WE’RE all looking to save money this Christmas, but can you really get a great and tasty gift for a bargain price?
We’ve tested some of Britain’s favourite seasonal specialities to find out which supermarket own-brand goods are the best quality.
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This time we’re looking at the Christmas classic Panettone – which are great as festive desserts or as gifts.
We bought the cheapest panettone available from Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Lidl.
For each one, we gave it a score out of 10 for taste and a score out of 10 for value, based on the price per 100g.
This score also took into account the fruit content and how healthy it is.
Here’s how the panettones scored out of 20 overall:
Tesco Panettone
- £4.25 for 500g
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This Tesco panettone was one of the cheaper ones we tested, working out at 80p per 100g.
But it was bland and bready, without much interesting fruit.
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The packet said it contained 15 per cent sultanas and 4 per cent candied orange – one of the lowest fruit contents of the panettones we tried.
- Taste: 5/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 12/20
Asda Extra Special Classic Panettone
- £7.50 for 750g
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Asda is only selling own-brand classic panettones from its Extra Special range this year, so this was one of the priciest products we tried – at £1 per 100g.
But it had extra quality to match, with loads of fruit in a soft, light dough.
The fruit content included 23 per cent sultanas and 6 per cent candied peel.
An added bonus was the packaging was stylish so you could give it as a gift.
- Taste: 8/10
- Value: 7/10
- Total: 15/20
Morrisons Panettone
- £6 for 500g
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This Morrisons panettone was very brown on top, with quite a bland, dry dough.
There was a decent amount of fruit – the packaging said it was 17 per cent sultanas – but it wasn’t evenly spread out and most of it was in the middle.
At £1.20 per 100g, this was by far the most expensive panettone we tried and wasn’t worth the extra money.
- Taste: 6/10
- Value: 3/10
- Total: 9/20
Sainsbury’s Classic Panettone
- £4.25 for 500g
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The Sainsbury’s panettone was very similar to the Morrisons and Tesco products, with a fairly dry, bland dough and overly sweet aftertaste.
It also had the highest saturated fat content, at 9.6 per cent.
The pack said it contained 15 per cent sultanas, 6 per cent candied orange and 3 per cent candied citron.
At 85p per 100g, this was an average price for an average panettone.
- Taste: 5/10
- Value: 6/10
- Total: 11/20
WINNER – Aldi Specially Selected Classic Panettone
- £3.99 for 750g
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Aldi’s panettone was the cheapest product we tried, at just 53p per 100g, but it was also the best.
It had a light, moist brioche-like dough with a gentle Christmas spice flavour and hints of marzipan.
It was also packed full of fruit – with 15 per cent sultanas and 12 per cent candied orange.
An added bonus was the attractive green box, which would make it a perfect gift.
- Taste: 9/10
- Value: 10/10
- Total: 19/20
Lidl Deluxe Panettone Classico
- £3.99 for 700g
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The Lidl panettone tasted of citrus and Christmas spice.
It was full of fruit, with 16 per cent raisins and 13 per cent orange peel, but had a disappointingly dry dough.
It also had the highest sugar content, at more than 30 per cent.
For 57p per 100g, it was a little more expensive than Aldi but not quite as good.
- Taste: 7/10
- Value: 8/10
- Total: 15/2
The Sun also tested Italian panettone last year, as it proved a big Christmas hit in the UK.
Earlier this month, M&S shoppers were rushing to buy a panettonut” – a fusion of panettone with a doughnut.
