Price: £3.00 for a box of 6 (25/09/2024)
This is Sainsbury’s top of the range mince pie offering for the 2024 festive season and the blurb on the box says “Our melt in the mouth all butter pastry mince pies are packed with a festive blend of luscious fruit, aromatic peel and warming spices, infused with a generous nip of brandy. Bakde to perfection at a family owned bakery with four generations of baking expertise”, which as apparently why you can ‘taste the difference’. Visually they look very almost identical to the Tesco Finest mince pies with an eerily similar snowflake pattern on top. They have also hit the shelves at the same price point as their competitors from Tesco, but how do they match up in the taste test?
I’m happy to report that the Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference mince pies are suitable for vegetarians. They are a decent size and are packed almost to the brim with filling, so there are no issues on the quantity front. Now, what about the quality?
Cold Taste Test
The first thing you notice when biting into them is the quality of the pastry, It’s one of the things that most commonly differentiates premium pies from the mid-range varieties. These pies have a nice thick and crumbly all butter pastry case that oozes class even without oven heating. The mincemeat is decent, although it’s not one of my favourites. I think it has diverged slightly too far from a traditional mincemeat taste, which after all, is what makes a mince pie a mince pie.
Hot Taste Test
A quick burst in the microwave does improve the mincemeat somewhat. It’s a very sweet blend of fruits – some would say too sweet – and the brandy is barely noticeable. I think they are too sweet to contemplate eating very many in one session, but one would make a nice dessert alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Verdict
There’s no doubt that they are decent mince pies but I don’t think they merit their elevated price tag. If you can pick them up when they’re on special offer then by all means go for it, but I won’t be coming back for any more if they remain at £3 a pop. Either way, I think I prefer the Tesco Finest equivalent this year, so I’ll probably be seeking them out if I’m in the market for more premium mince pies.
Nutrition
Typical values (per 100g):
- Energy: 397 kcal
- Fat: 13.8 g
- Saturates: 7.2 g
- Carbohydrate: 64.2 g
- Of which sugars: 34.4 g
- Fibre : 2.1 g
- Protein: 3.0 g
- Salt: 0.28 g