---
lastmod: "2021-05-21T18:23:48.0000000+01:00"
title: Product comparisons
author: patrick
layout: page
---

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.