Product Snapshot – Gourmet Garden lightly dried herbs
As a regular user and fan of the Gourmet Garden Stir-In Herb pastes, I was interested to try the semi-dried herbs in my cooking and as garnishes. I like to cook my meals from scratch but as a busy business woman, I also take the odd shortcut. If I can cut out washing and finely chopping chilli, coriander, basil or chives and still get their great burst of flavour, then I’m prepared to give it a go. Let’s see how they performed.
The varieties
Gourmet Garden produce 8 in their range – Basil, Chilli, Coriander, Ginger, Parsley, Chives, Mixed Herbs and Southeast Asian Seasoning. We found 5 of the range and tested Basil, Chilli, Coriander, Ginger, and Chives.
How I used them
- I made a chickpea, spinach, potato and sweet potato curry. I used the chilli and the ginger along with my other dried curry spices and some garlic to fry off the onions. Once the curry was cooked, I garnished it with chopped Perino tomatoes and some of the lightly dried coriander.
- I had some left over steamed veges so I lightly sautéed them in Extra Virgin Olive oil and added some basil and poured over a beaten egg. I garnished it with the chives.
How they performed
- The chilli and ginger were a little muted in their flavour in the final curry so if I was using them again I’d use at least twice and probably three times the amount I did. The coriander I tasted before sprinkling it on the curry. Really it only tasted slightly salty with none of that feisty coriander aroma or taste.
- Again I guess I should have used more though I was more generous than I was when I made the curry. However, if I had used more, the dish would have looked less pleasant. I liked the subtle flavour of the basil but I didn’t enjoy the chives as they seemed, to my palate, to have a slight aftertaste.
Ingredients, how they taste and smell
| Herb | Ingredients | Taste raw | Aroma |
| Basil | Organic Basil 92 per cent, vegetable oil, sea salt and antioxidant (ascorbic acid). | Has a good Basil flavour but also slightly salty. | Smells like you expect Basil to, except perhaps not as strong as fresh but definitely recognisable. |
| Chilli | Chilli 95 per cent, vegetable oil, sea salt and antioxidant (ascorbic acid). | Tastes like chilli. The heat is a little delayed but once it comes through it’s quite hot. Doesn’t taste salty like some of the others. | Smells like chopped chilli |
| Ginger | Ginger 94 per cent, vegetable oil, sea salt and acidity regulator (citric acid). | Tastes like fresh ginger except considerably more salty. | Smells like fresh chopped ginger. |
| Chives | Organic Chives 94 percent, organic canola oil, sea salt and antioxidant (ascorbic acid). | Tastes like chives only salty. | Quite a sulphury smell when you first open the packet. Not really how I’d expect chives to smell. |
| Coriander | Organic Coriander 94 per cent, vegetable oil, sea salt and antioxidant (ascorbic acid). | Slightly salty. No feisty coriander taste.
|
Smells like a damp green herb, it didn’t smell like coriander at all. |
Gourmet Garden claims
On their website they claim that the herbs are:
- Australian, organically grown herbs
- Washed, chopped and prepped within 18hrs of harvesting
- Made with no preservatives, pesticides or nasty stuff
- Pre-prepared...washed, chopped and ready to use
- With the same look, taste and aroma of fresh herbs
- Cared for (with tender, loving, care) from farm to plate
- Nut free
- Gluten free
- Egg free
- Suitable for lacto and lacto-ovo vegetarians
- Grown and prepped in ISO and HACCP approved facilities
- Halal certified
- Kosher certified (Lightly Dried range)
My take on some of these claims
- Only 3 of the herbs we tried cite organic herbs in the ingredient list.
- It’s a little disingenuous to say there are no preservatives as salt, ascorbic acid and citric acid can all be used as preserving agents to extend the shelf life of a food.
- Most herbs are Nut free, Gluten free, Egg free, and suitable for lacto and lacto-ovo vegetarians anyway.
- The competitors of these products are fresh herbs, which as far as I am aware need no Halal or Kosher certification as they are naturally Halal and Kosher.
Nutrition Information Panels
| Product | Basil | Chilli | Chives | Coriander | Ginger | |||||
| Per serve 0.6 g | Per 10 g | Per serve 1.1 g | Per 100 g | Per serve 0.5 g | Per 100 g | Per serve 0.5 g | Per 100 g | Per serve 1.1 g | Per 100 g | |
|
Energy kJ |
5 |
862 |
11 |
998 |
3 |
654 |
4 |
755 |
14 |
1250 |
| Protein, g | 0.1 | 6.5 | 0.1 | 7.5 | 0.1 | 4.3 | 0.1 | 7.1 | 0.1 | 3.5 |
|
Fat Total,g |
0.1 | 14.9 | 0.2 | 16.5 | 0.1 | 9.5 | 0.1 | 13.6 | 0.2 | 20.7 |
| Sat, g | 0.1 | 1 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 01 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 1.5 |
| Carb, Total,g | 0.1 | 5.5 | 0.1 | 10.9 | 0.1 | 7.4 | 0.1 | 12.3 | 0.2 | 21.0 |
| Sugars, g | 0.1 | 4.8 | 0.1 | 10.9 | 0.1 | 7.4 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 7.4 |
| Sodium, mg | 24 | 3940 | 16 | 1410 | 11 | 2220 | 14 | 2850 | 24 | 2160 |
Pros
- convenient
- reasonably inexpensive at $3 a packet
- resealable
- stores in the fridge for up to 4 weeks
- most taste better than their dried counterparts
- less waste than buying a large bunch of herbs
Cons
- not all of the herbs taste as they should
- quite salty
- not very appetising as a garnish – you still need a fresh bunch with their leaves
The bottom line
Would I buy them again? Probably not. I already use the Gourmet Garden chilli, garlic and ginger pastes in my cooking and on the whole I think I prefer these. The one I might have considered is coriander as a big bunch invariably has a good deal of wastage but the coriander was the most disappointing of the ones we tried.
If you’re heading out for a week's camping, these Gourmet Garden lightly dried herbs are perfect. However I can see their usefulness. If you’re looking to go up the coast for a weekend or are camping and you don’t want to take jars of dried herbs or armfuls of fresh with you then these are perfect; or if you’re really busy and you don’t like using the pastes then they’re a good choice for you too.
Thanks to Munaiba Khan, a retired naturopath with an interest in nutrition, for this review.
