Life of pies

This just in: Woolies’ Best Ever mince pie has just dropped and, boy, is it worth the hype. Product developer Caryn Albers reveals how she and her team went about improving upon perfection

Simply the best

A panel of Woolies’ supertasters, including chefs and food scientists, did several rounds of tastings, evaluating each mince pie iteration’s flavour, texture, appearance and aroma, until they had a winner. “To get the ‘bestever’ label, a consensus needs to be reached that the product is truly exceptional,” says Caryn.

Tasty pastry

What makes the Best Ever mince pie’s shortcrust pastry so rich and flaky, you ask? Elementary, dear reader: it now boasts its highest butter content ever.

The A-team

The production team consists of 90 employees who do everything from baking to quality control, including hand-dusting the icing sugar star on each and every mince pie.

Mince-meaty matters

The super-fruity mincemeat filling is a point of pride in Caryn’s team. “Our bespoke vine fruit mix, with its unique flavour profile, is locally sourced from our supplier, located along the Orange River in the Northern Cape. It contains a perfectly balanced blend of Thompson seedless raisins, golden sultanas, cranberries and sour cherries, complemented by warming spices and subtle hints of citrus.”

Munching the numbers

To keep up with customers’ seemingly insatiable appetite over the festive season, 42 000 individual mince pies are baked and packaged each day.

Last year, Woolies sold an incredible 2.5 million mince pies over the Christmas period.

All sorts

In addition to the Best Ever Fruit Mince Pies (R149.99 for 12), Woolies’ mince pie range includes the original fruit mince pies (R54.99 for 6), mini fruit mince pies (R69.99 for 9), Plant Love citrus fruit mince pies (R69.99 for 6), and Free From Gluten fruit mince pies (R89.99 for 6).