NB @phb is not a Choice staff member but is a non-staff forum moderator as well as a recognised discussion leader.
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It is not difficult to understand; there is no accounting for taste. What you think is the best is not necessarily what others think. What I judge is good may not be what you or the judges think is good.
This is a problem with any kind of taste test.
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Taste is a personal preference. Experienced tasters are likely to look at the balance of colour, flavours, seasoning and texture. They also blind test to remove any brand recognition…which often can exist and bias the average consumer.
Tasting food is like wine or movies. Experts can rate a wine/movie highly, but when one enjoys the same, it may not hit highly with their own personal rating.
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Indeed as my Father in Law stated, what makes a good wine…the one you like.
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With all due respect, apologising for Choice’s poor performance here is not helpful. I love many things Choice do, which is why I subscribe. But your belief in a poor test that does not meet it’s own stated purpose or any reasonable assumption of the purpose of a Choice test is not justified.
On what basis can we say that this test’s failings should be overlooked because hummus is an “occasional food”? On what basis can we say that “which one you should be serving up on your nibbles platter” should be determined by the completely subjective matter of taste? Other comments here show clearly that taste is in the mouth of the beholder. If I am trying to determine “which one you should be serving up” I definitely want to know about gratuitous added, probably-not-good-for-you, ingredients. And ratings should reflect that.
No-one is saying Choice should review only on the basis of sodium content, but such factors should have at LEAST as much consideration as subjective taste.
The composition of the rating system is also a matter of judgement which is subjective to some degree. Choice used 70% taste and 30% nutrition. You may want to have something else but what about everybody else? How does Choice determine the balance that suits most people? One thing that is without doubt, whatever ratio they use somebody will be unhappy.
We can also note that the composition of the nutrition rating suffers the same kind of problem. Salt content is more important to some readers and energy value to others, while some don’t care it only needs to be yummy.
If you really want to rate them the way you see it the raw data on ingredients and taste ratings is there so you could make up your own scale.
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Choice is clear in its taste test…
What makes a good (or bad) hummus?
According to our expert judges, a good hummus has a number of key characteristics. It should have:
- a smooth, creamy, velvety texture, with no lumps
- an excellent balance between the ingredients, particularly between the chickpeas and tahini
- a nutty profile with citrus highlights.
The principle pupose was tasting supermarket ready hummus to determine what tastes best using agreed criteria, by Choice expert taste testers…not which supermarket bought products is closest to a traditional recipe (note: there is possibly not really a traditional recipe as with many cultural foods, the recipes change between families and regions, based on their own personal tastes), which products are free of non-traditional ingredients or don’t have elevated salt, oil/fat, preservatives etc.
As outlined above, taste is a personal preference and ours happens to be also to have good garlic undertone…something not fitting within the Choice criteria. Because the store bought products possibly aren’t garlicky to our liking, it doesn’t mean the Choice test is poor.
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That’s one opinion on the principle purpose, the only evidence as to it’s purpose is the stated one - to evaluate “which one you should be serving up on your nibbles platter”. Which for this consumer includes more than taste.
My original point is that a review that says “these are the best brands of hummus” based only on a subjective taste test is unfair to manufacturers and doesn’t meet the needs of some consumers. If it was labelled “Hummus taste test” then I’d have no argument. Even then I believe that such a review should discuss the fact that some dips might taste better because they have significant added sugar, salt, fat, or thickeners. It’s what Choice is famous for, helping consumers make informed choices.
Out.
No quite, it is 70% based on a subjective taste test that is not free-form but has guidelines.
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Thankfully you have the option to leave feedback here (which you have done and Thank you for doing so) and on the actual review you can also write your feedback of why you think any product does or doesn’t suit you and your criteria.
On the review of products I have only been able to see a few member reviews and they seem to pick ones that didn’t reach recommended status. Yet some others here agree with the expert panel reviewers.
This just goes to show there are many varied opinions out there, so how do CHOICE taste test to satisfy everyone, they use blind taste tests and employ what many would consider eminent experts in taste and prep, to provide a ranking. Testers didn’t rank product because they simply disagreed with you on taste as you made a statement about ie “Yumis which scores poorly in your overall scores simply because your testers happened not to agree with my taste”, they ranked based on criteria they had to test against, which seems to me to a valid way to test a product though the outcomes will not always be what all others agree with.
So I recommend that you post your praise or dislike of the various products there as well indicating why you favour one over another. CHOICE appreciates Member feedback to improve outcomes but remember many may not agree with your selections as well. In fact currently 100% more member reviews posted on the reviews find the SSS product is better than Yumi’s (4 to 2).
Black Swan has lemon juice added and this will be partly why the sugar level is higher than other brands, it may have been added to improve acidity and flavour rather than using other acids and flavours/spices used in others.
Yumi’s may taste better to some due to a higher salt content and added oil, it’s higher in fact in Sodium than Black Swan. It also contains Canola Oil (which is second in the list of ingredients) which even beats the tahini paste in the product (third highest ingredient).
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The heading from the Hummus review website:
What’s the best hummus?
We taste test 27 dips from Aldi, Black Swan, Obela, Yalla and more.
Quite clear the purpose of the review. If you disagree with the processes that Choice used to taste test the supermarket bought Hummus, as @grahroll, indicated, you can provide feedback by various means (which you have done by placing comments in this thread).
You have also indicated that your favourite is Yumi, which shows that one can have a difference of opinion to Choice’s expert tasting panel…as indicated a number of times above, taste is a personal choice and my own preferences often differ to experts who provide reviews for wines, restaurants, movies, accommodation/tourist attractions, airlines etc. It is good that one has a different taste and preferences and able to let others know.
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At 47% Chick Peas the Aldi product is most likely bulked up with thickeners or vegetable oil - and these tend to have a good mouth feel. Given the high calorie count and low price point, I’d imagine the Aldi product has a high oil content, and it’s most likely Canola oil.
Taste is said to be a subjective thing, but in reality food technologists know what works in terms of mouth feel and shelf life vs cost and I’ve no doubt the Aldi product is a sophisticated one in those respects.
But I’d expect Choice’s assessment to be a bit more sophisticated…
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Welcome to the forum David
What would Choice need to do to be more sophisticated? What would be gained?
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Hi @DavidE, welcome to the community and raising an interesting point.
It is interesting that the product only contains 47% chickpeas. The amount of chickpeas in hummus isn’t mandated meaning as long as it looks and tastes like hummus, it can be called hummus. This potentially allows manufacturers to bulk up their hummus with cheap ingredients, while still using the hummus name.
Looking at a number of homemade/traditional recipes online, the hummus content for these recipes is about double that of the Aldi product. You may be correct in your views of what makes up the remainder of the ingredients.
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Good question, as many rightly say this is a “Taste” test but if I’m right then the Aldi product is a pretty carefully engineered product that achieves a good taste outcome and price point through the use of ingredients that many increasingly baulk at - and it’s clearly less “natural” if one takes the point of view that traditional ingredients are what’s important.
In this case perhaps a “sophisticated” Choice would note the low Chick Pea percentage in the Aldi product and the limited ingredient disclosure, and comment on this so consumers are alerted to the relatively industrial nature of the product - that will matter to some, less so to others.
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I can’t see how you conclude Aldi is more industrial than others. All the makers made a choice in the balance of ingredients which has to serve the goals of flavour, nutrition, price and stability. Some chose more chickpea others more oil, other choices are not so easy to see. All these are industrial products, none are made by teams of nanas hand grinding the ingredients. I don’t see that the proportion of chickpeas is any measure of how industrial the product is.
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It’s not about the proportion of Chickpeas. My reference to “Industrial” isn’t pejorative. It refers to a sophisticated, engineered product design and the use of ingredients that mightn’t typically be found in a “Traditional” Hommous - such as thickeners (often synthetic) or Canola oil which is, of course, a natural product at one level but not one that would normally be found in Hommous, which as a Mediterranean product would historically rely on some version of Olive Oil.
Aldi’s product is clearly innovative - it achieves a good taste outcome with far less traditional (and expensive) ingredients than the others in the sample at a super low price point. It’s potentially a game-changer in that respect, but this is not atypical of Aldi. That’s their X factor and their strategy is very, very sophisticated and industrial in nature. I’m not criticising Aldi at all, I admire their approach, but it is important that consumers understand what they are buying and I believe Choice should have been more sophisticated in their analysis in this case.
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What is it that consumers need to understand that they have not been told? What would Choice do to provide that understanding?
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Just the facts, and perhaps some non-idealogical interpretation and analysis.
The test opens with “We blind taste test and compare 27 supermarket and grocery chain hummus products from brands including Aldi, Copperpot and Obela, to find out which one you should be serving up on your nibbles platter.”
So that implies a recommendation.
And in the summary of the Aldi Product:
“Need to know: This product received the highest taste score of all the products in the test – and is also the cheapest”
However, I would argue that, for example, the facts that the Aldi product (and Black Swan too for what it’s worth) has a high saturated fat content, a high energy value per serve and a low proportion of Chick Peas compared to the field are also “Need to knows” and should be mentioned in the product review - especially as the review overall positions Hommous as a healthy product. Certainly the products can be compared on energy and Fat content in the review, and that’s a good thing but these criteria might be very relevant to a consumer’s decision to serve that particular product to guests and hence should be mentioned. Other consumers may be averse to Canola oil on ideological grounds so it might also be appropriate to note that this product most probably has a high oil content given its relatively low proportion of Chick Peas.
I’ve said as much as I can on this point.
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The Buying Guide is headed “What’s the best hummus?”, not “What’s the best-tasting hummus”.
Below it says “we considered the nutrition and taste of 27 hummus products to find the best.” (My emphasis.)
DavidE makes essentially the same point as my original comment i.e.:
- nutrition was inadequately and inaccurately addressed, and
- thus the recommendation is unfair to manufacturers and not so useful for consumers.
