It’s free and fair

Christmas cake, mince pies and Christmas pudding are a trio of traditional northern hemisphere festive foods which are popular festive choices in SA too. At this time of the year supermarkets carry a large array of bakes — and different versions on the traditional theme. To make it a fair tasting we purchased the standard similar items from each of the big stores, then gathered a group of home bakers and put three cakes, a Christmas pudding and mince pies to the taste test. All products were stripped of packaging and numbered before being served to the panelists, who rated them on appearance, aroma, taste, quantity of fruit versus cake and whether the taster would buy it. Auditor Jade Craig checked the scores and collated the results.