South Africa has one of the world’s most sustainable, ecofriendly wine growing regimes in the world.
In fact, winemakers from Australia and other wine producing countries come here to learn best practices in this area.
One of the leading producers in this area is, without a doubt, Avondale.
Their guiding ethos is “Soil is Life” – Terra Est [...]
El Burro was the venue.
Tequila tasting was the objective.
Our job was to taste our way through 8 tequilas and vote on the most preferred.
We had 4 white tequilas and 4 reposados to taste.
To explain; there are 5 kinds of tequilas.
Blanco, white or silver tequila, this is un-aged, and bottled after distillation.
Joven, or young, which is [...]
Posted in Taste Test 
Tags: anejo, batonage, bianca coleman, black delilah, blanco, extra anejo, foodandthefab, hennie coetzee, ishay govender, jose cuervo, jose cuervo especial, joven, maggie mostert, martin tucker, mrtuckbox, neil pendock, nic haarhoff, olmeca, olmeca supremo, olmeca tezon, reposado, reposado patron, reposados, silver patron, tequila 
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7 Vodkas, 7 Judges, and journalist Janine Stephen’s, who braved the Salt Vodka Bar in Bantry Bay to report on the results and goings on.
Blind tasting vodka is no task for the fainthearted.
You are tasting a liquid that is supposed to be clear, odourless and flavourless.
But vodkas do have a distinct nose and flavour.
A good vodka is [...]
My tasting notes are that this is a smooth, full bodied, peaty but not smokey whisky. There’s a slight sweetness, but it’s a well balanced whisky, without harshness or “grab the back of your throat” qualities.
It has just been launched and will retail for R200, which is a steal at that price. Only 8,000 bottles [...]
How on earth do you do a taste test on mineral water? Don’t they all taste the same? and are colourless and odourless?
Well that might be the view, but I was going to do one anyway, and I came up with a few surprises along the way.
The top three surprises I came across were;
1. You might [...]
Food pairing with wine and beer is as accepted by consumers as something so natural that there’s no need to even think twice about it. But with brandy? Who would have ever thought of that? Well actually, it’s a completely normal, if not a well known way to pair food.
It also allows you to experiment with [...]
Sandwiches, salads, chips, tuna mayonnaise, hamburgers. Our eating landscape would be a poorer place without Mayonnaise.
I taste tested 5 of the most popular brands with my Taste Buddies to discover which one gives you the best bang for your buck.
All these brands were tasted blind, meaning that our tasters had no idea if they were [...]
Our taste test this week is instant coffee. It represents the bulk of coffee consumed – we all don’t grind our own.
The word coffee comes from the Arabic word Quawa (meaning wine of the bean). This became Kahve in Turkish, and the Dutch transported it to Europe as Koffie.
Our Taste Buddies assembled and sniffed and [...]
If we didn’t have it we’d have to invent it.
Ketchup has been around for over 200 years. Made from tomatoes, vinegar, corn syrup, salt, sugar and spices it is as indispensable to a modern kitchen as butter or milk.
We tried all the big brands that are widely available in South African supermarkets.
I am listing them [...]
I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve tasted enough chocolate today to last a lifetime. What’s worse is that our Taste Buddies numbered a few kids in the room, and there were lots of disagreements over what constituted good chocolate.
Eggs and bunnies were tasted, and every product was made from milk chocolate.
The eggs and chocolates we tasted [...]
All oils don’t taste the same you know. Some have more of a pepper note, others are more vegetal. Every harvest produces a different flavour – it’s just like a grape harvest. What you like all depends on your personal taste and preferences. Some are ok to make a salad dressing from and some are, quite frankly, too [...]
This week, our Taste Test panel of Taste Buddies sampled strawberry jam, one of the most popular jam flavours in South Africa.
Tasting loads of sugary jams was hard work, but the results were surprising and worth the effort.
To summarise, all jams are very sweet due to the high sugar content, and what distinguishes a good jam [...]
Our panel of Taste Buddies is comprised of a kitchen full of housewives and professional women who have kids of varying ages.
We taste blind, meaning we have no idea who the producer of a particular product is.
Here is a summary of the results based on average rankings, price and our Taste Buddy comments on each product.
Woolworths, R6.95, “So [...]
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