The Great Aussie Jam-OFF! Another review by Gayle Dean
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Jam… this iconic spread is the topping of simple culinary pleasures from jam drops to toast. Arguably, its most famous use is atop the humble scone with a decadent dollop of cream.
The scones made for this experiment lacked the height of a Country Women’s Association show-stopping scone largely due to the rarely used scone cutter (naturally, I found it in the junk drawer after the fact). This was remedied by the use of an oversized alternative cutter, a red wine glass. Come on, you've all done it!
Delicious! Image Credit: Gayle Dean
On to the jam! With such a variety of flavours to choose from the only fair way to decide which jam made the cut was to vote. My Dad, unimpressed with his single vote for fig jam, was outpolled with the remainder of the group in favour of raspberry jam.
A blind experiment was conducted and the criteria used to assess the jam products were appearance, aroma, texture and taste. The usual suspects (adult daughter and my Dad) plus a couple of eager neighbours joined the experiment when they heard ‘fresh out of the oven’ scones were on the agenda. Guessing they’ll be less enthusiastic when paper towels are reviewed!
The products reviewed were:
1. Barkers Raspberry Jam Cottee’s Raspberry Jam ($5.30 or $1.16 per 100 grams)
2. Cottee’s Raspberry Jam ($3.10 or $0.60 per 100 grams)
3. Beerenberg Australian Raspberry Jam ($5 or $1.33 per 100 grams)
4. Bonne Maman ($5.75 or $1.55 per 100 grams)
Appearance
All four samples were glossy in appearance however the winner, with a perfect score in this category, was the Bonne Maman.
Bonne Maman Jam. Image Credit: Gayle Dean
With its striking deep crimson colour, the French brand (grumble grumble) narrowly defeated Beerenberg (go Aussies!). With a respectable score, in third place was Cottee’s, and in last place was New Zealand’s Barkers (sorry to our southern neighbours) which had a slight brown tinge, a little like fig jam.
Aroma
Again the battle between the French and the Aussies was close in this category, however this time the Aussie Beerenberg was triumphant. With its unmistakable raspberry aroma, it pipped Bonne Maman by just two points.
The iconic Aussie Beerenberg jam. Image Credit: Gayle Dean
Barkers brand came in third place, and the nose that knows (adult daughter), detected the aroma of fig which was quite pleasant and perhaps would explain the slight brown colour. A check of the ingredient list failed to explain this phenomenon so perhaps it’s somehow related to the differences in the NZ terroir (well la dee dah)!
This French word encapsulates all the environmental conditions which influence a food’s composition. In the last position was Cottee’s, mainly due to its sugary sweet smell that lacked the signature raspberry aroma of… well… raspberry!
Texture
A somewhat divisive category amongst the group, the texture came down to personal preference. For those of you who are more partial to a smooth jelly-like substance, Cottee’s jam, with barely a raspberry seed in sight, came in third place just ahead of Barker’s which was a little runny and contained somewhat firmer seeds (terroir again perhaps?).
Cottee’s and Barker's. Are they up to par with the others? Image Credit: Gayle Dean
Fighting for the title again was Bonne Maman and Beerenberg with the Aussies just pipped (pun intended) at the post again by the French. All varieties contained 50 percent raspberries except for Cottee’s at 40 percent.
Taste
It’s hard to argue with perfection, and let’s face it the French rarely get it wrong when it comes to food. Despite barracking for our fine nation of brilliant producers, the French Bonne Maman took out the title in this category with its undeniably delicious rich raspberry flavour.
By no means disgraced, Beerenberg took out the silver with its distinctive almost earthy raspberry flavour. Barkers was fine, but again that fig flavour reared its head, which was lovely but the panel were searching for the pure raspberry taste.
I’m afraid Cottee’s came last again which was unfortunately so sweet (causing the salivary glands to go into overdrive) that it was difficult to determine if it was in fact raspberry jam.
The Winner
The final scores placed Bonne Maman on 152 points out of a possible 160, Beerenberg on 143, Barker’s polled 104 points and Cottee’s, like Bradman’s batting average, didn’t quite crack the tonne on 99 points.
The samples numbered. Image Credit: Gayle Dean
In this instance, there was a strong correlation between the cost and the quality of the product.
Note: Due to Covid supply issues unfortunately all home brand raspberry jam at Aldi, Coles and Woolworths were out of stock.
What do you think folks? Any other jam brands or flavours you’d like to throw into the ring? And let us know what you’d like us to review next!
The scones made for this experiment lacked the height of a Country Women’s Association show-stopping scone largely due to the rarely used scone cutter (naturally, I found it in the junk drawer after the fact). This was remedied by the use of an oversized alternative cutter, a red wine glass. Come on, you've all done it!
Delicious! Image Credit: Gayle Dean
On to the jam! With such a variety of flavours to choose from the only fair way to decide which jam made the cut was to vote. My Dad, unimpressed with his single vote for fig jam, was outpolled with the remainder of the group in favour of raspberry jam.
A blind experiment was conducted and the criteria used to assess the jam products were appearance, aroma, texture and taste. The usual suspects (adult daughter and my Dad) plus a couple of eager neighbours joined the experiment when they heard ‘fresh out of the oven’ scones were on the agenda. Guessing they’ll be less enthusiastic when paper towels are reviewed!
The products reviewed were:
1. Barkers Raspberry Jam Cottee’s Raspberry Jam ($5.30 or $1.16 per 100 grams)
2. Cottee’s Raspberry Jam ($3.10 or $0.60 per 100 grams)
3. Beerenberg Australian Raspberry Jam ($5 or $1.33 per 100 grams)
4. Bonne Maman ($5.75 or $1.55 per 100 grams)
Appearance
All four samples were glossy in appearance however the winner, with a perfect score in this category, was the Bonne Maman.
Bonne Maman Jam. Image Credit: Gayle Dean
With its striking deep crimson colour, the French brand (grumble grumble) narrowly defeated Beerenberg (go Aussies!). With a respectable score, in third place was Cottee’s, and in last place was New Zealand’s Barkers (sorry to our southern neighbours) which had a slight brown tinge, a little like fig jam.
Aroma
Again the battle between the French and the Aussies was close in this category, however this time the Aussie Beerenberg was triumphant. With its unmistakable raspberry aroma, it pipped Bonne Maman by just two points.
The iconic Aussie Beerenberg jam. Image Credit: Gayle Dean
Barkers brand came in third place, and the nose that knows (adult daughter), detected the aroma of fig which was quite pleasant and perhaps would explain the slight brown colour. A check of the ingredient list failed to explain this phenomenon so perhaps it’s somehow related to the differences in the NZ terroir (well la dee dah)!
This French word encapsulates all the environmental conditions which influence a food’s composition. In the last position was Cottee’s, mainly due to its sugary sweet smell that lacked the signature raspberry aroma of… well… raspberry!
Texture
A somewhat divisive category amongst the group, the texture came down to personal preference. For those of you who are more partial to a smooth jelly-like substance, Cottee’s jam, with barely a raspberry seed in sight, came in third place just ahead of Barker’s which was a little runny and contained somewhat firmer seeds (terroir again perhaps?).
Cottee’s and Barker's. Are they up to par with the others? Image Credit: Gayle Dean
Fighting for the title again was Bonne Maman and Beerenberg with the Aussies just pipped (pun intended) at the post again by the French. All varieties contained 50 percent raspberries except for Cottee’s at 40 percent.
Taste
It’s hard to argue with perfection, and let’s face it the French rarely get it wrong when it comes to food. Despite barracking for our fine nation of brilliant producers, the French Bonne Maman took out the title in this category with its undeniably delicious rich raspberry flavour.
By no means disgraced, Beerenberg took out the silver with its distinctive almost earthy raspberry flavour. Barkers was fine, but again that fig flavour reared its head, which was lovely but the panel were searching for the pure raspberry taste.
I’m afraid Cottee’s came last again which was unfortunately so sweet (causing the salivary glands to go into overdrive) that it was difficult to determine if it was in fact raspberry jam.
The Winner
The final scores placed Bonne Maman on 152 points out of a possible 160, Beerenberg on 143, Barker’s polled 104 points and Cottee’s, like Bradman’s batting average, didn’t quite crack the tonne on 99 points.
The samples numbered. Image Credit: Gayle Dean
In this instance, there was a strong correlation between the cost and the quality of the product.
Note: Due to Covid supply issues unfortunately all home brand raspberry jam at Aldi, Coles and Woolworths were out of stock.
What do you think folks? Any other jam brands or flavours you’d like to throw into the ring? And let us know what you’d like us to review next!
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