All agreed that they had never tasted a commercial product as fresh as the Garlic Dill and Horseradish Dill relishes by Zukay Live Foods. The flavor, texture and aroma made this product seem like the local favorite you would pick up at the farm stand rather than a store shelf. The relishes were tasted alone, with chips and on turkey dogs. Then a plate of ham and cheese canapés were made and passed while recipes were inspired. Were we actually trying to come up with excuses to eat relish? In the works is a snapper, scallop and shrimp ceviche recipe using Zukay relish.

The Zukay ketchup bears no resemblance to traditional ketchup in sweetness or texture. It has the intensity of sun dried tomatoes and a thick consistency. The familiar sweet and salty contrast between fries and ketchup is missing, but this is a more sophisticated and natural condiment, after all. Even tasters that usually prefer spicy mustard on burgers liked this ketchup on turkey burgers. For a drizzle on sweet potato fries, the Zukay ketchup was thinned with a little walnut oil and heated honey.

The salsas, unfortunately, left us wanting for more tomato and pepper flavor and less vinegar. The probiotic process, a kind of fermentation, is said to impart a mild fizziness to the products. It was barely discernable in the relish and ketchup, but was noticeable in the salsas and may be interfering with the overall flavor. We will give it another go in the future.

The milk-based culture introduced into these fermented products is similar to that in yogurt. This inclusion may make these products undesirable for vegans, those allergic to milk protein and some vegetarians.

Zukay Live Foods was launched in April 2008 by Scott Gryzbek and his wife, Cathy, to produce healthy and minimally processed foods. They settled on the condiment line as a way to introduce live food with beneficial bacteria in familiar foods. It didn’t hurt that they had been growing and fermenting vegetables for many years to support their own healthy lifestyle. The homegrown research is paying off; Zukay Live Foods just received recognition in the best new food product category at the Fancy Food Show in June for their Lacto-fermentation condiment line.

In terms of health benefits, ingesting Zukay Live foods should be thought of as a small incremental step in a comprehensive healthy lifestyle. While there may not be a measurement yet for the effects of delicious, guilt free health foods on our overall well-being, it has to be a big improvement over that which is unpalatable but good for us.

For more on the science of these tasty foods see www.zukaylive.com