Strawberry jam

Maribel Strawberry Conserve 450g, 99p, lidl.co.uk
Immediately tastes of strawberries. Large pieces of fruit. A slightly perfumed flavour – I quite like that.
★★★★

Rosebud Preserves Strawberry Jam (Extra) 227g, £3.60, rosebudpreserves.co.uk
Good texture: firm enough to stay together but loose enough to spread easily. A deep rich flavour. A bit too much jamminess.
★★★

Bonnie’s Jams Strawberry Jam 248g, £8.95, harrods.com
Separated into fruit and syrup. Nice toffee-ish flavour. It’s got consistency issues, might be a bit of a disaster on bread.
★★★

Tesco Finest Strawberry Conserve 340g, £1.50, tesco.com
Almost more jelly than jam. Some pieces of fruit, but mostly quite smooth. A straightforward jam, not setting my world on fire.
★★

Crunchy peanut butter

Whole Earth Original Crunchy Peanut Butter 340g, £2.99, wholeearthfoods.com
Pleasing, not too firm or claggy. You can see the little pieces of skin. Properly seasoned with a strong peanutty flavour. The salt really helps to bring it out.
★★★★

Waitrose Duchy Organic Thick & Crunchy Peanut Butter 340g, £1.99, waitrose.com
Solid texture, pale colour. The nuts probably haven’t been roasted very deeply. Lots of crunchy bits.
★★★★

Koeze Peanut Butter 468g, £4.50, marksandspencer.com
Underseasoned. Almost has a slightly vegetal raw peanut flavour, not necessarily in a terrible way, just not what I like in a peanut butter. A bit bland.
★★★

Meridian Crunchy Peanut Butter 100% 280g, £1.99, meridianfoods.co.uk
Tastes like the kind sold in a health food co-op, hand ground by members of the commune. Really boring. I don’t like it.
★

Chocolate hazelnut spread

Venchi Hazelnut Chocolate Spread 320g, £11.50, selfridges.co.uk
It’s got some cocoa bitterness but is sweet enough that children would like it. The best chocolate flavour.
★★★

Choco Nussa Chocolate Hazelnut Spread 400g, £1.29, lidl.co.uk
Less of a professional texture which might suggest it doesn’t have as much vegetable oil? Lovely strong hazelnut flavour, it’s very very sweet though.
★★★

Tesco Finest Crunchy Hazelnut Choco Spread 200g, £1.29, tesco.com
A child-friendly chocolate spread. I really like the pieces of hazelnut. It’s the equivalent of those chocolate Christmas tree decorations. Too sweet.
★★

Ocado Hazelnut Chocolate Spread 400g, £1.49, ocado.com
The dullest. I feel like it has the most sugar, maybe because it has a slightly grainy texture. I’m struggling to find cocoa.
★

White sourdough

Waitrose 1 White Sourdough 400g, £2.49, waitrose.com
Half-hearted slashes. As much hole as it is crumb. Not overly tangy and the texture is a bit dry. It would probably make great toast.
★★★

Taste the Difference San Francisco Style Sourdough 400g, £1.50, sainsburys.co.uk
Misshapen, looks like one of those tear and share breads. Quite fluffy and tight for a sourdough. Very sour… a bit too tangy for me.
★★

Marks & Spencer Oak Smoked Sourdough 400g, £1.90, marksandspencer.com
A tale of two breads - a crunchy, maybe slightly overbaked outside and then a fluffy generic inside. Tastes like smoked ham… bizarre.
★

Asda Sourdough Batard 450g, £1, asda.com
One side has a great tan but the other is a bit flabby. I don’t get the point of sourdoughs that don’t taste sour.
★

Baguette

Marks & Spencer Baguette Rustique 315g, £1.50, marksandspencer.com
Looks good, well cooked, nice ear action going on, Instagrammable. Crunchy crust. Good chewiness but still soft and fluffy. I would buy this.
★★★★

Taste the Difference White Baguette 520g, £1, sainsburys.co.uk
A flatter shape. Tastes more like what I got in France. Slightly chewy, nice crust, good level of salt. Quite a decent loaf.
★★★

Asda Baker’s Selection White Baguette 400g, 75p, asda.com
Very soft and fluffy. It’s fine, but the bread itself isn’t chewy. A generic British baguette – not terrible, just pretty boring.
★★

Lidl Bakery French Baguette 445g, 49p, lidl.co.uk
It’s obviously not but it feels like one of those part-baked baguettes. Gummy and bland. The only baguette thing about this is the shape.
★

Seeded loaf

BEST BUY: Champion Multiseed Loaf 750g, £1.49, lidl.co.uk
Quite heavy - you could prop open a door with it. Generous amount of seeds. It’s got that sourness of rye, and a slightly buckwheaty flavour.
★★★★

Waitrose Six Seeded Brown Batch Bread 400g, £1.37, waitrose.com
It’s got a nice texture, maybe a bit bland. A good canvas for something else. It has seedy interest.
★★★

Taste the Difference Multiseeded Loaf 800g, £1.20, sainsburys.co.uk
Standard shape, useful for sandwiches. It has a permatan going on. A very dry chewy crust. A bit boring. I’d like a bit more salt.
★★

Tesco Whole Seed Loaf 800g, £1.20, tesco.com
It’s a bit burnt on the top and the seeds are quite bitter. Nice distribution of seeds. Doesn’t really taste of much, it’s a bit bland and squidgy.
★★