Artisan vs the Supermarket – Popcorn #Artisan vs Supermarket
Briony Wilson
7th November 2016
This week’s Artisan vs Supermarket went down a treat with our judges, no one can complain about a popcorn tasting especially with the cold nights heading our way and those Christmas movie nights becoming the perfect night in; you need the essential popcorn to top off the night.
We put Whiteys Popcorn up against: Propercorn, Butterkist, Tesco own brand and Tyrrells Posh Corn. All popcorn’s tasted were Sweet and Salty flavour.
As always it was a blind tasting and our judges dug in to the popcorn marking it on; Appearance, Texture, and Taste. As Taste is the most personal category the results were very varied, some preferred the saltier options of Tyrrells, whiles others liked Butterkist for being the sweetest. Tesco’s, Whitey’s and Propercorn had a good mix of both salty and sweet flavours as you would expect and drew in the top three for flavour.
Texture was another competitive category as with popcorns moreish nature the judges were giving the texture serious evaluation. Propercorn and Tesco’s own brand were both rated last place due to lacking substance and a lot of corn kernels; Tyrrells was 3rd due to its light texture, but was criticised by some for being too soft. Butterkist’s came in second as it had an almost candid texture due to the sugar which the judges enjoyed and in first place was Whitey’s, due to its light fluffy texture.
Appearance was probably the most scrutinous category, with judges basing their decision on colour, shape and what was most appealing to the eye, Tesco came last due to being overly pale and over popped creating some weird and wonderful pieces, following this was the Propercorn which had almost burnt looking centres and again was very randomly shaped. Joint second place was Butterkist and Tyrells posh corn due to the best colour as they appeared almost candied from the sugar and they were more regular shapes. In first place by far was Whiteys popcorn commended for the shape of little fluffy circular balls and the nice warm colour without being too dark.
So there you have it folks the Artisan producers comes out on top again, Whiteys Popcorn can be bought at various local produce shops and delis including Grosvenor Garden Centre, The Hollies, and Cheerbrook farm Shop. Not to forget local events including the Taste Cheshire market every 3rd Saturday of the Month in Chester town Hall square.