All the supermarkets are geared up with their Christmas goodies, and one of the areas that tends to expand at Christmas is the pickles and chutneys section of the store. It's always nice to have a range of chutneys to accompany cheeses, cold meats and (the inevitable) cold turkey. But I've often found myself disappointed over the festive period, beguiled by an interesting-sounding chutney that turns out to be a bit gloopy and tasteless. So I thought I'd give a few chutneys a test run, to see how they compare, and if they are worthy of a place on the Boxing Day supper table. I'll probably be reviewing a number of these over the coming weeks, but here are my thoughts on the first three chutneys that I've sampled with a nice farmhouse cheddar.
First up is Spiced Peach Chutney from Bromley's Pickle Company - who I've never heard of, but I don't usually let that put me off. Some of the best of my recent food finds have come from small companies I've never heard of! I found this in Asda. It was pretty cheap at £1.50 for 200g. And as soon as I opened the jar I could see why. The mixture is very liquid and quite gloopy. Not one chunk of fruit to be seen - and there's supposed to be 32% peaches. Taste was very bland indeed - the overwhelming taste was actually of vinegar. If there was spice in there, it was undetectable for my palate. So, now for the marks - I'd give it 4/10 for appearance 4/10 for texture and 5/10 for taste. A rather disappointing total of 13/30.
Next up is Chutnee's Handmade Luxury Mango Chutney. I found this in Asda and it cost £2.43 for 210g - which is quite a lot more expensive than the spiced peach chutney. I had reasonable hopes for this one, as it has what looked like mustard seeds in it and seemed to be thicker. And whilst the appearance and texture were definitely better, this definitely isn't what I'd describe as a luxury chutney. Although the label says there's 45% mango, the pieces of fruit were very small, and so it was all a bit sloppy. The flavour was okay, but without much "bite" and the whole experience was a bit slimey. So this won't be a candidate for my Boxing Day supper either. I'd mark it 5/10 for appearance 5/10 for testure and 6/10 for taste. A miserable 16/30.
Finally an Apple, Mango & Chilli luxury chutney from Clippy's apples. This is available at Ocado and is normally £2.50 for 280g. But as I write this it's currently on offer at £2.00.
Now this is in a different league. Nice and thick, with discernible chunks of fruit and a delicious piquancy that worked really well with the cheese. I think it would also go really well with ham and cold turkey. According to the label there's 35% mango and 24% British apples - so that accounts for its superiority. And it's a definite contender for Boxing Day supper! It gets 7/10 for appearance, 7/10 for texture and 8/10 for taste - the winner of this round by a fair margin at 22/30.
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I've just come across a really interesting website concept. It's called Virtual Farmers' Market - http://www.vfm.com - and it's a great idea. Basically there are a number of artisan producers featured and you can shop online for a variety of their products - from pies and cheeses to preserves and condiments. I don't know how successful it's been since it set up in 2010, but I think it's a really good way of helping smaller producers reach a wider public with their products. And as a consumer, I like the idea of being able to buy a variety of different quality foods on one consolidated website.
There are also little videos of some of the producers talking about their products, which is a really nice touch. Putting the face behind the food you might say. I haven't shopped there as yet, so I can't give you details of how fast the service or delivery is. If you try it before I do, please let me know what you think.
We want your reviews.
If
you've come across any great tasting new products recently that you
want to tell us about please let us know and we'll include them on the food blog. And if you've been
disappointed in anything you've tried recently, post your comments on
the site and let other people know about your experience.
To see some of the projects I've worked on as a marketing consultant for food and drinks companies, go to www.sa-marketing.com
Great news for those of you who are allergic to cow's milk but can tolerate goat's milk. Those lovely people at St Helen's Farm are launching a vanilla ice cream made from goat's milk and cream to add to their extensive range of products. And at £3.99 for a half litre, it's quite reasonably priced.
So now you can treat yourself to ice cream without any guilt whatsoever. It uses only natural ingredients and is gluten and egg free and suitable for vegetarians .I haven't sampled it yet - let me know your thoughts. Apparently it's going to be available in selected Waitrose stores.
To find out more, visit the St Helen's Farm website http://www.sthelensfarm.co.uk
We want your reviews.
If
you've come across any great tasting new products recently that you
want to tell us about please let us know. And if you've been
disappointed in anything you've tried recently, post your comments on
the site and let other people know about your experience.
To see some of the projects I've worked on for as a marketing consultant for food and drinks companies, go to www.sa-marketing.com
I came across a new style of apple juice in the chiller cabinet of my local Waitrose this week. It's called Cold Press, and its point of difference is that (apart from no preservatives, no added sugar and no concentrates) they don't use heat pasteurisation. Which means (according to the label) that the juice retains the pure taste nutrition and antioxidants of fresh fruit.
I quite liked the idea of this, and the packaging is quite attractive - modern and simple - so I decided to try the Pink Lady variant. And it was actually quite delicious. It did taste clean and pure. In my experience it's quite rare that the product actually lives up to the promise of the blurb on the label, but in this case it did! My only gripe is that there just wasn't really enough of it in the 250ml bottle. There are 8 variants, but only 3 were stocked in Waitrose.Braeburn Apple, Valencia Orange, Apple & Raspberry, Apple & Lemon, Apple & Passionfruit, Apple & Strawberry, Granny Smith and Pink Lady apple. And from their website, it looks like they produce 750ml bottles, but I didn't see these in the chiller.
For more information on their range and the benefits of the cold press technique, visit their website http://www.cold-press.co.uk
We want your reviews.
If
you've come across any great tasting new products recently that you
want to tell us about please let us know. And if you've been
disappointed in anything you've tried recently, post your comments on
the site and let other people know about your experience.
To see some of the projects I've worked on for food and drinks companies, go to www.sa-marketing.com
As a committed foodie and a marketing consultant specialising in food and drink products, I thought I'd set up this blog - to share interesting and original new products I've found, highlight issues facing the food industry and to discuss industry news and developments. I'm always on the lookout for new brands that could be interested in marketing assistance - it's always a challenge for smaller companies to get themselves noticed when they haven't got the big budgets of the multinationals.
It's a tough old time out there for food producers at the moment - costs of raw materials have soared, and they're talking about an extra 5p on a loaf of bread because of the poor wheat harvest. But I do believe that the entrepreneurial spirit is still alive in the food industry, and there are many small companies out there, coming up with delicious new products to tempt us.
The first new product I'd like to bring to your attention is On The Pulse. This is a great idea, baked beans in pouches, and in 3 different sauces that are bound to titillate the tastebuds - like the tomato and chilli version shown below. Sounds scrummy. Unfortunately I haven't been able to taste them as yet, so I can't vouch for their flavour. But I'm hoping to come across them some time soon!
The company hasn't been established very long and their website doesn't have any stockist details as yet. But if you're interested in learning more about them just click on this link.
Sue Aitken is a Marketing Consultant focusing on food and drink brands. She has worked with a number of companies on a range of marketing projects. To see examples of some of the work she's done, just visit www.sa-marketing.com
