A Review of New Things I've Tried #44 (Non-Perishable Pantry Goods Edition)

Here we go again! I haven't been as good about sharing my reviews with you lately, so this includes things from quite a while ago as well as more recent stuff. I take the photos, but I lack motivation to edit them and write stuff up a lot of the time. I dug deep and found some motivation, though, so here we have an assortment of things I've tried from the non-perishable pantry goods category. Sauces, spreads, and other stuff are all here. Let me know if you've had these things, too!

1. KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce

Americans have a somewhat justifiable reputation for non-adventurous palates historically. The dominant flavor in KC Masterpiece is sweetness, primarily from tomatoes and molasses. I wouldn't say it's my favorite barbecue sauce, but it won't overpower things if you want a quick side of barbecued soy curls to round out the protein in a meal truly focused on grains and veggies (which is my tendency anyway). I'd buy it again if (as was the case this time) it was one of the only vegan barbecue sauces I could find. Sometimes I just want convenience, even though I can make a delicious barbecue sauce at home.

2. Wegmans Tomato Basil Sauce

Although I think I would have preferred this with more garlic, this was a very cheap, serviceable pasta sauce to have with spaghetti and meatballs.

3. Shiloh Farms Apple Butter

I'd been looking for a plain, unsweetened apple butter and finally found one! Although I think some spices would likely improve matters somewhat, this has a wonderful, clean apple flavor, much more so than the sweetened and spiced kind. I really enjoyed this apple butter.

4. Crofter's Premium Strawberry Spread

When I couldn't get my beloved Bonne Maman strawberry preserves, I decided to try something new. This fruit spread uses a lot less sugar than a preserve, and it isn't as sweet. Somehow, it doesn't taste as much of strawberries as Bonne Maman's does, even though Bonne Maman is using a lot more sugar. But it is still a delicious spread, especially if you want something light. One thing I didn't like about it is that it goes bad pretty fast. I'm not someone who wants to eat jam every day, but I'd have to in order to get through this spread before it went moldy.

5. Wegmans Asian-Style Barbecue Sauce

I bought this sauce because it was on clearance, so I don't know if it will turn up again. The dominant flavor here is jalapeno, somehow, which doesn't scream "Asian" to me whatsoever. But the sauce itself is tasty, and definitely worth the price I paid.

6. First Field Maple Pumpkin Butter

This one is delightful to me in part because it uses local-to-me ingredients, but it also tastes amazing! I love both maple and pumpkin, and I love them together, and having them in a jar to spread on things is the perfect intersection! It is more expensive than not-local apple butter would be, but sometimes we make choices on rationales other than cost.

7. Beksul Brown Rice Syrup

Because, in the days I could actually get vegan honey, one of my favorites was made with brown rice syrup, I picked this up at my local Korean market when I saw it. The syrup is extremely thick, more like high fructose corn syrup than honey or agave, but mixes well with other ingredients. Is it honey? No, but it doesn't pretend to be. It's a nice new flavoring I look forward to learning more about.

8. Bear Naked Triple Berry Granola

A lot of berry granola has fake berries in it--i.e., dried and colored apple pieces--but there are whole freeze dried berries in this granola, recognizable as the berries asserted in the description. Though the granola itself is harder than my preferences, I still very much enjoy this for what it is.

9. Peppertux Turkish Pistachio Cream

I have only the vaguest of awareness that the reason this turned up in my local store has something to do with TikTok, but at least I am aware! Ish? Anyway. This is delicious. I love pistachios, I love nut butters, and I love how smooth and creamy this stuff is. Is it a somewhat alarming shade of green? Yes. But don't worry about that. Just have some. It's delicious.

10. Nishiki Premium Medium-Grain Brown Rice

This is the brown rice that got me eating brown rice a lot more frequently. I may be becoming a rice connoisseur, but I really like this so much better than the run-of-the-mill cheap long grain brown rice I usually buy (and which I have a huge bag of, still, in my freezer). This was a splurge, but I'm glad I decided to pay a bit more for it. In these times when we're being super frugal, splurging on the cheap things just makes sense--it breaks up the monotony and in many cases (like this one), for me it's worth the price. Your mileage may vary, of course.

What should I try next?