Best cranberry sauce taste test

How the best cranberry sauce taste test worked

Six members of the olive team conducted a blind taste test to find the most flavoursome shop-bought cranberry sauce. We tasted all of the biggest cranberry sauce brands widely available in the UK. The group chose joint winners.

The results for the best cranberry sauce

Joint winners

Best classic cranberry sauce: Colman’s cranberry sauce

About the cranberry sauce: A cranberry sauce made with water, 22% cranberries, sugar, glucose fructose syrup and cranberry juice.

Comments: With a well-balanced sweet and sour flavour and a good tang, this is great if you want a classic cranberry sauce.

Price: £1.34/165g, ocado.com

Best spiced cranberry sauce: Rosebud Preserves cranberry sauce

About the cranberry sauce: Made in Yorkshire, this cranberry sauce is finished with fresh citrus and port.

Comments: With whole berries, a boozy kick and very strong flavours of the clove, this slightly sour, artisan cranberry sauce is perfect if you want something spiced.

Price: £3.60/198g, rosebudpreserves.co.uk

Other cranberry sauces we tried

Stokes cranberry sauce

About the cranberry sauce: Made with 42% cranberries, raw cane sugar, water and gelling agent, this cranberry sauce is suitable for vegetarians.

Comments: We found this cranberry sauce to be too sweet, with a slightly grainy texture.

Price: £2.79/260g, ocado.com

Tiptree cranberry jelly

About the cranberry sauce: This cranberry jelly is made with cranberry juice, sugar and gelling agent.

Comments: This glossy cranberry sauce had a texture and sweetness of jam, and lacked sourness.

Price: £2.29/340g, ocado.com

Ocean Spray whole cranberry sauce

About the cranberry sauce: This cranberry sauce is made with just sugar, 30% cranberries, water and 15% cranberry puree.

Comments: This cranberry sauce has quite a sour flavour, and while it had whole bits of cranberry, the texture was a little dry.

Price: £1.50/250g, ocado.com

These are our best ever Christmas trimming recipes including:

 

• Make-ahead gravy

• Boozy cranberry sauce

• Sourdough bread sauce

• Bacon butter

• Cranberry and chestnut stuffing

Meridian organic cranberry sauce

About the cranberry sauce: Made with organic apple juice concentrate, 48% organic cranberries and gelling agent, this cranberry sauce has no added sugar.

Comments: This cranberry sauce had a very sour texture, however we did like the whole berries.

Price: £2.49/284g, ocado.com

Roots and wings cranberry sauce

About the cranberry sauce: This spiced cranberry sauce is made with 47% organic cranberries, sugar, oranges, spices and a gelling agent.

Comments: We found the cranberries in this sauce to have a thick skin and a slightly artificial spice flavour.

Price: £2.50/200g, ocado.com

Daylesford cranberry sauce

About the cranberry sauce: Made with 54% cranberries, sugar and spices, this cranberry sauce also includes 9% blood oranges and stem ginger.

Comments: While this sauce had a pleasant spice flavour, the fruit itself was too hard to chew.

Price: £3.99/200g, daylesford.com

Riverford cranberry sauce

About the cranberry sauce: Made with 80% cranberries, raw cane sugar, lemon juice and water, this organic cranberry sauce uses whole cranberries.

Comments: This cranberry sauce had a very sharp texture and lacked sweetness.

Price: £3.95/200g, riverford.co.uk

Abel and Cole cranberry sauce

About the cranberry sauce: This cranberry sauce is simply made with organic cranberries, organic raw cane sugar and water.

Comments: We found the fruit in this sauce to be quite gritty and the flavour was too sour.

Price: £3.95/200g, abelandcole.co.uk

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