Artisan Producers vs Supermarket Produce – Samosa Challenge #Blog
Briony Wilson
12th September 2016
On Friday we challenged Perfect Samosa and their artisan samosa’s against the supermarket competitors. In the challenge were Tesco’s deli counter Vegetable samosa, Tesco’s Chicken Tikka Deli Counter Samosa, M&S Vegetable samosa’s and Perfect Samosa’s Butternut Squash and Coriander Samosa and their Shredded Bengali Lamb with Cinnamon-Infused Sweet Potato Samosa.
The challenge was conducted as a blind tasting, so judges only knew whether the samosa contained vegetables or meat. Without a doubt the artisan product came out on top; the samosas were judged on appearance, texture, and taste. While all 5 products had a good fold on them, some had a better appearance than others, mainly because of the freshness of the pastry, this also effected the texture. People enjoyed the crunch of the fresh pastry which was much better on the artisan products.
Taste was by far the most competitive category, all had that Indian heat expected in a samosa, however overall the Tesco samosas fell short; with a quite sweet taste which in comparison to the other products tasted rather artificial and as they cooled turned rather oily and mushy.
Third in the overall rankings came the M&S vegetable samosa and judges found it difficult to work out which was the artisan vs the supermarket brand between this and the perfect samosa comparative. This was probably the hottest of all the samosa tasted and had a nice texture due to the vegetables used, however its pastry lacked in comparison to others as it did not have that signature crunch.
The overall winner was Perfect Samosa’s Butternut Squash and Coriander Samosa, everyone loved its authentic taste, with a great curry flavour and the chunky vegetables, which meant the filling was much less mushy than its competition. In a close second place was the Shredded Bengali Lamb with Cinnamon-Infused Sweet Potato Samosa, people loved the concept of this samosa as it was something they had not tasted before and it had a great warmth to it.
So there you have it; buying local can provide a better taste, texture, and appearance for very little price difference. Why not shop local and visit the Taste Cheshire Farmers Market this Saturday (17th September) outside Chester town hall to come try a Perfect Samosa for yourself!