16 September 2015
SPICE TASTER PANEL - Nasi Goreng & organic Lemon Extract
Our spice tasters were in for a treat this time and a real test of their ingenuity, with not only the Asian spice blend Nasi Goreng but also our natural organic Lemon Extract which can be used for both sweet & savoury cooking.
NASI GORENG
Steenbergs Nasi Goreng spice mix is Steenbergs’ take on the classic South East Asian blend.
Literally meaning ‘fried rice’, you can add any ingredients you like to a nasi goreng, making it a sort of Asian paella but with a spicy kick. Rating the intensity of the blend between 2 and 5 with an average of 3.7 out of 5, our tasters found it a ‘very good’, ‘spicy’, ‘hot’, ‘strong’, ‘chunky’ mix. The Steenbergs blend does contain crushed red hot chilli peppers & chilli powder but gets its great flavour from the combination with salt, cane sugar, garlic powder, galangal, ginger powder and the new addition of amchur (mango powder).
Take a look at our word cloud for further descriptions.
Nasi Goreng – Flavour Descriptions
Traditionally available in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, nasi goreng can be eaten at any time of day or night but is often eaten for breakfast. 75% of our panel however would eat it in the evening, although 7.5% were keen on breakfast and 7.5% anytime!
Nearly three-quarters of our tasters regularly eat Asian food, with 56% having previously used Asian spice blends, including garam masala and Thai curry pastes. Encouragingly, 81% of them would use our Nasi Goreng spice mix again, with 78% rating it Excellent or Good.
Perfect in rice dishes and a great way to use up leftover rice, our panel had some other brilliant ideas for our spice blend, including: mixed with sunflower oil and used as a rub for chicken or corn-on-the cob; on potato wedges; to give a kick to salad, in the cooking of Scotch Eggs and even on cheese on toast. One of our panel was particularly ingenious, using both the spice mix and the lemon extract together to make a tasty chicken marinade.
Good food is often about the company you keep and how it makes you feel. Nearly all of you mentioned friends and family as the people with whom you’d share your meal and it was great to see how ‘happy’, ‘satisfied’ and ‘warm’ this blend made you feel.
Nasi Goreng – How does it make you feel?
LEMON EXTRACT
Steenbergs organic Lemon Extract is a fabulously versatile product made from organic sunflower oil and organic lemon oil. Often used in baking, it is also fabulous in salad dressings, stir fries and with chicken and Mediterranean herbs.
63% of our panel opted for sweet recipes, although 15% tried both sweet and savoury ideas. As expected our taste testers came up with new and inventive ways of using it too, including on the sweet side: raw lemon truffles; rice pudding with stewed apples; milkshake; fudge; rhubarb, raspberry & lemonade cordial; mixing with double cream and the deliciously sounding lemon & nutmeg shortbread. On the savoury side there was lemon rice; marinades; aubergine curry; linguine; on tuna steak; smoked mackerel pate; fishcakes and lemon and rosemary potatoes. It was even used to make a few cocktails!
Having has a good go at many different ways to use the lemon extract, 95% of our panel would use it again, with 88% rating it Excellent or Good. 81% would recommend it to a friend although nearly 10% would choose to keep it as their own secret ingredient!
Steenbergs lemon extract is a hugely evocative product, conjuring up images for our testers of ‘lemon groves in Italy’; ‘big bowls of fresh lemons’; ‘lemon cake’; ‘summer’ and lots of ‘sunshine’.
The flavour and texture are summarised in the word cloud below with sherbet and Opal Fruits making an appearance!
Lemon Extract – Flavour & Texture
Our panel were also asked to think of just one word to sum up what they thought about our lemon extract and we’re thrilled to see that ‘fresh’ and ‘versatile’ are among the favourite comments.
We do hope you enjoy trying, tasting and experimenting with our products. We’d love to hear any ideas and tips you’ve gathered so that we can share them with you all.
