Category: Spread
Muzzi Crema Spalmabile al Caffe
Texture: gritty, as if some thick-necked muscle creep kicked sand into your Nutella while you were sunbathing
Colour: medium dark brown
Taste: Nutella for night owls
Sweetness: 9
Calories: 544/100 g (because I lost the paper box it came in, I copied this from my earlier post on the pistachio Muzzi spread)
You know how some shops have those signs about how they’ll give a free puppy and an espresso to unsupervised kids? This stuff will work just as well. Plus, it’s got that Hansel and Gretel “come hither” attraction that means a kid would actually down this.
I got this spread at that same fancypants deli that I got the pistachio spread. When I went there again in May, they didn’t stock any more. And after I had commended the owner back in January for it! I guess I’ll just have to order future servings online.
It was good, a nice improvement on other chocolate spreads. The semi-fine crumbles of coffee beans give it a sharpness that feels like you’re swallowing glass. Did I mention that it is a pleasant feeling?
Last Mountain’s Old Fashioned Saskatoon Berry
Texture: smooth, almost liquid, with bits of fruit skin and pulp
Colour: purple wine red
Taste: grape-like, with a touch of tart
Sweetness: 6/10
Calories: 35/tbs
I picked up this jam from Southey, Saskatchewan at the Coombs “Goats on the Roof” gourmet market when I passed there during Victoria Day weekend. The jam made a nice breakfast in our motel room during those rainy days in Ucluelet. One look out the window to the west coast showers and jam and bread was the perfect comfort food. Unfortunately, we had no access to hot water for tea, except through the motel’s coffee maker. Even putting up with the coffee taint on our nice oolong tea, the water came out lukewarm.
So today, before I finish this jar, I am enjoying a cup of rose petal and vanilla bean Darjeeling with a slice of the stuff. To make up for it. I am more of a red jam fan, so this was quite nice.
Barbara and Barry Isaac moved from California to Saskatchewan in 1989, to the farm where Barry was born and where his grandfather settled in 1905. In 1990, they planted saskatoon berries and their small business took off. They seem like nice people (watch this video). They also don’t do much advertising (see this interview) – I had certainly never heard of this company until I saw it on the shelves. But I like them and I am sold on saskatoon berries. Plus, their jar is reusable, as it is a home canning jar.
Crofter’s Morello Cherry Premium Spread
Texture: chunky, a few liquid bits
Colour: ruby
Taste: nice and sour, only gently sour
Sweetness: 3/10
Calories: 35/tbs
Originally I was snobby about Crofter’s, thinking it was a knock-off of Smother’s and I dreaded running into it in the fridge.
A few days ago, I gave it another chance. Just now I had my last helping, on some lightly toasted and buttered stone-milled whole wheat. Well, I will miss it and I would buy this again when I am in a cherry jam mood. It was not too sweet and pleasantly sour. Don’t get me wrong, I love the super sours, but pairing a jam with an Alishan tea requires a bit more delicacy.
Gabi and Gerhard Latka immigrated to Canada from Germany in 1989 and started their company in Parry Sound, Ontario. Their website states that they are “largest organic jam manufacturer in North America.” I’m rather intrigued by their other jams, as they use “heritage fruit varieties like Senga Sengana strawberries [and] Willamette raspberries.”
Back to today’s morello cherry flavour, the ingredients list them as organic, along the organic fair trade cane sugar, natural apple pectin, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and citric acid.
By the way, the Crofter’s website also has a page of definitions of jams, jellies, preserves, fruit spreads and so on. The US FDA considers jams and preserves to be at least 65% sugar and 45% fruit, hence why Crofter’s had to rename their creations.
Smucker’s Double Fruit Apricot Spread
Texture: runny with cube chunks
Colour: pale orange
Taste: homey, a little watered down
Sweetness: 3/10
Calories: 20/tbs
Now it’s time for the first jam face-off. On this slice, we have the Darbo apricot on the left side of the bread slice and the Smucker’s apricot on the right. I couldn’t quite get the camera lighting to show off what the human eye can see: the rich golden orange of the Austrian jam vs. the pale North American one. Judge for yourself:
As I take an alternating nibble from each half, I can taste the difference a little sugar makes. The Smucker’s label says this jam has 45% less sugar and twice the fruit.
On the ingredients side, Darbo’s jam lists apricots (“produced from 50 g fruits per 100 g), sugar, concentrated lemon juice, and fruit pectin. Smucker’s contains apricots (ascorbic acid – i.e. Vitamin C, citric acid), sugar, water, concentrated lemon juice, natural flavour, locust bean gum, pectin and potassium sorbate (which, as a preservative, inhibits yeast and mould growth).
I had to look up locust bean gum. This page explains that the best locust bean gum comes from Portugal, with other production centres in Morocco, Spain and Italy. In food, it’s a thickening agent (weird since the Smucker’s jam is so runny), a gelling agent, a sweetener and a chocolate substitute. Locust bean gum is also used in mining, making paper, textiles, pet foods, cosmetics, shoe polish, insecticides, and as a flavour enhancer, according to Wikipedia. My layman’s guess is that the locust bean gum helped out with the 45% less sugar statement.
Overall, I would say that Smucker’s will do for the family who wants a cheaper brand. As long as you don’t taste them side by side, today’s jam should do the trick for dieters.
Darbo Rose Apricot Deluxe Spread
Texture: gelatinous
Colour: golden
Taste: rich taste, similar to that of dried apricots
Sweetness: 5/10
Calories: 43/tbs
I started this post on Darbo’s other jam weeks ago, then I put away the jar and forgot about it. Digging it out from the fridge tonight, it was a great accompaniment to the remaining bread heels and the cup of peppermint tea. I’d forgotten how perfectly, gently sour it was. After tonight, the jar is almost done. I can’t wait for breakfast for the last bit at the bottom of the jar. You can bet that I’ll be buying another jar as soon as I can.*
*I.e. when I finish rating all the jam jars I got for Christmas.
Muzzi Crema Spalmabile al Pistacchio
Texture: like running your fingers over satin
Colour: avocado green? Or is it pistachio green?
Taste: a delicate pistachio Nutella-like flavour without the chocolate
Sweetness: 7
Calories: 544/100 g
This Muzzi pistachio and hazelnut spread has been the joy of my last month and the bane of my workplace healthy eating challenge. I got this jar at a gourmet cheese and deli, along with the Muzzi coffee spread. The Muzzi website is only in Italian and German and the page of the other spreads is too pixellated to read. Probably better I don’t know what other flavours with which they would taunt me (the spreads are under Cioccolato).
Blogger Rebecca Winke of Umbria on the Blog actually visited the factory in Foligno, Umbria early last month and even reported on the hazelnut spread. Signora Loredana sounds cool.
Pulp & Pectin 