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Product review: Saucisson Australia
One of the most recent stallholders at the Eveleigh farmers markets is Saucisson Australia, selling premium French pork products such as fresh and cured sausages, and pork rillettes. The saucissons come in different shapes and sizes but are essentially the same. The quality and flavour are outstanding, quite possibly able to beat your favourite Italian salame. The rillettes are also great, and while the French recommend spreading it on bread, I normally enjoy it with celery and carrot sticks. The duck fat used for sealing the product is perfect for cooking eggs or greens. We’re also big fans of the the Toulouse sausages, made with pork (97%), salt, black pepper,…
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Product review: Green St Kitchen fermented vegetables
There’s a new player in the fermented vegetable market. Green St Kitchen make kraut in 2 flavours (ginger + tumeric, jalapeno + allspice) and kimchi also in 2 flavours (white miso + dry red pepper, Thai chilli + galangal). I’ve tried the white miso + dry red pepper kimchi and the ginger + tumeric kraut ($16.95 each in Dr Earth) and loved both. Is there a difference with other brands of raw fermented vegetables? I don’t know, but my take is that it’s good to don’t stick to a single brand or flavour to get the most out of different probiotic strains and phytonutrients in the herbs and spices. I…
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Product review: Bulletproof collagen bar
On our visit to Paleo Cafe Burleigh I noticed the new Bulletproof® collagen bars on sale. If you haven’t heard about the Bulletproof® diet or Dave Asprey head to his website: www.bulletproofexec.com to find out. The ingredients in these bars are: organic cashew butter, Bulletproof® Upgraded Collagen Protein, chicory root fiber, Bulletproof® XCT™ Oil Powder, (Caprylic and Capric Acid Triglycerides sourced from coconut and/or palm kernel oil) organic cashews, organic Bulletproof® Upgraded Chocolate Powder (raw cacao powder), Bulletproof® Brain Octane (Caprylic Acid Triglycerides sourced from coconut and/or palm kernel oil), organic coconut oil, sea salt, stevia. The carb content is 15g of which 2g are sugars. Pretty good IMO. The…
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Product review: Chrissy’s Cuts sausages (plus recipe inside)
These gourmet sausages are made with quality cuts of meat that come from ethically farmed free-range and grass-fed animals. In addition, they do not contain any fillers, flours, nitrates or additives. I love her tagline “because meat shouldn’t be a mystery”. The current varieties on offer are beef brisket with smuggled greens and pork shoulder with bacon and maple syrup (killer combo!). I got a pack of the latter to sample. As you can see from the photo below, the ingredients list is super clean. Instead of just cooking the sausages and throwing them on a pile of coleslaw (my default modus operandi), I decided to use them to make…
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Product review: Lekker Tucker Biltong
I was walking past the tiny Newtown weekend market when I saw a stall selling biltong. Naturally, I had to stop and ask some questions. It turns out that the friendly French guy behind this product is very mindful of ingredient quality (the meat is grass-fed and ethically raised, bought straight from the farmer) and clean flavour. I bought a couple of bags in chilli and fennel flavour (I like these better than the bush spices flavour), both for $20. The ingredients in both are: premium Australian beef, organic spices, organic apple cider vinegar, brown sugar chilli and sea salt.
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Product review: Absolute Biltong jerky
It was a sad day when I found out that the jerky I loved and bought regularly was halal. Luckily, a quick internet search came up with an alternative that is grass-fed, gluten-free and explicitly not halal. I got a bunch of different flavours to try: venison (plain), beef (plain and pepper), emu, and water buffalo. Seasonings include GF soy sauce, red wine, a tiny bit of brown sugar, salt, spices, and tabasco. Coming from consuming a brand with a lot less ingredients, it took me a while to get used to the bolder flavour. It’s not bad, just different. Out of the meats I tried, I found the emu…
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Product review: Ecobar raw energy bars
Shout-out to my classmate Rob who posted a picture of Ecobars on Facebook. I’ve been wanting to try cricket bars since I heard about Exo bars 1-2 years ago, but they were not available in Australia. Now we have Ecobars, made with cricket flour, perhaps the most sustainable source of protein. I bought these for $3.95 each at Healthy Living. The currently available flavours are mango orange and chia spirulina. We liked both and no, you cannot taste the crickets. Maybe because the flour is not one of the top ingredients, which also means the bars are higher in carbs than protein. Ingredients in the chia spirulina bars are: dates,…
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Product review: Keto Bar (caramel flavour)
My chiro and I have this joke about a product that he sells in his practice: Keto Bars by Metagenics. These certainly don’t look as appetising as other popular brands in the market (e.g. Quest bars), in fact they have decided to make them look as the rest of their supplement brand either to reinforce their practitioner-only status and/or to save money in marketing. Long time ago Daniel wanted to know my opinion about the ingredients list (see photo below) from a Nutrition student point of view. Being aware that I’m an advocate of minimal processing, he knew I would qualify it as crap, but still wanted me to give…
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Product review: Kehoe’s Kitchen sauerkraut
Now that fermented foods are in fashion (yay!) there are quite a few new interesting brands popping up. This bright pink jar in my local health food shop caught my eye, especially when I read the ingredients list: red cabbage, apple, garlic & fennel seeds. I really liked this sauerkraut, I didn’t find the garlic too strong at all. The only downside, as with all good fermented products, would be the price (I paid $19.95). Kehoe’s Kitchen kehoeskitchen.com
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Product review: Woolworths slow cooked stocks
As much as I love making my own broth, when time is tight it’s nice to have backup options. Some of them can be quite expensive but fortunately Woolies has come up with a range of slow cooked stocks that are decent and budget-friendly. The stocks come in 4 flavours: King Island beef, vegetable, free range chicken and white fish. All have very clean ingredients lists. All good for cooking and okay for drinking straight. Perfect for emergencies and/or lazy people.
