When it comes to summer food, a crisp and crunchy salad topped with lashings of salad cream is the way to go. Heinz Salad Cream is the brand most likely to be chosen, but it costs more than twice as much as many supermarket own brands.
In a bid to save money, a reporter picked up seven bottles of salad cream from Tesco, M&S, Aldi, Lidl, Sainsbury's, Asda, and Morrisons to compare price, flavour, and ingredients. The family helped taste them. Here are the findings.
Heinz Salad Cream
Heinz Salad Cream costs £2.50 for 425g from Morrisons, which works out to £5.88 per kilo. It contains 303 calories, 1.8g saturated fat, 17.2g sugars, and 1.5g salt per 100g. Ingredients include water, spirit vinegar, rapeseed oil (22%), sugar, mustard powder, modified cornflour, pasteurised egg yolks (3%), salt, and colour (riboflavin). This was zingy and packed with tangy flavour, with a creamy texture. It received 5 out of 5 stars.
Tesco Salad Cream
Tesco Salad Cream costs £1.70 for 450ml (£3.78 per kilo). It contains 216 calories, 1.5g saturated fat, 12.8g sugars, and 1.27g salt per 100g. The ingredients list is longer than Heinz, including water, rapeseed oil (14%), sugar, spirit vinegar, egg yolk, mustard, modified maize starch, salt, thickeners, acidity regulator, preservative, and colour (beta-carotene). This was smooth and creamy but darker in colour due to beta-carotene, and lacked flavour. It scored 3 out of 5 stars.
Morrisons Savers Salad Cream
Morrisons Savers Salad Cream costs 79p for 420g (£1.88 per kilo). It contains 184 calories, 1.4g saturated fat, 7.6g sugars, and 1.28g salt per 100g. Ingredients include water, spirit vinegar, rapeseed oil, sugar, mustard flour, pasteurised egg yolk powder, stabilisers, modified maize starch, salt, flavourings, preservative, antioxidant, and colour (riboflavin). This was one of the cheapest but bland and dull, tasting more like mayo than salad cream. It scored 2 out of 5 stars.
Sainsbury's Reduced Fat Salad Cream
Sainsbury's Reduced Fat Salad Cream costs £1.60 for 420g (£3.81 per kilo). Per 100g, it contains 144 calories, 0.7g saturated fat, 9g sugars, and 1.26g salt. Ingredients: water, sugar, spirit vinegar, rapeseed oil (8%), modified maize starch, mustard flour, pasteurised egg yolk (1.5%), salt, stabilisers, preservative, and colour (riboflavin). This was sharp, tangy, and creamy despite being low fat. It scored 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Lidl Salad Cream (Batts)
Lidl Salad Cream costs 99p for 510g (£1.94 per kilo). Per 100g, it contains 299 calories, 1.9g saturated fat, 13.1g sugars, and 1.31g salt. Ingredients are similar to Heinz: water, spirit vinegar, rapeseed oil (22%), sugar, Dijon mustard, modified maize starch, salted egg yolk (3%), salt, and colour (riboflavin). This had an incredibly strong, peppery flavour due to Dijon mustard, making salads and sandwiches taste expensive. It was different from Heinz but equally liked, scoring a full 5 out of 5 stars.
Aldi Salad Cream
Aldi Salad Cream costs 75p for 520g (£1.44 per kilo), the cheapest. Per 100g, it contains 280 calories, 1.5g saturated fat, 17g sugars, and 1.22g salt. Ingredients: water, rapeseed oil (22%), sugar, spirit vinegar, pasteurised egg yolk (3%), modified maize starch, salt, mustard seeds, thickeners, caramelised sugar syrup, spices, and colour (riboflavins). The bottle and cream look like Heinz, but the flavour is much sweeter due to caramelised sugar syrup, with 17g sugar per 100g. It was pleasant but didn't taste like salad cream, scoring 4 out of 5 stars.
M&S Salad Cream
M&S Salad Cream costs £1.70 for 440g in store or £1.90 from Ocado (£4.32 per kilo). Ingredients: water, rapeseed oil, sugar, vinegar, cornflour, pasteurised egg yolk (4.5%), salt, dried mustard, preservative, and turmeric. Per 100g: 329 calories, 2.3g saturated fat, 13.8g sugars, and 1.41g salt. This was very pale, like bright white mayonnaise, creamy but lacking flavour. It scored 3 out of 5 stars.
Asda Salad Cream
Asda Salad Cream costs 85p for 420g (£2.02 per kilo). Per 100g: 16 calories, 0g saturated fat, 1.1g sugars, and 0.14g salt. Ingredients: water, sugar, spirit vinegar, rapeseed oil, modified maize starch, mustard powder, salt, pasteurised egg yolk, preservative, acidity regulator, stabiliser, and colour (riboflavin). This was not creamy or zingy, more like mayo, and was the least favourite, scoring 2 out of 5 stars.
Overall Verdict
There is something totally distinctive about Heinz Salad Cream that none of the other supermarkets can replicate exactly. However, Lidl's Batts Salad Cream was liked just as much because of its peppery flavour, and at 99p for 510g compared to £2.50 for 425g for Heinz, it saves £1.50 per bottle. This is the one to buy going forward.
