1 week Ago
The raspberry jams were numbered and tasted blind by the panel. Lisa Ruland/photo One year of anticipation, one Netflix show and a brand name change later, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex finally released her new line of As Ever provisions on April 2. It sold out in less than an hour.
Amid the selection of honey, edible flower “sprinkles,” herbal teas and crepe mixes, this writer managed to snag a jar of pricey raspberry fruit spread. The Montecito-chic packaging — mailed from a nondescript building in Cincinnati — is lovely, down to the gold-embossed “keepsake” box and label written in Meghan’s famously good calligraphy. The whole effect was as if Stonewall Kitchen decided to trade L.
L. Bean plaids and Maine rustication for toasting the California good life in an off-white raw silk sundress. But how does it taste? Raspberries can make excellent fruit preserves, with a deep reddish-pink hue and sweetness balanced by mild tartness.
Not all raspberry jam is created equal, however. “A good fruit preserve has a depth of flavor that showcases that particular fruit,” says Rochelle Cooper, pastry chef at the Duck & the Peach and La Collina in D.C.
“The texture should be gelled enough to have some body, but not so far that you can cut it or it holds its shape.” To see whether Meghan’s As Ever fruit spread is indeed the very (berry?) best, we set up a blind taste test with three of D.C.
’s top bakers and pastry chefs: Cooper; Tiffany MacIsaac, former Buttercream Bakeshop owner and James Beard semifinalist; and Jill Nguyen, the baker behind Capitol Hill microbakery and cake workshop Capitol Jill Baking. An assortment of store-bought raspberry jams were tested alongside the As Ever brand. Lisa Ruland/photo The blind taste test consisted of an eight-sample array of raspberry preserves on a plate, identified only by number.
The As Ever raspberry spread was served with seven other commonly available brands from stores including Giant, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. (We included both Trader Joe’s standard raspberry preserves and reduced-sugar spread to compare alongside the store brands and other popular options found at the supermarkets.) Each brand was judged on factors including color, texture, flavor and overall appeal.
Tasters scored each sample on a 1 to 10 scale, with a highest possible total score of 30. The judges sampled the raspberry preserves on warm milk bread and biscuits supplied by Nguyen. The brands tested all listed similar ingredients: raspberries, sweetener (usually sugar, but not always), an acid and pectin.
Pectin thickens the preserves, while acid, such as citric acid or lemon juice, balances the sweetness and reacts with the pectin. Lemon juice adds tartness, flavor and fragrance to a preserve; citric acid gives more of a one-note pucker. Toast and jam is one of our favorite things.
But which jam? Lisa Ruland/photo As Meghan points out in her show, “With Love, Meghan,” fruit spread, jam, jelly, compotes and preserves are technically different products, each subject to categorization based on factors such as ingredients and sugar to fruit ratio. For the purposes of this taste test, we’re using the terms interchangeably. The results held surprises.
One popular, upmarket French brand landed near the bottom, while the judges ranked two inexpensive store-label options among the best. And as for As Ever? We cover the spread below. 8.
Giant Raspberry Preserves Score: 8 This nearly solid, bloodred goo seemed to contain more seeds than jam and earned a collective thumbs down. “This looks like blood sausage,” Nguyen said, sampling a globule. “You can almost cut it,” Cooper said.
The texture was a universal turnoff, and the judges also disliked the overly sweet flavor. Ingredients: raspberries, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, citric acid, fruit pectin (Price: $3.99/12 ounces at Giant) 7.
Trader Joe’s Organic Reduced Sugar Raspberry Preserves Score: 9 Bland, meh and surprisingly “too sweet,” the judges said of this organic, reduced-sugar option. The ultra-thick jam “feels like a Jell-O shot,” one taster said. The group also disliked the lack of raspberry flavor, saying it tasted of “generic fruit.
” Ingredients: organic raspberries, organic sugar, water, pectin, citric acid ($4.49/15.2 ounces at Trader Joe’s) 6.
Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves Score: 13 “Mais non” was the consensus of the judges on this well-loved French brand. While Bonne Maman did have discernible raspberry flavor and good color, it was hard for the tasters to get past the overwhelming sweetness. “All sugar,” noted Cooper.
“This is sweeeeeet!” said Nguyen. Ingredients: raspberries, sugar, brown cane sugar, concentrated lemon juice, fruit pectin ($6.79/13 ounces at Whole Foods) 5.
Smucker’s Red Raspberry Preserves Score: 14 With a gelatinous texture and tons of seeds, this ubiquitous American brand landed in the lower-middle. MacIsaac correctly guessed the brand just by its appearance. “It looks like a Smucker’s or a less-expensive brand.
” “When corn syrup is listed twice, you know it’s no good,” Nguyen said after seeing the ingredient list post-taste test. Because of the thickness, Cooper suggested using it in thumbprint cookies. Ingredients: red raspberries, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, fruit pectin, citric acid ($5.
39/18 ounces at Giant) 4. St. Dalfour Red Raspberry Fruit Spread Score: 18.
1 St. Dalfour’s fruit spread was the jam equivalent of mid TV, an unmemorable snooze you’ll kind of enjoy in the moment but immediately forget once it’s done. This jam was not good, not bad, just fine.
“The color is a little dull,” Cooper said of this three-ingredient spread. The judges did like the softer texture and less aggressive seeds. Ingredients: red raspberries, fruit juice concentrates (grape and date), fruit pectin ($5.
79/10 ounces at Whole Foods) 3. Nature’s Promise Organic Red Raspberry Fruit Spread Score: 23 Nature’s Promise kept the promise of its label: “a great tasting product.” Though some of the taste testers deemed it thick and less punchy than others, this organic fruit spread scored well overall for its bright natural color and pure raspberry flavor.
The judges called the taste “clean,” and thought it would make a good choice as a cake filling or topping. Ingredients: organic raspberries, organic cane sugar, pectin solution (water, apple pectin), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), citric acid ($4.39/15.
5 ounces at Giant) 2. Trader Joe’s Fresh Raspberry Preserves Score: 27.5 Proving that Joe’s accomplishments extend beyond cult-status prepared foods and mini totes, this jar of jam was loved by all three judges.
Unlike TJ’s reduced-sugar version, it scored high across the board, with scores of 9, 9 and 9.5 out of 10. “I’m really loving this,” Cooper said.
Nguyen added, “This is so good.” In addition to having the “perfect thickness” and “most pleasing texture,” the judges liked its less-aggressive seeds and the versatility of this “fresh tasting” preserve, riffing on how well it would work in cookies, between cake layers and as a spread for bread or biscuits. Ingredients: raspberries, liquid sugar (sugar, water), sugar, lemon juice concentrate, fruit pectin ($4.
49/17.5 ounces at Trader Joe’s) As Ever Raspberry Spread, from the new product line of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Lisa Ruland/phoyo The winner: As Ever Raspberry Fruit Spread Score: 27.
7 As befitting royalty, Meghan’s fruit spread was crowned the winner of our blind tasting. But barely. The judges loved the balance of sweet and tart, and each detected fragrant floral notes in the raspberry flavor.
Two of the ingredients listed were organic, but not the raspberries or pectin. The testers noted the softer pink hue and loose texture, which tiptoes to the edge of watery without quite diving in. But the judges did not find the comparative thinness problematic.
“I was totally ready to hate on this,” MacIsaac said. “But I don’t. That’s a testament to how good it is.
” “This tastes like the freshest fruit option,” she said. “If someone told me they made it, I’d believe them.” As it stands, information about the actual cooks in the As Ever kitchen is as opaque as the dull-hued St.
Dalfour fruit spread. This spread’s victory may help justify the whopping $1.18 per ounce cost — before shipping, which cost an additional $7 for two jars of preserves, plus taxes.
Because the As Ever raspberry spread sans special packaging ($9 each) was sold out, my total cost for two $14, 7.6-ounce jars (in “keepsake” packaging), plus tax and shipping, came to $37.10 (Comparatively, second-place Trader Joe’s costs only 26 cents per ounce.
) Ingredients: raspberries, organic cane sugar, organic lemon juice concentrate, fruit pectin ($9/7.6 ounces, plus shipping, available online) Lisa Ruland is a Washington-based food writer and editor of the food and cooking website Unpeeled Journal. We believe it’s important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers.
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