(egg cracking)
- Hello and welcome back to SORTEDfood,
Today, we have more fascinating festive food trends
for our normals to very honestly review.
Just like before, they're going to try them
without knowing what they are, pass opinion,
and then we're going to ask them;
would you buy it or would you DIY it?
- Do we still have seals of approval to give? Or-
(agreeing sounds)
- Christmas is all about polar bears, penguins and seals.
- Just bring on the first one, Ebbers.
- Category number one.
(upbeat music)
Okay.
The category is breakfast! Now the pyjamas makes sense.
- [Barry] Oh, finally!
- After one and a half episodes.
Why am I having breakfast at Ebber's house on Christmas day?
This is the most confusing thing.
- This is a Christmas-y fruity tea.
- To be taken without milk.
- Yeah, nice. Cinnamon-y.
- Clove.
- Clove, yeah.
- Nutmeg.
- Got some sort of fruitiness to it, so,
maybe- what's Christmas-y, fruity?
Berry, cranberry.
Now you need enough butter
so that it soaks through, don't you?
- I need it dripping on my hands.
- No spoilers. They are crumpet flavoured.
They are Christmas tree shaped.
So use the spread. There's two things we're looking at here.
Suddenly it looks very more like a breakfast scene,
doesn't it?
- It's very romantic, this moment.
Can we have some light romantic music on top of it?
- We spend every weekend together in these pyjamas.
- And sometimes not in these pyjamas.
That is possibly the sweetest spread I've ever licked.
- I quite like it.
- It's too artificially sweet for me.
We'll move onto C.
- I don't really like milk.
(off-screen laughter)
- What are you doing?
- I thought this was measured out.
(men laughing)
- So these are like little shredded wheat-y minis.
- [Ben] Yup.
- Like the spread before it, that just tastes fruity.
I quite like it, but it's not very-
- It doesn't feel Christmas fruity.
- No.
- I'll put you out your misery.
A is Sainsburry's Mince Pie Tea.
- You saved my life.
- Friendship trust.
Merry mince pie flavour tea.
- So it's black tea base,
but it's got lots of fruity things, including cinnamon.
It's got some licorice in there.
It's got orange peel, lemon peel, hibiscus and apple.
- I wouldn't say mince pie.
I would just say all of the Christmas flavours that you know.
- Christmas seasonings and flavourings and aromas.
- Lovely.
These are M&S's Christmas tree crumpets
and their sherry trifle spread.
- No.
- No. Oh!
- Oh, we're not gonna have one of these moments again,
are we?
- [Ben] It's more like a curd.
It's made with egg and butter, but berries.
It's got Sherry in it.
All the elements you love of the custard-y, berry, sherry,
like a trifle in a spread.
- Do you know what?
I don't mean to go against the chef,
but that stuff is wasted on a crumpet.
Cause when you actually put it onto a spoon,
you get the thick, creamy curdy texture, which is amazing.
- So you'd prefer that in a pie or a trifle-
- Maybe a scone, a Christmas scone or something.
- Yeah, that'll be cool.
Or do a Victoria sponge and put that in the middle, maybe.
Rippling through some ice cream, lots of alternatives.
- [Jamie] Ripple through ice cream. That would be great.
- [Ben] These also made me chuckle
and I couldn't possibly not buy them.
These are also from Sainsbury's.
They are whole grain, Christmas pudding wheats.
- I'm going to go out on a limb and say, no, they're not.
In my opinion.
- Filled with raisins as you already get a raisin filling
in shredded wheats,
but also all the spices of Christmas pudding.
- [Mike] God, not getting the spices, are you?
- [Jamie] No, I would say that they are raisin wheats
with a Christmas tax added to them.
- With a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg, valid.
Should we give you some prices?
- [Mike] Yes, please, Ebbers.
- [Ben] Teabags, £1.50 a box,
that's £0.075 a cup of tea.
- Pretty standard.
- [Ben] Crumpets, £1.25, pretty standard.
The spread, £2.75.
- How many crumpets do you get?
- [Ben] Six.
- Okay! - Yeah.
- The Christmas pudding, whole grain wheats, £2.00 a box.
- [Jamie] Standard.
- They've got to make the decision now.
Would they buy it or DIY it?
- I, for one,
will probably be buying the Christmas tree shaped crumpets
for the kids.
- I also would like to buy this spread. It's delicious.
And I actually think having some of this will inspire you
to try and find other reasons to use it.
So we're going to go B as our
(seal noises)
- Of approval.
(festive music)
Category number two is German market treats.
- Oh, yeah!
Everyone loves a festive Christmas market. Blindfolds off.
- Ebbers, initial question; did you buy all of this?
- Yes.
- Just wanted to make sure none of them were "stollen".
- [Ben] Everyone loves a Christmas German market.
And increasingly these products are now found everywhere
in all the supermarkets,
they're all stocking a version of these.
I think that's only been the last few years.
- Almond, marzipan.
- It's like took a normal croissant, squashed it up,
dipped it in some booze.
- Yeah. And then sprinkled it with sugar.
It's cake-y.
- Really buttery, a buttery cake-y mix.
It's almost like cookie dough.
Cheers.
- Cheers.
- That is lovely.
That is not just mulled wine.
It's got some delicious spiciness to it
with everything you'd expect to have from a mull,
like the Christmas spices.
But I also feel like it's got another alcohol in it.
- It's more fruity than mulled wine.
I'd say it's more like a cranberry nature to it.
It's not cranberries, but it's a berry wine.
- These look cool.
- [Ben] These are actually my favourite at Christmas.
I cannot wait for this to come around each year.
- Oh wow.
- It's got chocolate on the bottom.
And, so much heavier than I expected.
- They're spiced. Yeah, spiced macrons.
Almost like once baked, not twice-baked.
- I getting almond and chocolate cake.
That is absolutely delicious.
- A is Lidl's Stollen Bites.
So they have got the rum in there, Jamaican rum.
But essentially it's got some marzipan, some spices,
classic cherries, various fruits, lots of almond,
absolutely delicious.
- Yeah. They were superb.
- [Barry] They were spectacular.
- B, it was a mulled wine,
but it's mulled and then has
the added spices of gingerbread, which is German.
So I kind of put it into this round.
It's a very low ABV,
so it's only about five and a half percent, it is sweet.
It's got white wine in it.
And then lots of rich fruit berries,
plus mulled spices and the gingerbread essence through it.
And that gingerbread wine is made by Three Mills.
So they're based in Norfolk.
The grape juice is brought in from Spain
and it's one of the most planted grapes in Spain,
about 25% of all grapes in Spain is that grape variety.
And C is Audi's lebkuchen milk chocolate coated biscuits.
- So there's lots of things in this.
Apple extract, figs as well, and apricots.
I didn't get that, but I don't care 'cause it was delicious.
- It's soft and chewy like macaroons,
it's chocolaty like digestives, and it tastes incredible.
- So should we talk prices?
The stollen bites; £3.49 for the packet.
The wine; £4.00 for the bottle, cheap and cheerful.
And the lebkuchen; £0.79 a packet.
- That is a freaky bargain.
We gotta pick a favourite here. This is a tough round.
- Do any of them get the seal of approval?
Would you buy it or would you DIY it?
- All three. - All three.
All three get the seal of approval.
Multiple seals of one approval.
- But when it comes to buy it or DIY it, buy these.
Yeah, 'cause €0.79, why not? - Why not?
And DIY, definitely want to get the stollen a go,
but are they too difficult to make?
- I've never made it.
- Give that a go.
(music swells)
(funky music)
- Round number three. It's the cheeseboard round!
- Oh.
- Oh, yes! - No!
Hopefully this is cheese that doesn't taste like cheese.
- A is the two cheeses. B is the Kilner jar.
C is the other thing.
- Oh, it is cheddar.
You do get, it does taste a bit of cheese,
but it's like really- what is that, apricot?
Oh, it tastes like apricot held together
with a bunch of curds.
- The other one, the other cheese.
Can we get the flavour on that one?
Flavour or flavours?
- Cranberry and orange from looking at it.
It's not awful. It's just not what I want from cheese.
- I like it.
Oh, hello.
- Apple-y, apple.
- Oh no. It's, uh, mince pie spices.
Is it mince? Is it-
it's that type of minced?
It's sweet.
- Guessing currents and apple, yeah.
- The contents of a mince pie.
Oh, it's got a lovely warm-
It tastes like the inside of a chocolate liqueur,
or liqueur chocolate.
- Yeah, yeah.
Although now, like the first hit,
you feel like it's going to be really alcoholic
and then actually-
- Yeah, it settles really quickly.
- Yeah, so, maybe it doesn't have any alcohol in it.
It's very tasty. It is fruity. Obviously.
Like we got, what, raspberries. We've got,
are these little cranberries?
- It might be nice over some ice cream,
that's a very simple thing or something like a pavlova,
which is an iconic Christmas dessert
in some parts of the world.
Put you out of your misery.
A is two of Sainsburry's Wensleydale cheeses.
Wensleydale is obviously a cheese that lends itself
so nicely to fruit all year round.
One of them is apricot and amaretto
and one of them is cranberry orange, you got that right.
Personally, I think a massive cheeseboard
is an absolute Christmas must for me.
You don't have to go novelty. You can just go quality.
Artisanal, often raw, unpasteurized.
Personally, I love a little blue, a little goat,
kind of mix it up.
- Bit of blue for ya, Ebbers.
- Wensleydale, obviously from Yorkshire originally,
made by French monks that came from the rockfall region.
So they've got a lot of history to the cheese,
but actually made famous really by Wallace and Gromit.
- But Christmas is all about cheeses though, isn't it?
- B, Lidl keeping it simple with their Christmas chutney.
All the fruits; apple, pear, figs, sultanas, cranberries,
and all the spices.
But a fair shout, because apple was your first port of call
and it is the highest ingredient in that.
C was the Wooden Spoons Prosecco berries.
- It was boozy
- It's basically a selection of fruits.
That is a 40 year old family run company.
They've done all sorts of preservation.
They won loads and loads of awards, great taste awards.
And this is kind of falls into the Christmas gift market.
But I would absolutely say if you're making a hamper or you
want to put it on something like a cheese board or dessert
with ice cream or yoghourt, absolutely wonderful.
We'll rattle off some prices.
Each of those Wensleydale cheeses, £2.50.
The chutney £1.00 a jar.
The Prosecco berries, £8.00 a jar,
obviously a much bigger, nicer jar, more of the gift market.
Which one gets the seal of approval,
whether you'd use it on a cheese board or somewhere else,
And which one would you try and DIY or none of them?
You don't have to do both.
- We really, really like the idea,
and we were sort of torn between buying it and DIYing it,
because this is great and it's new and it's quite cool.
- So it gets a seal of approval.
And we think we might buy it, and DIY yeah.
- (laughing) You can't do all three
You said it could be one, two, or none.
And they went for three.
(bass guitar strumming)
- Round number four. Mince pies.
- Okay.
- [Ben] Now, you know me, sometimes I love a classic
and I don't want it played with.
Sometimes, I love a twist.
- That's what I say.
- [Ben] Take your blindfolds off.
You've got three in front of you.
It's A, B, and C.
- Booze-a-mundo.
- Booze-a-mundo?
- [Mike] Very heavy on pastry, but there's lots of pastry.
It's really nice. It's buttery.
- It's very crisp.
- The lattice looks posh. It's nice.
- I find identifying alcohols within food really hard.
- They're nice.
- Oh!
It's like a cookie.
- Oh, it's like a-
Yeah, but is it like a Graham cracker base,
cheesecake base?
- It is really zingy.
It's so citrus-y at the back of your mouth.
I really like it. It's not a mince pie.
- Oh, we're going as far to say it's not a mince pie.
- I think people would say that's not mince pie
by like the fact that it's not a mince pie.
Do you know what I mean?
- Yeah. I think there's ginger in it.
- Valid.
Try C!
- That is like a strawberry raspberry mince pie.
You know how the trifle spread was quite artificially sweet?
I'm getting similar vibes.
- I agree. It's sweet. Again, it's spiced.
They taste like a jam tart.
- A was Tesco finest spiced rum lattice mince pies.
So there's definitely kind of a trend of the last few years
while the likes of gin have had their day,
spiced rums are super popular.
So the whole kind of spiced rum mince pie and the lattice.
B, Heston's larger spiced mince pies with a lemon twist.
So it's got lemon curd in it
and it has got a spiced pastry base.
Although you were swinging sort of ginger,
ginger may well be present, but it's kind of a spiced base
with the mince meat and the lemon curd twist.
And C, our Sainsbury's Taste The Difference
berry and gin with clementine mince pies.
- Didn't get any gin.
- [Ben] A and C are both £2.00 a box,
although you get six of the lattice ones
and four of the crumble ones.
And the Heston Waitrose ones in the middle, £2.40.
But definitely only getting four.
- But they are large.
- [Ben] Do any of them get your stamp of approval?
It could also be a seal and or DIY.
- Final conclusion.
We think they all have a purpose to different people.
However, DIY.
- But would you pick up on any of these things?
Would you lattice it, would you crumble it,
would you add the lemon curd, would you spice the pastry?
Are you picking up on any of the inspiration
from these three in your own DIY versions?
- Yes, but I don't think you need to.
You can add twists because doing it yourself can be really,
really simple.
Buy pre-made shortcrust pastry,
buy a pre-made mincemeat filling,
put them together and bake them.
So to add a little bit of something into your crust
or into your mincemeat isn't too much of a big thing.
My Nan makes mince pies and jam tarts every single year.
And they will always be my favourite because they're made
with so much love and care
and I know where they've come from.
- I bet like putting up the Christmas decorations
or mulling the wine, the very process I think,
of making mince pies, means Christmas has arrived.
That's not said I don't occasionally buy a few as well.
And over to you guys, comment down below,
how do you celebrate Christmas?
Would any of those categories
inspire you to do something different this year?
- You know the really annoying thing
about him going to seven different supermarkets is
I'm going to have to go to seven different supermarkets
to pick up the products that I liked!
- I'm biassed and not sponsored by anyone.
We bought them all ourselves.
(all singing "Life" by Des'ree)