Best festive food: Bettys stollen and Morrisons smoked salmon (sorry, Fortnum & Masons)

Not what you are going to present your loved one with underneath the tree, but which delicious goodies will make up your Christmas feast.

And while you may not be finalising your shopping list for some weeks to come, a team of taste testers from Good Housekeeping have been hard at work since June selecting the very best in Christmas treats, from Stilton to champagne.

While budget retailers are snapping at the heels of the big supermarkets and more upmarket brands, it is Bradford-based Morrisons that comes out top, with four winning products in the magazine’s 13 categories.

There are some bargains to be had, with Aldi’s £12.99 Veuve Monsigny Champagne Brut by Philizot’s, complete with “fine bubbles and lovely light flavour” beating 20 other brands ranging from Waitrose to Asda.

Harrogate institution Bettys won this year’s only new category, stollen, and its stollen bites also picked up the runner up award in the category - despite neither products being in store until next month, although stollen fans can pre-order online now.

Helen Wainwright, senior food researcher at Good Housekeeping, has been part of the Christmas Tried & Tested team for the last four years. Work begins visiting trade fairs in June, before between eight and 20 products are chosen for each category.

Then its down to specially selected groups, including experts, readers, and Good Housekeeping staff like Miss Wainwright to thoroughly test each product - 185 in total, including smoked salmon, stuffing, cranberry sauce, Christmas pudding, brandy butter, Christmas cake, mince pies, turkey and mulled wine.

While she admits she is now “completely sick” of Christmas food, Miss Wainwright told The Yorkshire Post she particularly enjoyed the stollen.

“We introduce a new category each year, last year was yule logs and this time it was stollen,” she said. “Betty’s stollen was rich and packed with generous amounts of fruit and marzipan, and the dough was light and airy with lots of flavour.”

Lesley Norris, Stollen expert at Bettys’ Craft Bakery in Harrogate, said they were proud their Christmas Stollen and Stollen Bites have been recognised as the best in the country.

She said: “We start our Stollen production next week and in the lead up to Christmas our craft bakers will be making it every day.”

Marks and Spencers won the hotly-contested mince pie category, while Sainsbury’s took the Christmas Pudding crown - the two categories with the biggest taste test, with around 20 testers sampling each product.

Morrisons beat more expensive brands from Fortnum & Masons and Waitrose with two of its smoked salmon products awarded joint winner status - its M Signature Oak Smoked Salmon with Black Pepper with slices that ‘melt in the mouth’ and Morrisons Christmas Tree Smoked Salmon - a bargain at £3.

Miss Wainwright added: “It seems the supermarkets have really raised their game this year.”

The winners of this year’s Good Housekeeping Tried & Tested “show that price is no indicator of tastiness”, according to consumer director Caroline Bloor.

Among the bargain winners were Aldi £12.99 champagne, a whole £7 cheaper than its nearest rival, Ocado’s Faubert Brut at £19.99.

Morrisons’ winning M Signature Mature Blue Stilton is £3; while the joint winner of the brandy butter category, the Co-Operative’s Courvoisier butter, is £1.85 for 200g.

Here are the main category winners:

Champagne - Aldi Veuve Monsigny Champagne Brut by Philizot, £12.99 for 75cl

Smoked salmon - Morrisons M Signature Oak Smoked Salmon with Black Pepper, £5 for 120g; Morrisons Christmas Tree Smoked Salmon; £3 for 100g

Prosecco - Waitrose San Leo Brut Prosecco, £10.49 for 75cl

Mince pies - Marks & Spencer Christmas Star Mince Pies, £2.50 for four

Christmas puddings - Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference 18 Month Matured Laced with Cognac Christmas Pudding, £8 for 907g

Stilton - Morrisons M Signature Mature Blue Stilton, £3 for 300g

Christmas cake - Meg Rivers ‘All Over’ Iced Cake, £40 for 1.9kg; Sainsbury’s Golden Bow Celebration Cake, £18 for 1.7kg

Stollen - Bettys Christmas Stollen, £9.95 for 380g

Brandy butter - Tesco Courvoisier Brandy Butter, £2.49 for 150g; The Co-Operative Courvoisier Brandy Butter, £1.85 for 200g

Turkey - Tesco Bronze Turkey, £20 for 3.6-5kg

Stuffing - Tesco Finest Venison And Pork Mulled Wine Stuffing Portions Wrapped In Bacon, £3 for 300g

Mulled wine - Aldi Gluhwein, £4.99 for 1 litre

Cranberry sauce - Morrisons M Fresh Cranberry Sauce, £1.48 for 300g.