Tested: these are the tastiest cheese croissants from the supermarket
Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: these are the tastiest cheese croissants from the supermarket.
One cheese croissant is not like the other, as shown by FavorFlav's supermarket cheese croissant test. One is pale and soggy, the other so crispy that it crumbles under your fingers, and number three, well, that one is just perfect. At which supermarket do you buy the tastiest cheese croissant?
To get ahead of the Facebook comments: the absolute best croissants are probably bought at the bakery. And not just any bakery, but that one specific little bakery that knows you by name, that reserves a whole wheat bread for you if you're a bit late one day, and that hands a warm currant bun to your little one.
But that's not what this test is about, because not every day is a romantic comedy. Sometimes you do all your shopping at the supermarket, nice and quick and easy, and then you also grab a bag of cheese croissants. Which supermarket do you succeed best at?
Round like a monkey's tail
The differences are significant between the five croissants in our test. The cheese croissant from Jumbo is round like a monkey's tail, the croissant from Dekamarkt is decorated with grated cheese and herbs, and the one from Lidl looks a bit sad. When we cut them open, the differences are even greater: from barely filled (Albert Heijn) to more cheese than puff pastry (again Jumbo). And the cheese from that round cheese case from Jumbo is also bright yellow. The tasting team hopes for aged cheese. Of course, these croissants were tasted on the same day they were bought.
Just a little in the oven
Some croissants are very soggy, like the croissants from Lidl and Aldi. ‘You need to pop those in the oven at home,’ tips Bo. Two croissants also contain ham, as the cheese croissants were coincidentally out at Aldi and Dekamarkt today. The croissant from Deka has a slice of ham on the inside, while the one from Aldi has diced ham. That gives a very different effect. ‘I taste almost only ham,’ says Rick about the croissant from Aldi. And although the croissant from Dekamarkt scores very well, the ham flavor is not so present there.
Volume matters
The winning croissant: the ham-cheese croissant from Dekamarkt. Good volume, ‘nice and airy’ says Robbert, ‘salty’ says Arno, and ‘this tastes like a real croissant,’ says Rick. It is also the only croissant that you can cut through and still maintain its shape; the other croissants turn into crumbly lumps when a knife is drawn across them. And those herbs on top also help.
For the vegetarians: that cheese curl from Jumbo tastes really good. Lots of cheese and salt and minimal crumb loss – it's a shame if most of your croissant ends up on your plate or in your lap.
And the least croissant? That comes from Albert Heijn. Tough, little cheese flavor, little crunch. ‘Is this a croissant from yesterday?’ Sabina wonders. ‘That cheese is super chemical,’ thinks Robbert. ‘You really have to chew on this,’ says Arno.
