Extra-virgin olive oil

Aldi Specially Selected Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
500ml, £2.99, aldi.co.uk
Nice – it smells like just-cut grass with herbs. A little oily in my mouth, but I’m also getting a kind of fruit.
★★★★

Lidl Italiamo Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
500ml, £2.79, lidl.co.uk
No aroma. It tastes a bit fatty. I wonder if this was a good oil at some point. Pepper and bitter almonds at the back.
★★★

Sainsbury’s Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
500ml, £2.90, sainsburys.co.uk
Kind of oily - not so pleasant. Some personality, a bit of bitterness. A promising smell of grass and artichoke, but the taste didn’t follow up.
★★

The Co-Operative Truly Irresistible Extra Virgin Italian Olive Oil
500ml, £3.19, co-operativefood.co.uk
At first it tastes like sunflower oil. Some nice peppery bitterness but no fruit, and my mouth feels like an oil slick.
★

Parmesan cheese

The Ham and Cheese Co 2-year-old Parmigiano Reggiano
250g, £8.75, thehamandcheeseco.com
Wonderful, flaky. Creamy, with a salty whiplash. The shape reminds you parmesan is chiseled rather than cut.
★★★★★

Waitrose Parmigiano Reggiano
200g, £5.75, waitrose.com
You can see it’s got a bit of a personality. Distinct. It’s got an edge - a gentle sharp saltiness and it’s lingering in my mouth.
★★★★

Morrisons Parmigiano Reggiano
1kg, £20.75, morrisons.com
That’s got quite a pleasing, smooth, slightly buttery taste… but then it’s just very ordinary. There is no real texture.
★★

Paxton & Whitfield Parmigiano Reggiano
250g, £8, paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk
Peculiar smell. Really bland. No salt granules. The texture is sort of sawdusty, like plywood or something.

★★

Buffalo mozzarella

Natoora Buffalo Mozzarella from Campania DOP
250g, £4.99, natoora.co.uk
A rather handsome chap. Ooooh… nice milkiness. It feels rich and fatty. I could definitely eat more of that!
★★★★★

Lidl Deluxe Buffalo Mozzarella
125g, £1.29, lidl.co.uk
I like the way the skin is coming away. Rather nice. There’s something a bit odd about the texture - it’s almost grainy which is surprising me.
★★★★

Ocado Casaro del Re Buffalo Mozzarella Ball
125g, £2.29, ocado.com
Interesting skin. Quite creamy, but it doesn’t have that lovely milkiness. It’s missing an important element…
★★★

Asda Coop La Bella Contadina Buffalo Mozzarella
125g, £1.50, asda.com
I don’t want to eat that at all! Flabby, rubbery - we should be throwing that not eating it.
★

Pesto

Tesco Finest Pesto with Fresh Basil
130g, £2.50, tesco.com
An almost promising smell. A little bit acidic. I’m getting a bit of basil in that actually. Maybe that’s OK – I’d eat it on some pasta.
★★★★

Asda Basil Pesto
130g, £1.45, asda.com
It has a slight herby, grassy smell… lots of cheese. I feel like it’s got proper, good quality ingredients in it. They’ve tried very hard.
★★★

Marks & Spencer Green Pesto
130g, £2, marksandspencer.com
I like that you can see all the components - it hasn’t all been obliterated. Doesn’t taste much like any of the ingredients, though.
★★

Sainsbury’s Fresh Green Pesto
150g, £2, sainsburys.co.uk
The darkest - it looks like spinach and smells like old grass. Ugh, that’s horrible. Forgotten grass with big chunks of cheese.
★

Prosciutto

Morrisons Parma Ham Slices
70g, £2.19, morrisons.com
Oooohhh, that’s got quite a good flavour - it’s meatier with a better and more decisive seasoning.
★★★★

Tesco Finest 14-Month Genuine Parma Ham
88g, £2.65, tesco.com
Beautifully thinly sliced. The fat is white, the meat a pleasing pinky colour. The taste is nice but nothing spectacular.
★★★

Ocado Exclusive Parma Ham
120g, £3.60, ocado.com
Leathery. I like the fat - it’s nice and white in colour. It smells like leather, but it’s not entirely unpleasant.
★★★

Waitrose Italian Prosciutto di Parma
90g, £4.99, waitrose.com
No fat to speak of - I’m a bit suspicious. It’s not bad, but there is something funny about the smell and the taste is a bit stale.
★★

Spinach and ricotta ravioli

Selfridges Sunflower Ravioli with Spinach and Ricotta
100g, £2, selfridges.com
I like the balance – the whole package is pleasing. The nutmeg maybe masks the inadequacy of the cheese…
★★★★

Waitrose Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli
250g, £2.19, waitrose.com
It doesn’t feel like there’s much ricotta in there. Lots of nutmeg which I quite like. The pasta is not bad actually.
★★★

Whole Foods Market The Fresh Pasta Company Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli
250g, £4, wholefoodsmarket.com
It feels like a slightly odd version of spinach and ricotta. Something rubbery about the pasta…
★★

Marks & Spencer Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli
250g, £3, marksandspencer.com
A slightly distressing inside: a white filling with tiny flecks of green... it tastes like gummy parmesan. It looks weird - like chicken skin.
★

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