Chocolates
Waitrose No 1 luxury chocolate box
288g, £16, waitrose.com
Good sheen, tempered nicely. It looks classy. The dark chocolate stick is crisp, quite bitter, not too fatty. The shells are well made. A special occasion box, the sort you buy for Mum or your wife.
★★★★
BEST BUY:
Marks & Spencer magic & sparkle chocolates
345g, £20, ocado.com
Wow! Open it and the stars twinkle. The dark chocolate is bland, the caramelised white is better. For a sweet tooth but I’d buy it.
★★★★
Aldi Moser Roth Swiss classic assortment
182g, £3.99, aldi.co.uk
The chocolate looks very shiny. It’s a bit fatty. Really inoffensive, no one is going to hate them but you’re not going to think they are the best thing ever.
★★
Marks & Spencer ho-ho-homball
210g, £6, ocado.com
Not a great aftertaste. It’s aimed at the kids market. Looks good fun, tastes sweet, relatively rich and quite high in fat content.
★★★
Co-op Irresistible fairtrade salted caramel truffles
136g, £5, coop.co.uk
Rich, creamy, you wouldn’t overindulge: you could do two or three with a coffee. I like the way it looks, it feels very festive. Not bad that.
★★★★
Tesco Free From caramel flavour choc smash bauble
158g, £4, tesco.com
I’m quite impressed. I was expecting that to be horrible. The white chocolate buttons are very sweet. As a free-from thing, I think that’s pretty good.
★★★★
Waitrose Santa’s chocolate treat box
85g, £5.50, waitrose.com
A carrot that doesn’t taste of carrot or chocolate, it’s just sugar and cocoa butter. But if you were leaving it out for Santa, it’s good fun for the kids – I know my little man would love it.
★★★★
Cheese
TOP TASTE:
Tesco Finest brie de meaux
170g, £2.75, tesco.com
Amazing. Perfectly ripe. Punchy. People often think brie is quite mild but when it’s matured like this and it’s aged, it’s beautiful. Great for a family at Christmas.
★★★★★
Tesco Finest Swiss gruyere
195g, £3, tesco.com
Very nutty, quite rich. Texturally it’s great, you know that would melt lovely. That’s a good cheese. I would quite happily have it on a cheeseboard.
★★★★
Waitrose chocca mocha wensleydale
200g, £3, waitrose.com
You can taste the chocolate and coffee, which is a bit weird as it’s not sweet. Some daredevil lunatics will love it. For me, it doesn’t represent what cheese is about in any way.
★
Marks & Spencer truffle mature cheddar
300g, £5.50, marksandspencer.com
The truffle tastes a bit strange to me. Would I stick this on my cheeseboard? Probably not. If it was at someone’s house, yes.
★★★
Waitrose No 1 saint marcellin
80g, £3, waitrose.com
Cor, that tastes like a farmyard! If you walk around a petting zoo, that’s what it tastes like. Your kids will hate it.
★★★★★
Waitrose cropwell bishop blue stilton
300g, £4.95, waitrose.com
That’s a good all-rounder blue cheese, for people who are never really quite sure about blue cheese. Quite inoffensive, stilton for beginners, rich and creamy.
★★★★
Jam and chutney
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference cranberry chilli jam
220g, £1.50, sainsburys.co.uk
You wouldn’t eat this with cheese at all. No... but you would have that with butter on your toast for breakfast on Boxing Day morning.
★★★
Daylesford Organic plum and port chutney
220g, £6.99, daylesford.com
For Christmas only. It’s got too much cinnamony, gingery spice mix. Is it the perfect accompaniment for cheese? Probably not but you’d eat it at Christmas and enjoy it.
★★★
Tom Kerridge is chef-owner of the two-Michelin-starred Hand & Flowers, Marlow
