Food

The Bay Tree Sauces Review

TheBayTreeThe Bay Tree Sauces

www.thebaytree.co.uk

Reviewed Jo Flaherty

The Bay Tree sells a range of hand-crafted chutneys, preserves and sauces. I tried their Passion Fruit Curd, Spiced Tomato and Caramelised Onion Chutney, Smokey Chipotle BBQ sauce and Creamy Mushroom sauce.

My knowledge of curd is limited to the vague memory of lemon curd I would have as a child visiting my grandparents, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the Passion Fruit Curd. I’ve found passion fruit flavoured food can often be a little sickly and synthetic, but this is has absolutely changed my mind – sweet, but not overly so, my children loved it on toast and it was particularly nice with crème fraiche as a pancake topping. I’m looking forward to using it as a sponge cake filling as a nice alternative to jam, and I imagine it would be a lovely addition to give a traditional Eton Mess a bit of a twist – yum! £3.50 per jar (320g).

The spicy tomato and caramelised onion chutney would be a great accompaniment to cheese and pate and crusty bread. It has quite a kick, but it’s not so spicy that it would overwhelm other flavours. The flavour is mainly tomato and I would have liked it to be a little more oniony, but that’s just personal taste. I tried it with ham on a sandwich and it was really tasty – it made a nice change from pickle or mustard, and would be great with a pork pie or other picnic foods. £3.35 per jar (320g).

BayTree

I have to be honest – I’m not a huge fan of barbecue sauce, or barbecue flavour, so I approached the smokey chipotle bbq sauce with some trepidation. As soon as I opened the bottle I was hit with the smokey aroma, which was actually quite pleasant. The taste was actually quite delicate, and not like the normal barbecue sauce I’ve tried before. I had decided to try it with some sausages and burgers as a marinade, and it really worked well, although you don’t need much as a little goes quite a long way – all dependent on your own taste of course. I also tried adding a little to baked beans and the kids loved it. It’s a sweet, spicy, tangy sauce with that smokey flavour that really makes it. I’m not a convert to barbecue sauce, but I would have this smokey chipotle sauce again. £2.99 per bottle (275g).

The creamy mushroom sauce was really tasty. I followed one of the two recipe suggestions it came with, which was a mushroom and pancetta pasta bake. Again, it was really fresh tasting and not at all synthetic and there were plenty of chunks of mushroom. Of the four items I tried, it was the least punchy in flavour, and while it made a nice pasta sauce I think it would be much better as a sauce with chicken or pork. £3.15 (300g).

It’s clear that The Bay Tree put a lot of thought into their products, with lots of complimentary flavours, and the website has serving suggestions for most of their range, which is helpful if you’re trying something new. The packaging is lovely and they’re the kind of products that would look great in a hamper or gift bag. I’m sure I’ll be buying from them in the future.

Rating: 4/5

For more information or to buy visit www.thebaytree.co.uk.

4 Star

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