‘Simple, well-crafted and excellent’: supermarket chutneys, tasted and rated | The food filter

Our resident taster dipped, spread and dolloped his way through 10 chutneys in time for Christmas, so you don’t get in a pickle choosing one for yourself

• The fair price for 14 everyday items, from cleaning spray to olive oil

Chutney is a heritage recipe that’s been largely unchanged for a century, and some of the best versions are the simplest and most traditional. That said, even when it’s made on an industrial scale, chutney usually features just fruit, sugar, vinegar and perhaps some pectin. Colourings and preservatives are unnecessary and, in most cases, left out, with sugar acting as the main preservative.

Unlike my recent English mustard tasting, it was pure joy trying these straight from the jar, and just about all today’s products scored highly. Even though some weren’t quite cooked through, it was genuinely difficult to pick a winner.