As the Easter Bunny prepares to hop its way into Makhanda, the question remained “who makes the best Easter Egg?”. Grocott’s Mail endeavoured to find out, and so a group of Easter Egg aficionados was gathered to taste all of the available marshmallow eggs in the area, including Beacon, Cadbury, Eggs Galore (Checker’s brand), Pick n Pay, Spar, and even Woolworth’s.
While price played no factor in the outcome of the taste test, after looking at the range of price options from different retailers it was discovered that the cheapest egg was Spar’s brand, while Cadbury snuck ahead of Woolworth’s for most expensive egg. The order of cost per egg (from cheapest to most expensive) is: Spar (average of R1,25 per egg), Beacon (average of R1,31 per egg), Pick n Pay (average of R1,44 per egg), Eggs Galore (average of R1,67 per egg), Woolworth’s (average of R2,29 per egg) and Cadbury (average of R2,33 per egg).
After carefully tasting each egg, scoring them individually, it was found that the overall best marshmallow egg was… Eggs Galore!! It scored the highest from the judges, but you can see for yourselves exactly what the Grocott’s Mail judges had to say about the eggs.
Stephen Kisbey-Green
Going into the taste test, I had a firm belief that Woolwoth’s eggs would be superior, however my childhood favourites had always been Beacon. I found that both of those eggs were lacking in different aspects of taste and texture, with Beacon failing to provide anything other than pure sweetness, and Woolworths’ great marshmallow not being able to excuse the terrible chocolate. It was the surprising dark horse, Checkers’ Eggs Galore that won me over, with their balanced texture, taste and appearance overall. The marshmallow is light, fluffy, flavourful and has the look of a true egg, while the chocolate was sweet, but not overly sugary, had a nice hazelnut undertone, and held together perfectly with a crispness that the rest seemed to lack.
Paddy Donnelly
A food tasting to pick a winner sounds a good idea – if you like the food in question. This was a personal challenge as I loath super sweet confectionary that pretends to be chocolate. We tried six brands and I could not find a clear winner. They were all tooth-shatteringly sweet and squishy and lacked any defining flavour. The Pick n Pay was my top choice as it was the least sweet and the ‘chocolate’ had a reasonably thick layer for a bit of a crunch. You get what you pay for – cheap chocolate with a spongy, marshmallow goo. The Woolworths one was the most disappointing.
Donnay Oosthuizen
When the idea of the Easter Egg tasting came up, I admit I wasn’t convinced because I had the preconception that all eggs tasted the same, however I was proven wrong. All six eggs that we tried, all tasted different. There was one that tasted like floral soap, another one, I can’t even describe because it was not good at all and then there were ones that just tasted of nothing and dissolved away, as well as one that tasted really artificial and oily. The one that really tickled my fancy was Fluffy’s from Cadbury which really surprised me, because usually you associate Cadbury with chocolate only, not marshmallow. The reason I found it so delectable is the fact the marshmallow just melted in my mouth, it was soft and light, the chocolate was the perfect balance; it also didn’t fall to pieces in the packet, it was just the perfect bite.
Anet Peter
Out of all six that I tasted, I will definitely say that the Eggs Galore one from Checkers was my favourite. I just liked everything about it from the look of it, to the taste.
Kathryn Cleary
I’ll admit, I went into this assuming Cadbury was going to come out the winner but in all honesty they weren’t all they were cracked up to be. A purple marshmallow had my brain in a scramble, “how about Eggs Galore?”, I thought. Well, we sure took a gamble. With a perfectly scrumptious, thick chocolate shell, and a mallow resembling the perfect poach, I would have eaten the whole box! But..I didn’t want to encroach. Eggs Galore was the winner, a perfect sunny-side-two-thumbs up. Beautiful deliciousness and deserving of a toast, the perfect chocolate egg, much better than the most.
Steven Lang
Overall I think the six different marshmallow eggs tasted quite similar – but there were small, significant differences. The colour of the marshmallow made a difference to me – I really liked it if the manufacturer made an effort to simulate an egg. In other words, I liked a bright yellow yolk with a distinct white, sensual surround. The texture of the marshmallow varied a lot from thick and squishy to light and fluffy. I liked the texture of the Woolworth’s marshmallow the most – it had a welcoming sumptuous feel about it. I liked chocolate that was not too sweet and not too thin – it has to taste like chocolate. Some of the brands tasted like they had been in storage for quite a while.
Velile Vacu
I loved the Pick n Pay one the best because for me it was the freshest and the softest one out of the six.
Sue Maclennan
A filled Easter egg isn’t something I’d choose because – quite frankly – let’s just get straight to the chocolate. Plus a marshmallow seems like something you should sit on rather than put in your mouth. Despite being overwhelmingly sweet on the nose, Spars chocolate lingers on the palate with pleasant woody, slightly spicy notes. So this is my choice.
Azlan Makalima
I loved the Cadbury Fluffie Easter eggs, as I first felt it on my hands. It was love at first touch, and luckily mine didn’t have any cracks, I believe it was perfectly packed. My sweet tooth felt joy from the first bite, as the chocolate and the marshmallow didn’t stick on my teeth. There was a balance between the chocolate and the marshmallow, as I could feel them both. There isn’t too much chocolate, it is perfectly lined and covered the marshmallow. For me it takes all the points, 5/5.
