated at least that the labelling stated what vinegar had been used so I knew to be extra careful with my knife etc when I had finished. So I guess overall I would like better labelling please Castle Rock Cafe.

So taste wise. Well I have to say it actually took a few weeks to open this jar. The lid was very stuck on and I would give it a go opening it and then give up and try again a few days later. Eventually my mum when asked suggested how to open a stuck lid and I managed to get it open. The first thing I did was give it a good stir to examine the contents and rather surprisingly got what was a good quarter of an apple or possibly a tamarillo on the end of my spoon. It was hard to tell by the taste but the texture seemed more apple and regardless it was a very big hunk which left me wondering about quality control when dicing up the chutney ingredients.

Anyway onto the taste. I love chutneys with cheese sandwiches so this is always the ultimate test in my kitchen for a good chutney. I gave myself a liberal spread and I must say as far as chutneys go this was really nice. However I couldn't taste the apple or the tamarillo and it just tasted like a sweet onion chutney. I then decided to just try this on its own by the spoonful to see if I could taste the subtleness of the tamarillo. I must say it is there but very subtle and not really enough for me to be able to detect it enough to distinguish this flavour when used with other products.

I decided to try it with cold meat for dinner and actually it made a nice accompaniment when not having to compete with other flavors. The tamarillo adds a lot of sweetness and I really liked that. I would be more likely to eat this and definitely more likely to just sneak a spoonful as a sweet kick. Price wise I wouldn't spend $6 on a jar this small for myself but would consider it if making up a little hamper for a gift .

I must be honest I am not really one to have condiments in the pantry or fridge. Tamarillos are one of my favourite fruits and was introduced many years ago to tamarillo and cheese sandwiches. A combination I would not normally have tried. So glad someone made me try it. So when I saw tamarillo chutney I decided that was also worth a try.

By looking at the jar it is obvious that this chutney is made with love in small batches by a small company. The personal touch of the batch number written in pen gives this away. It is great knowing that these smaller companies can be recognised in a bigger society. I did think that the jar of 100g at $6 is a little over priced but that is what you get for this type of thing. Probably not a chutney I could afford for my husband to put on his lunches every day.

I first tried this chutney with cheese and crackers. I was surprised that there was very little tamarillo taste. Although it did have the small pips of tamarillo, this to me tasted more like an onion chutney - a nice onion chutney. I then gave it another go by making savoury pinwheel scones with it. This worked really well and I found by heating the chutney it gave it a sweeter more caramel taste to it.

Overall I think that this chutney has many uses. Those that are not fond of tamarillos would not even know that this is its base ingredient. Although I am not a huge fan of chutney having this product to review has made me think a little more about how chutneys can be included in my family's diet and make me more adventurous. It was obvious by the way this jar disappear that it is liked by both my husband and children.