Ask the average Brit what summer food means to them and you’ll get a very mixed response. Optimists will probably talk about enjoying a Burger with a drink on a sun-baked lawn, or savouring a Magnum on the beach before it melts. Others reminisce of huddling around steaming Fish and Chips whilst sheltering from a bracing sea breeze, or sharing a sausage roll and wasp-dodging in the park.
Like in most seasons, summer food plays an integral part of the pleasures and memories of life. To rise to the moment retailers and suppliers have been introducing a more innovative range of salads, BBQ meats, dips, snacks, table sauces and tempting summer desserts. Not that they have been neglecting upcoming trends, but have instead been focussing their attention on the more accessible new food and drink products that have been trending on social media. Products aimed at the growing meat-free and Vegan market and other popular innovations including probiotic and gut friendly drinks, protein enriched snacks and ‘healthy’ desserts for a ‘feel good’ summer.
We have tested a range of summer foods this month, but the reaction has been mixed. In fact, just 29% met or beat their category average and the highest scorer by far was a simple frozen Jaffa Cake dessert from Tesco - a safe bet and excellent value for a family treat at £2.00. The most popular BBQ meat product was Lime & Coriander Chicken Breast Steaks (44/50) from Asda – the perfect ‘zingy’ flavour combination to tingle the taste-buds. But, it was Morrisons that provided some of the more innovative summer entries, with their premium Beef and Ale Burgers proving to be their most highly rated product (43/50). Top them off with a Heinz summery twist on their classic mayonnaise: Smokey Baconnaise - very creamy with just the right amount of smoky bacon aftertaste.
