I have found a review.............. .

It's difficult to know whether to give this stuff a good or bad review. It's quite obviously totally bad for you and to some palates repellent, but for some of us it is also insidiously more-ish. There was a story years ago that the BBC kept a stock of this product in the drama effects department in order to represent a certain effluent produced by the stomach. I was very surprised to find that it still exists on a visit to my local Tescos. I have been out of the country for a long time. I remember my mum buying it when I was a teenager, which makes it at least 35 years old. I've tried to find out exactly when it first hit our supermarket shelves but it seems to be classified. I was surprised at its continuing existence because to me it is a symbol of the 70's, the sandwich filler equivalent of stack heel boots and crushed velvet flares. Oh the pain!
It is basically good old Heinz Salad Cream poured into a jar of finely chopped difficult to recognise vegetables. They are difficult to recognise but obviously slightly pickled. Although the presence of salad cream is unmistakeable there is an overall vinegary pickled taste to the mix. It has roughly the same tongue curling effect as the beloved Piccalilli. In fact if you added mustard powder, it may taste a little like Piccalilli put through a blender. Although it is sharp to the tongue it does contain enough sugar, fat and salt to make it supremely edible in a thoroughly unhealthy way. It is also superbly crunchy in a small way. I don't want to give away too many of my bad habits, but under an attack of terminal munchies I can quite easily spoon down a whole jar in 10 minutes, no need for a sandwich!

The vegetables used in the spread are celery, cabbage, carrot, gherkin (dill pickles), onion and red pepper.
So just how healthy is this sandwich filler?

Per 30ml it provides 120 calories. That makes a whole jar around 1200 calories since the jars now on sale contain 270ml. If you're on a diet, that would be your lot. It's also enough to keep an average size person going for a day as long as they are not digging ditches.
It is 15% fat, 8% of which is saturated. We are definitely in junk food territory here.

The whole jar contains 135mg of cholesterol which should satisfy most potential coronaries.
The jar contains 12% salt which should also have Cardiac Consultants booking an extra holiday in the Caribbean.

According to the Heinz website details, it contains absolutely no vitamins at all. I found this rather strange and have double checked. How can this be possible, given the veg? Does Heinz have a secret process that extracts vitamins? I find myself; Yours Puzzled of Mid-Glamorgan. The same Heinz supplied details claim that it has no fibre. Surely they mean no added fibre. Last one to the cemetery shuts the gates!
Would I recommend this personally rediscovered product? Why not. It is very tasty and crunchy and if you can't indulge in a bit of fat, salt and sugar from time to time you may as well drive down to Bristol and do a swallow dive off the Clifton Suspension Bridge. I never use it in sandwiches however. I either spoon it down or use it as a relish for cold meats and strong cheeses. I find that on its own in a sandwich it's rather insipid.

It sells for under a pound a jar and is claimed to be suitable for vegetarians.

Posted By: DrDublin on November 30th 2009 at 16:15:25

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