Spread a little bit of summer on your toast! (Meridian Organic Apricot Fruit Spread)

Member Name: theabster

Product:	Meridian Organic Apricot Fruit Spread
Date:	20/03/09 (230 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Healthier than sugar-filled jams, no preservatives, good company and not sickly!

Disadvantages: Not as intensely sweet as conventional jams

I recently bought a jar of this apricot spread so that I could make a Moroccan-style warmly spiced sauce to go with some cous-cous and vegetables for a potluck meal. We all sat around, talked, enjoyed some great food and many compliments were received as regards to the sauce! It was a combination of onion, garlic, soaked dried apricots, cumin, cinnamon, chilli, coriander, sumac, paprika, reduced vegetable stock and my secret ingredient, a tablespoon of this spread.

I love apricots so much. They are one of my favourite fruits, but their season is short and confined to a few blessed weeks in August when the sun is shining and the little yellow joys appear and my body yearns with little restraint! So the rest of the year, I might munch occasionally on some dried apricots in muesli or something like that, but otherwise these dear fruits become forgotten as winter consumes all that is golden.

Hurrah, however! Meridian spreads are so richly fruity, particularly the apricot one, that you almost begin to taste those little fragments of summer once more. Meridian pride themselves on a few additives policy, as well as producing the highest quality products with the minimal of processing. The result? Quite a luxurious spread, that far from tasting boring or 'too healthy' makes you feel a bit less yucky than when you eat too much jam and your teeth feel like they are about to fall out!

The Company

Meridian have been going for about 30 years, when the founder Andrew Jedwell, produced their first jar of peanut butter. Their range now extends from nut butters to fruit spreads (like this one!), olive oil, fruit juice, pasta sauces and so on. The aim is wholly to use natural ingredients, with the Soil Association, the largest organic certifying body in the UK, awarding their logo and certification to all Meridian's organic products. The company endeavours to produce high quality foods that maintain high standards in terms of sustainability including sourcing the best possible ingredients from farmers paid a good price for the products they produce. Moreover, the aim of the company is largely to supply a complex range of flavours and tastes in their foodstuffs that allow for allergy affected individuals, vegetarians, vegans and diabetics (for example) to not have to compromise on flavour. Unlike some of the other 'free-from' brands, it is nice to see that they aren't just supplying for a niche: they have solid, unwavering ethical principles, too.

Apricot Fruit Spread: The product and my verdict

The apricot fruit spread is designed to be a jam-like condiment that replaces refined sugars found in conventional jam products with apple juice concentrate, a more natural and healthy alternative based on fructose rather than sucrose. This means it is digested by the body at a more stable and prolonged rate, much like eating wholegrains and wholewheat over refined 'white' products. This means you don't get hungry so quickly, so you're less likely to snack and you don't get the sugar spikes that are not good in the long term for good pancreatic and insulin function. So, the ingredients in this fruit spread are:

Ingredients
Organic Apple Juice Concentrate (59%), Organic Apricots (38%), Gelling Agent : Citrus Pectin, Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid

At 38% fruit, this is not too bad, although lower than a lot of conventional jam spreads that are usually above 45% (and more if they are particularly high quality). This however, I would suggest, is not a good basis to discount the quality of this product, since the apple juice concentrate being less sweet is required in a larger quantity to create the richness needed to make it really tasty. Also, apricots are, also, very expensive, even when in season and organic ones even moreso, so as long as the taste test is positive, I would say that the fruit content isn't too much of an issue. It is nice to see that there are no preservatives added too, which always annoys me because jam is called a preserve for a reason: sugars naturally preserve the fruit without unnecessary chemicals!!
The nutritional content is significantly lower than conventional high-sugar jams, with the Meridian apricot spread containing 145kCal per 100g, which is really quite low relative to the 350+ calorific values of most jams. So it might be useful in weight maintenance or control, especially if you have a fondness for jam on your toast in the morning!

Packaging/ Price

I like the design of the jar. Firstly it is recyclable, since it is glass, which is always nice. Secondly, it is quite a simple design and logo on the front, with a figure of a person standing with arms open to the sky looking as if they are radiating! The cost of the product is generally just over £2, but can be up to £2.50 in independent health food stores. You can also buy the non-organic variety in Holland and Barrett for just £1.59, which I think is the cheapest place to buy either version. Since with ordinary jam you really pay for the quality of the product (think Tesco value jam versus Tiptree or Bonne Maman!). You have to pay a little for good health too, sometimes!
This jar weighs in at 284g, so it is quite substantial.

Verdict
The taste test! Well, it has a really deep, fruity flavour that washes down without giving you the icky sticky feeling that jam can often make your mouth feel. The apricot flavour is unsurprisingly dominant and I don't feel that the apple juice concentrate is overpowering at all, instead providing a darker yet subtle molasses-like edge to the flavour. The flavour of any kind of apricot spread is always so beautiful because it is so fresh and different tasting to berry-based jams. It really tastes light and refreshing but is mellow enough not to be too zingy or marmalade-y. It goes wonderfully well on top of porridge, stirred into muesli, on toast or maybe in recipes like my Moroccan dish! It would make a great cake filling too! I think it is quite versatile.

I am not sure though that it will appeal to all because it is maybe not as rich or intensely sweet as conventional jam brands. It is definitely a different kind of taste sensation, so maybe it is better to appreciate it in its own right rather than as a comparison or substitution!

Summary: Spread the apricot love!