This page is an ongoing history of product comparisons, made informally but blindly.

Fig rolls

Compared Boland with McVities, 2022-04-18. It was pretty obvious to me in the blind testing that the McVities ones were the big-brand ones, but Boland were much nicer. Tasted more of fig, and had less pastry around them.

Miso soup

I’m still on a quest for the perfect miso soup; I remember one that was really great from my childhood, and I don’t know which it was.

Clearspring Organic Japanese Brown White miso soup is really insipid. Their “hearty red” tastes dark and kind of a bit unpleasant to me. Their “mellow white with tofu and green onions” seemed oddly vegetal on the first tasting, but on re-tasting seems good. One to compare with the others. Not mind-blowing. Their “instant miso soup with sea vegetables” is a bit darker than the “mellow white”, also perfectly adequate; should taste-test against the others. Not mind-blowing.

Clearspring Organic White Miso Instant Soup Paste vs Itsu Miso’easy Traditional Miso

These were quite different from each other. Itsu was powerful; Clearspring was subtle. Initially I thought that Itsu won by a country mile, but actually I could imagine a mood in which Clearspring wins; it’s not totally clear cut. Itsu is still the victor.

Yutaka

This was actually pretty good, though I didn’t have it in a comparison with any other. I’ll buy this again.

Houmous

A standard useful thing to have around when you need calories.

If you want to push the boat out, Natoora Spring Herb Houmous is very nice but rather expensive.

Ocado own-brand vs Tesco own-brand

There’s no contest here. Ocado tastes of tahini; Tesco is just a bit insipid. Ocado is the clear winner.

Baked beans

Heinz beats Sainsbury’s own brand by a country mile. It’s not remotely close. Sainsbury’s is sickly-sweet.

Marks and Spencer beans are perfectly fine. I didn’t try them side-by-side with Heinz, but I’d say they’re just as good.

Meat replacements

Beyond Burgers are pretty good, honestly, although they are much better when cooked correctly (i.e not overdone). Honest Burger on Tottenham Court Road did them well; Neat Burger also do them well.

I was unable to tell the difference between Impossible (in Boston, 2020) and real meat. However, according to the person I was with, it was extremely obvious which was which. So your mileage probably will vary.

Tinned tuna

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Albacore tuna is really good: meaty chunks, not flakes. Similarly Waitrose own-brand tuna.

Princes is clearly cheap and flaky.

Marks and Spencer Tuna Steaks are somewhere in between - not as good as Waitrose or the Taste the Difference Sainsbury’s, but much better than Princes.

Nutella

The “cocoa” one is much less sweet, though I’m not sure I’d call the taste “chocolate” - it just tastes less nutty. I think I prefer the normal one.

Tinned tomatoes

Marks and Spencer own-brand are, bizarrely, not very full of tomatoes. I tried making the Dishoom Chicken Ruby recipe with them and it took an extra tin again from when I made the same thing with Waitrose own-brand.