Which supermarket's gammon came tops in our taste test?

HOW WE CONDUCTED OUR TASTE TEST

It's free and fair!

Preparing a festive feast for a crowd can be stressful, but luckily supermarkets are making things easier with an array of tasty ready-to-cook and heat-and-eat options. With this in mind, we not only gave each gammon an overall rating out of 10, but a score for convenience too.

To make our tastings fair, we strive to find similar products from all the stores involved. In this case, one retailer did not have a ready-made option, so we prepared one of their gammons from scratch. 

The products were stripped of their packaging and, if required, prepared to package instructions before being presented to a panel of judges for a blind tasting.

Food expert Jenny Kay oversaw the process in the kitchen. Auditor Jade Craig oversaw the entire process and tallied up the judges' score sheets.

THE RESULTS

PICK N PAY

Gammon; cooked to package instructions.

Price: R74.99/kg

Convenience: 0/10

Overall rating: 7.8/10

What the judges said:

• Maryanne: I know this comes from the store unglazed but easy to DIY. Not too much fat, good taste and tender.
• Neilwe: Extremely tasty, juicy with lots of flavour.
• Nkanyezi: Absolutely superb. Tender with delicious taste. The texture was on point.

WOOLWORTHS

Ready to eat gammon with fruit and glaze; the gammon comes ready cooked and glazed and required re-heating.

Price: R239.99/kg

Convenience: 9/10

Overall rating: 7/10

What the judges said:

• Adam: Very nice looking piece of meat. The glaze really looked good and the aroma and taste were excellent although not the most tender. But moist throughout.
• Lefa: I liked how the sweetness of the glaze worked well with the saltiness of the gammon.
• Linda: Lovely and tender. Appearance is good and the pineapple doesn't make it too sweet.

CHECKERS

Pre-cooked glazed gammon; gammon comes pre-cooked in a re-usable baking tray so no dirty dishes.

Price: R179.99 for 1.3kg

Convenience: 10/10

Overall rating: 6.9/10

What the judges said:

• Maryanne: Too thick a layer of fat and a bit rubbery. Convenience but at the cost of taste.
• Lefa: Extra sweet, maybe because of the canned pineapple and cherries. It kind of reminds me of a Hawaiian pizza.
• Samantha: Tender, but don't like pineapple in glaze, the flavour doesn't work for me.