Lifestyle

Taste test: kimchi, kefir and kombucha – the best fermented foods


Kimchi

Cultured Collective classic kimchi, 250g, £5.50, ocado.com

It’s got the shrimpy-vibe going – in a good way. The spice is lovely, the texture is nice and crunchy. I’d happily eat a big bowl of that. In fact, I’ve finished it all.
★★★★★

Eaten Alive classic spicy kimchi, 375g, £6, eatenalive.co.uk

This is lovely. Big, crunchy chunks. Loads of different veg in it. Really multilayered flavour. Also a good level of spice that doesn’t blow your head off.
★★★★★

Tickles’ Pickles fresh kimchi, 200g, £4.30, ocado.com

Oooh! This has nice texture and chunks – it’s not too spindly. There’s a spiky chilli in it. All-round good kimchi.
★★★★

Korean kimchi, 369g, £3.50, souschef.com

It’s too soft, too sweet, not spicy enough. Just tastes weird. Almost tastes like a jarred tomato sauce … Tastes canned? Not great.
0 stars

Sourdough

sourdough


Gradz yeast-free white sourdough bread, 500g, £4.53, ocado.com

There’s a bit of sourness, but I think the texture is like cardboard. Might be a bit more tolerable when toasted?

Co-op Irresistible seeded white sourdough bread, 400g, £1.90, coop.co.uk

It looks like there has been some fermentation. The texture is horrible. I’m not detecting much sourness.

Tesco Finest white sliced sourdough, 400g, £1.50, tesco.com

Looks grey … I can see what looks like bits of undissolved flour in the crumb. Really flaccid crust. The flavour is nonexistent, I can’t taste any sourness.
0 stars

Waitrose No 1 white sourdough bread, 500g, £2, waitrose.com

The texture is closed, it seems like no fermentation has taken place. The crust is strange – grey-like and tough. The flavour is horrendous.
0 stars

Sauerkraut

sauerkraut


Hengstenberg Bavarian-style sauerkraut chucrut, 680g, £1.68, ocado.com

I really like the flavour, it’s sweeter. I would cook with it, with mushrooms and chestnuts in a dumpling filling but I could also just eat it. It’s too thinly cut – but I keep eating it.
★★★★

Daylesford market garden sauerkraut, 650g, £6.99, daylesford.com

I like that it’s really chunky and crunchy. There’s just a tiny bit too much salt. But I would serve it with some apples or a kraut slaw.
★★★★

Laurie’s raw and organic original sauerkraut, 410g, £5.49, ocado.com

This one has a good crispy texture, but again it’s just a little too salty. It’s finely cut, but there’s a weird flavour in it, I can’t figure it out what it is.
★★★

Hurly Burly original organic raw sauerkraut, 300g, £2, ocado.com

Oooh, weird. It’s really thinly sliced – like thin and short, the little shreds at the bottom of the jar. It’s a bit kombucha-y. The acidity is too much.
★★

Yogurt

yogurt


The Collective straight-up unsweetened yogurt, 450g, £2, ocado.com

It has the most flavour out of all of them, it has a different dimension to it. Quite thick. The texture is the best thing about it. I definitely like the mouthfeel.
★★★★

Calon Wen organic natural bio-live yogurt, 400g, £1.75, ocado.com

This tastes fresh – nice acidity. The texture is quite light, not overly creamy or thick. It’s fresh, a good breakfast yogurt.
★★★

Glenilen Farm natural yogurt, 500g, £1.59, ocado.com

Quite high acidity. It’s nice and creamy … slightly grainy, but that doesn’t bother me. Flavour-wise, it’s neutral, inoffensive.
★★★

Daylesford natural yogurt, 450ml, £2.49, daylesford.com

Looks a bit thin. It has the most homemade taste – it’s like when I try to make yogurt. It would be good blitzed with something.
★★

Kefir

kefir


The Collective kefir natural cultured milk drink, 500ml £2.50, ocado.com

It has a very slight fizz which I love. This would be perfect for anyone with a hangover – just smash a bottle of that. I love it.
★★★★★

Nourish organic kefir, 500ml, £2.99, nourishkefir.co.uk

It’s light and fresh and with a slight biting fizziness on my tongue – I like it. Quite thirst-quenching.
★★★★★

Biotiful organic kefir, 500ml, £2.25, ocado.com

This is nice and not too acidic. Missing that fizziness, it almost needs another day or so. But the milkiness is coming through in a pleasant way.
★★★★

Daylesford organic milk kefir, 500ml, £4.99, ocado.com

This one has a lovely sweet, almost rounded flavour. It’s also got a very light, slight fizz. It’s quite flavoursome, not too acidic.
★★★★

Kombucha

kombucha


Equinox organic kombucha original, 250ml, £1.80, equinoxkombucha.com

This has got a nice golden colour … I wonder what tea they used for it? Good fizz. Nice acidity. It’s flavoursome. I like this one.
★★★★

Kombucha Kat organic original, 250ml, £1.99, ocado.com

Smells nice and sweet. Not overly acidic. Fresh tasting but quite neutral – you can’t really taste the tea. Fermented well.
★★★★

Jarr original kombucha, 240ml, £2.85, jarrkombucha.com

This is good. It has got high acidity but I don’t mind that. The fizz is nice and spiky … and I like the amount of fizz.
★★★

Lo Bros organic kombucha original, 330ml, £2, ocado.com

This one tastes under-fermented to me. It’s not as fizzy as I’d like it to be, it’s a bit underwhelming.
★★



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