Pudding taste test finds top tasting puds come at top price
A CHOICE taste test has found when it comes to purchasing top tasting Christmas puddings, it’s worth paying a little extra, with more expensive products scoring better than their budget counterparts.
Three experts tasted 14 Christmas puddings ranging in price from 71 cents per 100g to $5.50 per 100g. The supermarket and boutique brands were assessed for general appearance, quality of finish, moisture, texture, mixture quality, flavour and aroma.¹
“The best pudding was Itha’s Traditional Plum Pudding – testers liked the homemade appearance, well prepared fruit and the consistency of the cake mixture,” says CHOICE spokesperson Ingrid Just.
“At $4.20 per 100g, Itha’s Traditional Plum Pudding sits at the more expensive end of the scale. Our testers said that generally, a higher price indicates better quality ingredients and a better tasting pudding.”
The four best tasting puddings were all priced above $3.60 per 100g.
“The expert taste testers also considered the shape and weight of the puddings and the balance of fruit, spice and alcohol flavours. They were looking for the even distribution of good quality fruit ingredients, and puds that held their shape when cut,” says Ms Just.
The ‘best budget buy’ was Woolworths Gold Vintage Christmas Pudding at $1.98 per 100g. Testers liked the look of the pudding’s decorative glace orange slices and commented on the pudding’s fruitiness and moist texture.
The popular Lions Traditional Christmas Pudding at $1.63 per 100g, was another pudding that scored reasonably well compared with other less expensive puddings. Testers liked the pudding’s appearance and the good distribution of fruit and cake.
“Puddings that didn’t rate as well had cheaper ingredients and had a gluggy consistency. They were crumbly when cut and had a poor balance of spice, alcohol, sweet and nutty flavours,” says Ms Just.
Coles and Woolworth’s mid-tier homebrand (private label)puddings and both puddings from Aldi did not rate well.
“Whether it be a homemade pudding or a shop bought product, a Christmas pudding made from quality ingredients is not cheap or quick and easy to make. So it’s reasonable to assume you might have to fork out a little more for a top-quality pud,” says Ms Just.
CHOICE Christmas pudding taste test results (the table is not in ranking order however testers’ ‘top tasting’ and ‘best budget buy’ puddings indicated):
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Best performers
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Price per 100g
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Value for money
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Price per 100g
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Poorer performers
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Price per 100g
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Itha’s Traditional Plum Pudding*
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$4.20
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Woolworths Gold Vintage Christmas Pudding^
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$1.98
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Big Sister Traditional Plum Pudding
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$1.12
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Crooked Creek Authentic English Christmas Pudding
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$5.50
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Coles Finest Luxury Christmas Pudding
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$1.56
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Coles Matured Christmas Pudding
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$1.29
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Pud for All Seasons Traditional Plum Pudding
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$3.62
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Fowlers Luxury Plum Pudding
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$1.63
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Pudding Lane Christmas Pudding
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$4.20
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Pudding Lady Traditional Christmas Pudding
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$4.30
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Lions Traditional Lions Christmas Pudding
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$1.22
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The Cake Stall (Aldi) Luxury Christmas Pudding
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$1.00
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The Cake Stall (Aldi) Plum Pudding
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$0.71c
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Woolworths Select Matured Christmas Pudding with Cognac
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$1.13
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*Testers rated this pudding as the ‘best tasting’
^ Testers rated this pudding as the ‘best budget buy’
¹ Puddings tested were those that were available in major supermarkets in October 2012 as well as a number of smaller boutique brands that are readily available online or through national distributors. For supermarket brands that had more than one pudding product we selected one pudding from their upper-tiered range and one from their standard/traditional range. Puddings were re-heated according to manufacture instructions before being presented to three expert judges.
Read the full CHOICE report into Christmas puddings.
Media contact:
- Ingrid Just, CHOICE, Head of Media and Spokesperson: 0430 172 669