Morrisons £4 Christmas pud beats Harrods

The panel for the annual Which? Christmas test awarded the title of best pudding to Bradford-based Morrisons for its £3.99 M Signature Jewelled Fruit offering, giving it a score of 85 per cent and describing it as “simply majestic” with a “great depth of flavour” in a field that also included the Harrods £12.50 Luxury variety.

But the panel, which included Great British Bake Off 2013 winner Frances Quinn and food critic Charles Campion, was less complimentary about upmarket retailer Fortnum and Mason’s £10 St James pudding, describing it as having an “artificial flavour” and comparing the taste to a citrus bathroom cleaner.

Which? asked supermarkets and retailers to nominate a premium pudding for tasting.

The panel were then asked to take part in a blind-tasting of each pudding, giving a mark out of 10 for appearance, aroma, taste and texture.

The final scores were converted to a percentage and ranked in order.

Asda’s £5 Extra Special Mulled Port and Orange pudding achieved the lowest score of 48 per cent and was criticised for its “unpleasant, chemical” flavour.

Sainsbury’s Blanc de Blanc Brut Champagne at £22.50 was jointly awarded the title of best Champagne alongside Piper-Heidsieck Brut (£33), both with a score of 80 per cent.

The two bottles beat offerings from Veuve Clicquot, Moet and Chandon and Laurent-Perrier.

The best-scoring sparkling wine was The Co-operative’s £9.99 Prosecco, scoring 78 per cent for its “good level of acidity and a good balance of bitterness and fruitiness”.

Which? editor Richard Headland said: “Christmas can be an expensive time of the year so it’s satisfying to see our festive taste tests revealed that some of the cheapest were also some of the best.

“Time and again, we find supermarket own labels giving the big brands and high-end retailers a real run for their money.”