Which supermarket makes the best butternut soup?

HOW WE CONDUCTED OUR TASTE TEST

IT'S FREE AND FAIR!

Chefs-in-training make excellent tasters. They clearly love food, especially if they haven't had to prepare it themselves; they're curious about food; they have a well -developed sense of taste; and when it comes to rating a product, they pull no punches.

For this reason, we asked Chef Charl Crause of FBI Chefs School in Joburg North to gather a group of students and their lecturers for a blind tasting of heat-and-eat butternut soups from leading supermarkets.

All products were purchased, stripped of their packaging and numbered by a team of students (who didn't take part in the tasting) in the FBI Chef School kitchen, under the watchful eye of auditor Jade Craig, who checked that the dishes were prepared exactly to the package instructions. In some cases, the reheating time was insufficient.

THE RESULTS

FIRST PLACE: WOOLWORTHS

Fresh Butternut Soup

Price: R30.99 for 600g

What the judges said:

• David: Great aroma, good colour, great texture, and I loved the black pepper. The students even had a second helping.
• Kristin: Correct amount of seasoning, beautiful bright-yellow colour.
• Nadine: The taste is great, good seasoning. Enjoyable.

SECOND PLACE: PICK N PAY

Creamy Butternut Soup

Price: R29.99 for 600g

What the judges said:

• Lesego: Texture and aroma very good. Too much cinnamon, lacks seasoning.
• Chante: Overall this is a good, appealing-looking soup. I like the texture but it needs more salt and pepper.
• Charl: Smells of butternut, needs slightly more spice, texture very smooth.

THIRD PLACE: CHECKERS

Platinum Soups Butternut

Price: R24.99 for 600g

What the judges said:

• Veronique: Lacks aroma, needs more flavouring.
• David: Very light in colour, under-seasoned, with a thin, watery texture.
• Nadine: The taste is potato-like. The colour very light and consistency runny.

FOURTH PLACE: SPAR

Freshline Butternut Soup

Price: R28.99 for 500g

What the judges said:

• Lesego: The colour is poor, it's too runny and tastes nothing like a butternut soup.
• Ferroudja: No aroma, extremely grainy, tastes like an onion and potato soup.
• Leandrie: Grainy texture, no taste of butternut, only potato and onion. Lacks seasoning, smooth texture but runny.