New Product Wednesday: Dalmatia Fig Spread

Welcome to the first installment of New Product Wednesdays!  Every Wednesday, I am going to review something that is new to me.  Yes, new to me -- so don't send me hate mail if I review something that has been around for years.  :-)  Thanks in advance!  I have not received these products for free and am receiving no compensation for these reviews, but I would love to be bribed with products - so attention Corporate America - I can be bought! 

Now a little fact about me ... I went to college in Wisconsin and as part of my educational experience there, I evidently had some sort of Dairy Lovers chip installed in my cerebral cortex.  I always have, at bare minimum, three kinds of cheese in my refrigerator.  How else can I explain this lust o' cheese?  Obviously University of Wisconsin has altered my brain.

So the other day Dairy Lovers chip was working in fine form, I found myself at the cheese section at the local Publix Greenwise Grocery Store.  Cheese, cheese, glorious cheese!  And as any good grocer has, above the cheese section was a variety of cheese accoutrements ... crackers, fruit spreads, nut mixes ... ahhhh delicious snacking wonderfulness! 

I have been a big fan of Manchego cheese with quince paste for years.  The combination of sweet and fruity with the milky aged delicious cheese is an excellent snack that makes me feel both happy and cultured.  As I perused Publix's cheese accompaniments, I saw a squat jar of Dalmatia Fig Spread.  Lightning struck and I wondered how the thick, rich figgy spread would taste with a fine aged cheese.  (By the way, today's word of the day is Figgy.  I love how it rolls off the tongue: figgy, figgy, figgy!)

The following picture is my lame attempt at food styling --

hello lovely jar of fig spread amidst organic vegetables...

Publix sells Dalmatia Fig Spread for $5.99 a jar.  If you're not a cheese and fruit spread fan, check out the Dalmatia Imports website for a bunch of amazing sounding recipes.   

I must admit that I bought the Dalmatia Fig Spread and then basically forgot about it.  The jar sat in my refrigerator, sad and alone, for months.  The mustards and salad dressing neighbors could not console this lovely jar.  But then yesterday I was looking for a quick and easy snack.  The Dalmatia Fig Spread called out to me.  Step on up, Figgy - this is your day! 

I took whole grain Wasa crackers and slathered the figgy goodness on the crackers.  I then topped one cracker with 5 year aged Gouda cheese and the other with a delicious aged Manchego cheese.  I love a good 5 year aged Gouda-- these delicious flavor crystals form within the cheese.  One server once described it as "salty pop rocks" which is a pretty accurate, if not albeit appetizing way to describe the crystallized yumminess.

Hello Cheese and Figgy Goodness!

Let me tell you, I was feeling like a classy lady with my little cheese and figgy goodness snack!  The fig spread was sweet without being overly so.  The manchego-fig-whole grain cracker combination was absolutely divine.  The Gouda-fig-cracker combination was OK ... I felt the fig and "salty pop rock" gouda were competing a little too much versus complimenting each other.  My recommendation is stick with traditional and get yourself some manchego.

My rating on Dalmatia Fig Spread - a rousing "YES!" - I recommend this delicious concoction.  My rating on Dalmatia Fig Spread with Manchego cheese on a Wasa Cracker - a triple "YES!"  Get yourself to the store and try this today!