It’s difficult to avoid chocolate Easter eggs at this time of year, but we wanted to taste test something a little different. Something that’s available all year round.
We’ve done a snapshot taste test pitting branded KitKat, Penguin and Twix bars against similar, easy-to-find supermarket chocolate which bear more than a subtle resemblance to the real deal.
Our chocoholics blind-tasted seven different Kitkat-style bars, five Twix-style bars and five Penguin-style bars. Would they be able to taste the difference?
Crunching the numbers
When it comes to KitKats, the nation’s favourite break-time snack, the branded bar came out on top. Three quarters of our tasters immediately identified the correct branded bar, complimenting its rich chocolate taste and delicious wafer. We did find, however, that Tesco’s Snappy Milk Chocolate Finger Biscuits were almost as tasty, receiving only a fractionally lower score.
Turning our attention to Twix, we can reveal that branded is most definitely best. None of the Twix-equivalent bars came anywhere close. Although you could pocket a hefty saving by switching to a much cheaper supermarket own-brand version (just avoid Aldi’s equivalent, described by one taste tester as tasting like cardboard).
If you enjoy picking up a Penguin, the branded bar received quite a cold reception. Our chocoholics described the chocolate bar as having a banana or even citrus taste (not what you want when it comes to chocolate). Not a single taster recognised the branded chocolate.
Could Aldi’s Seal bars get the seal of approval from our tasters (see what they did there?)? Not quite – both Aldi and Morrison’s own-brand Penguin equivalents were described as too sweet, scoring 5.1 and 4.9 out of 10 respectively.
Sainsbury’s Polar bars (noticing a pattern emerging here!) were the unanimous favourite, with their great biscuity and chocolatey taste, and costing 28p less per 100g than branded Penguin bars (that’s a 42p saving on an average multipack of eight bars).
Featured Comment
Is this enough to convince you to switch?
So those are the results of our snapshot taste test, and it’s convinced me to look at the supermarket own-brand alternatives. We want to know – would you stray into the world of brand-equivalent chocolate bars? Or do you ignore the price and choose branded every time?
And do you think your discerning taste buds would be able to tell the difference between a branded chocolate bar and a supermarket own-brand equivalent?
Would you buy supermarket own-brand chocolate bars over the branded bars?
Yes - I already do (54%, 589 Votes)
Yes - I might consider it after this taste test (31%, 338 Votes)
No - branded chocolate is always best (14%, 154 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,081
