Farrah's Mexican Range - Nacho Spice Mix product reviews

I can't call myself an expert when it comes to preparing and cooking Mexican dishes as they are not something we usually have in our house very often as the kids are not really big fans normally due to the spice flavors but this Farrah's spice mix was very welcomed. Farrah's have their packaging art down pat as it flows with vibrant colors and really gives off a festive vibe. I opened up the 40g packet and sniffed at the opening to receive a waft of a tangy spice aroma which smelt delicious. I browned mince and onion then added the Nacho mix, crushed tomatoes, and beans to the mix, and allowed it to cook.

While the mince was cooking I baked Nacho corn chips in the oven and readied the dinner plates. Once it was all done I layed the Nacho mince over the corn chips then dolloped sour cream on top and then added a sweet and sour sauce over the lot. I proceeded to eat the dinner and it was fantastic, Bursting with a lovely spice flavor consisting of paprika, cumin, chilli, garlic, and other great herbs and spices. The meal was very flavorsome and didn't have any real spiciness heat wise so the kids enjoyed it also. Next time I would look at adding Jaleopenos to punch up the spice a bit and sweet corn to add a sweetness to it also.

Overall I really enjoyed this spice mix and highly recommend it, So easy to use and great to cook up a fast, simple and impressive meal. For $2.49 it is a little on the higher side price-wise but it's not over the top and won't break the bank. Farrah's is a well-known, reliable and trusted brand and it's because of the quality that they constantly put out that people know they can support them and be confident your always getting a great product.

Thanks to Farrah's wonderful products we have had a lot of Mexican food through July and I felt I wanted to do something a bit different with this spice mix. Often we have a lot of Mexican in the summer with salads of tomato, capsicum and lettuce but those are a bit strange in winter. We decided on Mexi-Burgers. This was the perfect mix for this (I had tried similar before so had an idea of what I was getting. A great winter meal was the result.

Onto technicals, the pack was clearly labelled, easy to get into, had all the relevant information on it and I felt for the price the volume was quite good (noting Farrahs is at the quality end of my budget so it would not be an every week thing in our house). I checked for anything that would cause issues in the ingredients, which is always helpful for future reference.

The mix was hearty in colour and had strong smells of lovely spices and left me quite optimistic about the overall flavour. I mixed it with the mince/eggs/breadcrumbs as usual and let sit overnight. They cooked as usual as had a wonderful aroma while they fried. We selected some tomato, spinach, avocado, salsa and sour cream to complete the construction on some lovely brioche buns.

The result was messy and beautiful. We will be making these again with this spice mix for guests (yes I taste test dinner meals for guests!). So the top left picture, although messy was a wonderful result and the 8 burgers were the correct distribution of us of the spice mix. Not too strong but strong enough to know it was there. I loved that the heat was mild and didn't overpower the meat.

This was a total win for us meat lovers and given I have less love of nachos in winter when the salad veggies are a bit expensive this was a great alternative. I am now keen to experiment more with these mixes and hope to have a couple in the pantry to jazz up an otherwise ordinary dish. Well done Farrahs on another high-quality versatile product!

From such a young age I have always loved food that has flavour, especially spicy food. Mexican has become my favourite cuisine, however since having children, I have had to resist the urge to pack enormous amounts of spiciness into our meals. When I saw on the KIWIreviews site that Farrah's had released a range of spice mixes, I got quite excited at the flavour prospect. I decided to request the Nacho Spice Mix, as nachos are a family favourite.

The packet itself is vibrant and it is easy to distinguish the Farrah's brand name, and also the fact that this is the Nacho Spice Mix. The packaging states that this product is of Mild Spice, perfect I thought for the children's tastebuds. This 40g packet states it is for approximately 4 people, but I used for our family of five. On the reverse side of the packet, Farrah's has included a recipe for their version of nachos, I decided that I would follow that recipe when making our meal.

I started to cook the onion and capsicum together, then adding the mince and the Nacho Spice Mix, I broke up the mince and made sure that I had evenly distributed the mix throughout the mince. The contents of the spice mix was a beautiful rust colour, the fragrance that emanated when the packet was first opened was mouthwatering. There was a strong scent of paprika and a hint of chilli, I knew that I was going to be in for a flavour packed meal. After adding the remaining ingredients, and waiting for the mixture to cook through, I was eager to taste. The children tried their nachos first, and to my delight they loved them - they even managed to eat everything on their plates for a change! I took a mouthful of the mixture by itself, and talk about flavour explosion. This spice mix is a perfectly balanced product, all the spices work together, with no specific flavour overpowering the others, needless to say there were no leftovers.

Farrah's has been one of my favourite New Zealand company's for quite a few years now. They produce high quality products at affordable prices, and are always coming up with new ideas. This product is now a permanent fixture in our pantry, we always have at least one on hand. I look forward to experimenting more with this product in the future, and seeing what else Farrah's releases next.

Tarakihi is one of those "all-purpose" fish which adapt to a wide variety of flavours and cooking methods. It holds its shape well when cut into strips to make goujons or a tortilla filling, and adapts readily to being added to a marinade in advance of a meal without flaking into small pieces. We happened to have some fresh tarakihi fillets in the fridge because my cousins had been to the wet fish markets in Whangamata, so I put my pre-cut strips into a bowl and added half the contents of the spice mix.

After a couple of hours, when the spices had melted into the fish and we were starting to get hungry, I added the pieces to a frying pan and cooked them over a slow heat. I found I needed no added fat, just a little water to prevent any sticking. They looked (and smelled) wonderful while they were cooking; it was all I could do to stop myself trying one. When we finally got to eat them, served with an accompaniment of fried rice and stir-fried vegetables with sliced fresh limes to garnish, I was happy to find that everyone liked the combination. I do think rice goes exceptionally well with mild spicy flavours; some people like to stick to tacos and wraps, but they are sometimes already highly flavoured and can cancel out the effect of the filling.

Given that the spice mixture is very mild, everyone added plenty of the squeezed limes to bring out the taste. Citrus is in season right now so we were spoiled for choice, but limes are the best of all as far as I am concerned. We have a lime tree outside the kitchen window so the freshness was guaranteed. Other than that, we did not add any other seasonings as we wanted to get the full effect of the nacho spices. The paprika was dominant for all of us, but I could also taste the chilli while two of the others said there was no heat at all.

We still had half a packet left; there is no self seal on the pack so I decanted the contents into an empty glass spice jar. Getting the label residue off is easy if you have concentrated lemon oil; a drop of this and the adhesive remains melt away, leaving the surface clean for relabelling. It would have been important to do this had we planned on keeping the spices in the pantry for a few weeks before using the rest.

As it happened, we used it up over the next couple of days as a seasoning enhancement. We have a certain young man in our family who has never liked lettuce or cooked green leafy vegetables; he finds them boring! My partner suggested he try his lettuce with a good pinch of nacho spice mix on top just to see if it would taste better. To my surprise, it worked. He was quite enthusiastic about his "recycled rabbit food"; after that meal, he commandeered the jar and put it where he could find it next time. The following day we had sauteed spinach as part of our meal. Out came the nacho spice again, and he finished his portion without the usual protests. I can safely say we have won that battle. And the jar I decanted the spice into is completely empty, so it is time for a trip to the supermarket to restock.

$2.99 is on the higher side of the price tag when it comes to getting some sauce or seasonings for the family dinner, which is why I love getting things to review, the adventure without the cost. Opening up, I could smell the spices and various flavours right off the bat, I took note that it said mild but I know my three kids and I know they're not up to the mild stage yet, so I decided that my first dish would just use a small portion of the spice mix. I made vegetarian nachos, adding some of the mix to the 'meat' and serving it as one would. We all found that there was a little bit of heat and a bit of flavour to it too.

My second dish, I was tired and feeling lazy, so made burritos using pre cooked and chopped chicken, mixing it with a tin of flavoured chopped tomatoes and a heaped spoonful of this spice mix (though it was more than intended due to distraction). My first taste test I found the heat to be too much, so fretted about serving it to the kids. However after I left it to simmer for a few minutes I found that the flavours had multiplied and the heat diminshed. With some cheese, lettuce and sour cream, I added my mix to the burritos and served it to the kids. Everyone loved it, my nine year old and I had two servings, but my seven year old (who likes spice the least) went back for a third helping!

I still have half a packet left, so at $2.99 and a variety of uses, I can see this being added to the shopping cart.

We love Mexican in our house and for years we've been purchasing the Farrah's Wraps as they seem more wholesome than many other brands and never split. When I heard they were creating seasonings I was so excited to give them a go, finally I didn't have to mix and match brands and instead could stick with my favourite Farrah's.

Prior to reviewing the taco seasoning we did try the burrito seasoning. Maybe we are weak Mexicans but that one was a little too spicy for our taste so when we received the Nacho mix and saw it was mild I went a little alternative and decided to try it on our burritos. The result: Perfection, you wouldn't know it was specifically created for Nacho's so if you're after something a little less spicy this is your seasoning.

Rest assured we have tried it for Nacho's as well and it was equally as delicious. So if you're weak Mexican's like us then try this one out. All in all the extended Farrah's range is just as tasty as the original wraps so good on them for broadening the range. I'll definitely continue to purchase their range on my weekly shop and recommend that you do as well.

I really didn't want to go food shopping, so when this product arrived, I decided to make do with the ingredients available in the house at the time; wraps, chicken, and Wattie's four bean mix. Not much to choose from, but a quick flash in the pan and a generous dose of Farrah's Nacho Spice mix, and all of a sudden I had a pretty Mexican themed meal.

The spices worked really well with the meat, acting as both a 'rub', and as a sauce (once I added some 'juice' from the canned four bean mix). The spice mix easily created that beautiful mexican flavour blend that I love, but it didn't really provide much in the way of heat. But that is something that can be easily remedied by adding a couple of birds eye chillis, or even some Chilli and Lime chutney from Castle Rock Cafe (I went with the second choice). All of this added to a Farrah's Chilli Wrap, made for a great mix of chillis and added to the overall flavour profile. Everything added to the flavour. Nothing was separate, all parts just helped create a bigger, fuller flavour.

I loved the product. And when I finally get around to the supermarket, I will definitely be buying some hot chilli beans, and mince to make myself some proper nachos.

We all like nachos. Everyone in my family likes nachos. My friends like nachos. So I could not wait to try out this spice on everyone just to see how it would work out. The mix is not too spicy so I was able to use plenty and not stint for fear of burning someone's tongue. It is described as "family friendly" and I would agree with that. I made a bowl of beef and beans and flavoured it well with this spice. We had it outside around a campfire at the beach; there was a slight breeze and the warm food was welcome. And it didn't matter if anyone dropped their nacho chips - the seagulls would take care of any edible litter!

Having tried it the conventional way, I did my usual experimenting with other combinations. There was some home-made pumpkin soup in the fridge, left over from the day before, so I added a teaspoon and brought the soup back to a slow simmer for a few minutes. That really woke the soup up; instead of being quite bland, it had a noticeable kick to it and was eaten with enthusiasm by the two bottomless teenagers who had been hanging round the kitchen hoping something edible would appear. They had tried the unseasoned version and both said they preferred the spicy variation, so there is something that will be happening from now on.

The next night we were down to two people for dinner so I used up the last of the packet. I cut a packet of haloumi into small cubes then marinated them in a little olive oil and the spice. When they had been sitting in the marinade for a while, I fried them gently and served them with some seasonal vegetables which I had picked up at the local market (broccoli, spinach and avocado). I added some nacho chips on the side and we had a very enjoyable meal. I had not thought of adding spices to haloumi, but this combination worked well. It certainly made it more interesting to eat even though there was a predominance of green items on the plate which is apparently not very artistic!

The last thing I tried was literally with the scrapings from the side of the packet, but I wanted to prove a point and did not need a large amount to check out my theory. Friends keep telling me how well chilli goes with chocolate so I wondered how this spice would go in a mug of drinking chocolate. I drink my chocolate black (as I am allergic to cow's milk) so I get the full flavour up front. No hesitating - I made the chocolate then scraped in what amounted to a quarter teaspoon of spice and stirred it. The result? Interesting and quite pleasant. I think it would have been really nice if I had added a couple of marshmallows, so next time I have a packet to scrape that is what I will do.

My family are great fans of Mexican foods, and our all time favourite Mexican dish would have to be Nacho's, especially miss 3's. When I saw that Farrah's had introduced a Mexican range of spices and wraps to their already amazing range of products I was excited to be able to try these through KIWIreviews, knowing how great and versatile the Farrah's wraps are, I was expecting good things from the Nacho spice mix.

I decided to first try the spice mix out in Nacho's for dinner. I cooked up a tray of mince and added to this some chilli beans and pasta sauce, once the mince was cooked and the other ingredients combined I slowly added some of the Nacho spice mix to the pan a teaspoon at a time, I was being very cautious not to just go ahead and add the whole packet in case the product, although classed as being mild may be to spicy for my family. I found that 2 teaspoons of the spice mix to be just right for us. I loved the flavour which this mix added to our normally plain nachos, taking them from boring to flavoursome with just the perfect degree of heat. My partner asked me what I had added as he really liked the taste of the mince, and Miss 3 wolfed her's down and said it was "very yummy".

With over half a packet of the Nacho spice mix left I decided to get a bit creative and explore it further by making up some nacho mince and cheese pies. Using the leftover mince from dinner the night before I added another teaspoonful of spice mix, and then placed the mixture into pieces of pastry cut to size. Each pie was sprinkled generously with lots of yummy tasty cheese (after all what's a pie without any cheese!). These were covered in pastry and then brushed with an egg wash and baked in the oven until golden. These were amazing the flavour was delicious and all of our visitors loved them and had no issues with the level of spice, all of the children were even happy to gobble these down.

This has got to be one of the best spice mixes I have come across, I love that the blend is so perfectly combined to provide a great taste, looking at the dry mix you can actually see the different ingredients used which is not something i'm used to, it has a real Mexican flavour to it so Farrah's have got this spot on (no surprises here). I can see that this is such a versatile product which can be used above and beyond just Nacho's, it would be great mixed with mince and placed in burritos, and I can also picture it going well on chicken as a coating when combined with breadcrumbs or the like.

As far as value for money goes this is awesome as a little goes along way! A great product well worth trying for any Mexican lovers out there.