It’s a tough gig, but someone has to do it – we report on the taste test team that assembles in July to rate the produce vying for a place on your plates When does Christmas kick-in for you?

First week of December, maybe, or are you super-organised, with everything in place by the middle of November?

Some people need to get into the festive spirit well ahead of then, so that products and services can be in place ready for the promotional push to secure maximum sales.

So it is that while the rest of the country is enjoying the summer sunshine in July and August, the Good Housekeeping Institute experts assemble indoors for a taste test session, the results of which will not be known until the days start to shorten and the nights draw in.

The team will be taste testing everything from Christmas cake and mulled wine to brandy butter. It’s a strange world, and eating Christmas pud on the hottest day of the year is definitely not for the fainthearted!

Hundreds of Christmas foods are called in to be put through the institute’s annual ‘blind’ taste tests. The team scours the country to cover all the supermarkets, specialists and online retailers, with everything from their cheapest item to their luxury brands.

As well as the taste, the visual appeal of each item is assessed, plus the smell and the texture of each product.

The quest is to find the besttasting in each category, regardless of the price or brand. Most items on the Christmas dinner shopping list are those that we only buy once a year, so knowing what to choose from the vast range can be a little hit and miss.

That’s where the Good Housekeeping Institute team comes in.

You might think the posh, expensive items would do best, but it’s impossible to second guess the results.

The full results are available in the December edition of the magazine. Meanwhile the team have left Christmas way behind and are bracing themselves for an influx of hundreds of Easter eggs!


Top picks for festive food...

Top tips this Christmas, according to the Good Housekeeping Institute, which tasted 165 festive foods across 12 categories:

Turkey 
Morrisons free-range turkey (3.2- 4.5kg) £18

Christmas Pudding
Aldi Connoisseur Christmas pudding (907g) £3.89

Mince Pies
Heston from Waitrose spiced shortcrust mince pies (6) £3.50

Christmas cake
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference stag iced rich fruit cake (1kg) £16

Stilton
Morrisons Signature stilton (300g) £3 Champagne Louis Roederer Brut Premier NV £37-£42

Ham
Harrods orange and cranberry ham (2kg) £44.95

Stuffing
Morrisons fruit and cognac stuffing balls (12) £2.99

Smoked Salmon
Loch Fyne Bradan Orach traditional smoked salmon (200g) £7.49

Cranberry sauce
Co-op Truly Irresistible cranberry sauce (190g) £1.79

Brandy butter
Marks and Spencer brandy butter with Remy Martin (195ml) £1.99

Festive cake
Marks and Spencer salted caramel chocolate forest cake (1.5kg) £20