News that food manufacturer The Kraft Heinz Company has discontinued a popular condiment has sent ripples through regional Victoria's cooking community.
The food and beverage giant confirmed it had "deleted" Wild's Ezy-Sauce from its range due to "operational issues".
And, while not everyone uses the pickling liquid or sauce enhancer, which is made from a variety of ingredients including ground black pepper, food acid, chilli and clove oil, even those who were indifferent to the sauce appreciated how it changed the flavour of certain dishes.
At last month's 150th Natimuk Annual Agricultural Show in western Victoria, participants in the tomato sauce competition were caught off guard.
Organiser Judith Bysouth said she spoke to the winners who were "blown away" by the news.
"It's really putting a spanner in the works for the [tomato sauce] recipe," she said.
"I use Ezy-Sauce, and the first prize winner didn't use it but the second place getter did. She was totally in shock."
One Ararat resident told ABC Wimmera her father used to own a boot repair shop next to the chemist's shop in town.
That chemist shop belonged to Ezy-Sauce's inventor, TA Wild.
She remembered the smell when Wild was brewing a batch in the shed behind the shop.
Other listeners on ABC talkback were dismayed at news of the sauce's demise:
Joy: "OMG, my right-hand sauces and spices. In stews, tomato sauce, pickles, I cooked my silverside corned beef in it. Where can I sign for a campaign?"
Kay: "What? My family only eats sauce made with this."
The Kraft Heinz Company had not yet responded to ABC's requests for further comment.
Not everyone is despondent
Anita LaForgia is a home cook and a member of the Country Women's Assocation's Woodend Eves branch in Victoria's Macedon Ranges.
She did not use Ezy-Sauce herself, though she knew cooks who did and were "devastated" they could no longer source it.
"The co-administrator of the Macedon Ranges Food Group is ... at a loss," she told ABC Central Victoria.
"It's something you use and you have because that's what you're used to, and I think for those who use Ezy-Sauce, it's going to be a transition of removing that safety blanket."
On social media, there were helpful hints suggesting Ezy-Sauce fans make their own sauce with some suggesting a home-made version could be preferable to the bottled mix.
Concerns over the future of Ezy-Sauce came in the same week a campaign was launched to save Arnott's Lattice biscuits which have also been discontinued.
That sweet is a favourite among home cooks when making vanilla slice.
