HOW WE CONDUCTED OUR TASTE TEST
IT'S FREE AND FAIR!
The Taste & Tell series is a monthly feature where the same or similar supermarket items are put to a taste test by a panel. (This one was made up of teachers from Bryanston High School.)
A theme for each tasting is selected by Sunday Times food editor Hilary Biller, who goes out and shops as a consumer would. (For this tasting, we endeavoured to purchase a BBQ sauce from each retailer. Some were labelled braai sauce, others BBQ basting sauce and one store, Spar, did not carrya house-brand BBQ sauce.)
We work with chefs who assist with any preparation that's necessary. Items are categorised, numbered and stripped of all their packaging before being served. A food expert in the kitchen oversees the entire process.
The tasters undertake a blind tasting and the food is judged on a score sheet and is rated according to appearance, taste, quality of ingredients and whether the taster would consider buying the product. Each category is judged out of 10 points: 10 is excellent, 5 average and 1 extremely poor.
An auditor checks each score sheet and collates the results.