Before this taste test, it had probably been 20 years since I last ate a canned peach. But unlike most things that happened 20 years ago, I have a strong memory of the experience. Canned, tinned or any packaged peaches weren’t a staple of my childhood (neither were fresh peaches – I was too fussy to like much except plain carbs, sausages, apples and ice-cream). But somehow I remember not only eating tinned peaches but loving them, soft like panna cotta and as syrupy as a gulab jamun. Not quite the same as a fresh peach but delicious in a different way.
Five friends and I blind tasted 14 supermarket products: canned, in plastic jars, in syrup and fruit juice. We scored them based on aroma, texture and taste. As some brands sell the same products in plastic containers and tins, I also did a test to see if the reviewers could tell the difference. Plastic jarred peaches marginally but consistently scored better in all categories, and had brighter, orange colours.
