Oliver Cromwell cancelled mince pies, or so they say. In fact, there’s no evidence he tried to ban them specifically, although Parliament did attempt to put a stop to Christmas celebrations in the 1650s, for “giving liberty to carnall and sensuall delights,” rather than proper religious feeling. The Grinch had nothing on the Puritans for killjoy attitude.
Christmas pies, originally filled with shredded meat mixed with spice and dried fruit, predate even the Christmas pudding as a symbol of the season. ‘Shred Pies’ (an alternative name for mince pies) turn up on Tudor Christmas menus, while the Frenchman Henri Masson, travelling in England in the late 17th century, remarked, “Every family against Christmas makes a famous Pye, which they call Christmas Pye,” containing ox tongue, chicken, eggs, sugar, raisins, citrus peel and “various kinds of spicery.” Clearly the tradition had survived Parliament’s best efforts.
These days it’s more likely to be anti-sugar campaigners who would do away with this particularly British treat – and it certainly has got sweeter over the years, as the original meat has been replaced by more fruit and sugar.
When I mentioned I was tasting shop-bought mincemeat on X (formerly Twitter), a flurry of comments pointed out that homemade is nicer. Of course it is lovely and not hard to put together. But mincemeat really needs at least three weeks to mature, ideally more – no good if you need to knock up a batch of mince pies this afternoon.
It’s the most mincemeaty time of the year. Finding the best for @TelegraphFood Mrs Clay’s Guide to Household Thrift pic.twitter.com/fFY6vvLbkL
— Xanthe Clay (@XantheClay) November 16, 2023
Also – dare I say it – some ready-made mincemeat is really pretty good. I tasted my way through 20 jars (baking them into mince pies), and if I had to choose whether to spend my time making mincemeat or pastry for my pies, I’d pick pastry every time. Proper shortcrust does taste noticeably better than the stuff from the supermarket, where although it’s easy to find all-butter puff pastry, when it comes to shortcrust, almost all are made without butter and with a raft of additives like emulsifiers, flour treatment agents and palm oil.
In contrast, the mincemeats I tried varied only a little from homemade in terms of ingredients. They do, however, generally contain glucose-fructose syrup (probably used to avoid the sugars crystallising), acetic acid as a preservative and caramel colouring. Yes, they contain palm oil too – it is a constituent of vegetarian suet. If you want to avoid that, you will have to make your own, using beef suet or opting for a recipe that has no suet at all.
So would it be less expensive to take the homemade route? Using Asda prices, and the cheapest available options, I calculated the cost of Delia’s mincemeat, a traditional, not-too-fancy recipe. It works out at £11.44 to make six 1lb jars (which actually hold 380ml, slightly less than 1lb in weight of mincemeat) or around 2.45kg of mincemeat – roughly the equivalent of six shop-bought 411g jars. With Delia’s working out at £1.90 a jar, it’s only slightly cheaper than many of the premium jars of mincemeat, such as Tesco Finest and Morrisons The Best. These come in around £2 a jar, although some, like Waitrose No1 (£4 for 411g) are much more.
Homemade does work out more expensive than standard supermarket mincemeat, such as Asda’s £1.50 jar, and is nearly twice the price of Lidl’s, which costs £1.99 for a double-size 822g jar.
Not only that, your actual bill at the checkout for the homemade version, assuming you have to buy everything, will be more than £35, including a £12.50 bottle of brandy, but even if you leave that out, it’s still a big spend.
Of course, buying whole bags of ingredients is fine if you use things like currants and suet regularly, but not so good if they end up mouldering at the back of the cupboard for months or (yes, guilty as charged) years. One solution is to go to a scoop shop so you can buy just what you need; dried fruit and spices (if not the suet and brandy) should be straightforward to find. You probably won’t save much money, sadly, but at least you won’t be fishing out bags of fossilised currants this time next year.
The other issue with homemade mincemeat is that recipes tend to make large amounts. Six jars is a lot of mincemeat, enough for over 100 mince pies; great if you are catering for the local carol service, but more than most families will get through.
So a jar of ready-made is an excellent option for many of us. But is it worth splashing out for the posh mincemeat? The top-end versions do tend to have juicier fruit, with larger sultanas and raisins, but the added booze often tastes throat-burningly raw or else weirdly fake, like there’s a dash of rum flavouring in there. The cheaper ones can be rather sludgy-looking, without the texture of large, good quality dried fruit. However, I’ve found a couple of cheaper versions that break the mould. Morrisons and Tesco mincemeats may well be made on the same production line, and their mix of fruit is every bit as good as the premium brands. Liven up a bought batch with a splash of booze plus some chopped almonds, apricots or even (sacrilege) chocolate drops, and you’ll have a proper “sensuall delight” for Christmas.
The value-for-money taste test
Waitrose Christmas Mincemeat
£2 for 410g (49p/100g)
There’s a slightly artificial smell to this one, and a pulpy texture – apples are the largest ingredient. It’s incredibly sweet, with an odd plasticky taste.
Zero stars
Waitrose Christmas Rum & Raisin Mincemeat
£3 for 410g (73p/100g)
Delivers a vanilla and almond scent, with hints of rum, but it’s a very boozy flavour with a marzipan taste, followed by an artificial cherry kick. There’s an uncooked alcohol burn to it. You couldn’t get away with saying this is homemade.
Zero stars
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Gingerbread Mincemeat
£2.25 for 411g (55p/100g)
The regular Taste the Difference mincemeat is a good buy (see below) but this gimmicky version is ultra-sweet and ersatz-tasting.
M&S Classic Mincemeat
£2.40 for 510g (47p/100g)
Darker than some of the others, and you can really see the currants. Tastes boozy, but actually in quite an artificial way. Tastes of factories.
Co-op Mincemeat
£2.25 for 411g (55p/100g)
Very hom*ogeneous brown pulp. Quite a nice orangey smell but not enough texture and the flavour is dull. Not great.
Lidl Deluxe Spiced Brandy Mincemeat
£1.85 for 411g (45p/100g)
Plasticky smelling and makes a sludgy brown filling for my mince pies. It’s too boozy and not especially pleasant.
Asda Extra Special Ruby Port & Brandy Mincemeat
£2 for 411g (49p/100g)
A rather hom*ogeneous texture, with little variation, and an odd flavour – very orangey, with hints of raw alcohol, so it tastes unbalanced yet also lacks oomph.
Tesco Finest Ruby Port Mincemeat
£2.25 for 411g (55p/100g)
A tidy mincemeat (it won’t drip down your front) but the flavour is of throat-burning raw alcohol. A shame, as the fruits look good quality.
Aldi Specially Selected Mincemeat With Brandy
£1.85 for 411g (45p/100g)
A bit drippy; this would be high risk in a mince pie at a drinks party. It doesn’t smell fresh, either; tastes rather tired.
Lidl Belbake Classic Mincemeat
£1.99 for 822g (24p/100g)
Small bits of fruit in a brown pulp, all the same colour. This looks cheap and gunky. The flavour is quite citrusy; OK, but nothing special.
Asda Mincemeat
£1.50 for 411g (36p/100g)
Nice mixture of fruit, especially at this price range. A spicy smell and I can taste a bit of brandy here, but it’s obviously mass produced.
Sainsbury’s Mincemeat
£2.59 for 822g (32p/100g)
Very cohesive. Doesn’t drip, holds together well but all very much one colour. Lemon flavour, quite sweet. A tidy mincemeat.
Waitrose No1 Brandy Mincemeat with Cognac VS
£4 for 410g (98p/100g)
This brandy-rich mincemeat has a festive smell and mellow taste. It’s the only one in my tasting to include almonds as well as glacé cherries.
Aldi The Pantry Mincemeat
£2.09 for 822g (25p/100g)
Tastes like there’s a lot of apple in this, and the fruit is plump. It has a good festive flavour, boozy and citrusy. A bit middle of the road, but perfectly OK.
Asda Extra Special Dark Rum & Brown Butter Flavour Spiced Mincemeat
£2 for 411g (49p/100g)
Tidy mincemeat but not particularly fragrant. It’s very sweet but has quite a good balance, and doesn’t have the raw alcohol taste others have. Definitely a back note of booze, and good fruit. A little tired, though.
Tesco Festive Mincemeat
£2.80 for 822g (34p/100g)
A nicely spiced flavour; you can taste the cinnamon here, and orange peel really comes through. It’s a bit sludgy, though.
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Matured Mincemeat with Brandy
£2.25 for 411g (55p/100g)
Nice and glossy, with a spicy, Christmassy smell. There’s a decent variation in size and colour of fruit including lots of currants, the most expensive of the dried vine fruits. Quite boozy but not raw.
Morrisons Mincemeat
£1.69 for 411g (41p/100g)
Another great mincemeat with juicy fruit and a gentle flavour, which you can personalise. Morrisons The Best Brandy & Gin Mincemeat (see below) is a great boozed-up option, too.
Tesco Mincemeat
£1.70 for 411g (41p/100g)
Don’t confuse this with the slightly cheaper Tesco Festive Mincemeat; this one has lovely big fruit, better than some of the posher brands. Perfect for pepping up with your own additions.
Morrisons The Best Brandy & Gin Mincemeat
£2.25 for 411g (55p/100g)
Nice festive smell, citrusy and spicy. The fruit is quite small but the whole mixture is tangy and very boozy; a good one if you want a boozy kick, as it is well mellowed. Not the most exciting texture, but the flavour is very festive. A good solid option.
