Aldi’s Next Big Thing: Where to buy banana ketchup, Puff Puff Ministry and more
We also saw vegan ready meals, Turkish kebab marinade, vegan dumplings and Momma Cherri’s love dust
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Your support makes all the difference.We’ve been busy eating our way through everything from Flake Bake Jamaican pasties and crab cakes to halloumi rolls, wine spritzers and, most recently, nutty chocolate clusters. Now, in this week’s episode of Aldi’s Next Big Thing, it’s time for food from around the world, and we’re ready to dive in.
In the Channel 4 show that shoves together Masterchef and Dragons’ Den to create a foodie competition, six independent British food suppliers pitch their products to Aldi’s head of buying, Julie Ashfield, in the hopes of winning a once in a lifetime contract to sit on the budget supermarket’s shelves nationwide.
This week, the suppliers pitching to Ashfield, as well as Countryfile’s Anita Rani and Eat Well for Less’ Chris Bavin, included Filipino banana ketchup, Nigerian doughnuts, a vegan red curry ready meal, a Turkish kebab marinade, a spicy herb mix called “love dust” and vegan dumplings. Here’s where you can buy the winning product and all the other tasty food seen in tonight’s episode.
Roni B banana ketchup: £3.99, Aldi.co.uk
Ashfield loved Walton-on-Thames’s duo Roni and Steve’s banana ketchup the second she tasted it, thanks to its kick of spice. The condiment of the Philippines, the pair were tasked to improve the bottle design and find a way of using surplus overripe bananas to produce their ketchup, and in doing so successfully won a contract with the supermarket chain.
While Ashfield still wasn’t massively keen on the bottle design, the flavour and the ketchup’s potential promise of sustainability won her over. The Independent was sent a sample of the banana ketchup before the episode aired, and it was delicious indeed. An interesting mix of tomato ketchup and hot sauce, it has a slight tanginess and kick to the flavour, and we weren’t able to taste any banana at all. It just elevated the flavour a little.
Available to buy from your local Aldi from tomorrow morning, a bottle of Roni B’s banana ketchup will cost £3.99. You can also buy it from the company’s own website, as well as Selfridges, though it is slightly more expensive than buying it at Aldi.
Puff Puff Ministry doughnuts: From £18.50, Puffpuffministry.co.uk
Sisters Marianne and Yossie Olaleye got super close to supplying Aldi with their Nigherian-inspired doughnuts, only just missing out to the banana ketchup. While Ashfield raved about how delicious they were, it was the potential scaling issues that scared her off.
The pair hit a home run when tasked with creating a new six to eight-size box of doughnuts, but were sadly unsuccessful. Thankfully, you can still try the doughnuts for yourself if they’ve activated your sweet tooth. Described as chewy dough balls that are “like doughnuts but better”, they’re available to buy direct from the company’s website.
The two most popular flavours shown on TV are the cinnamon sugar and the biscoff doughnuts. They cost £19.50 and £21.50 respectively, and come in boxes of 21 or 60. Puff Puff Ministry also sells Kinder Bueno, Oreo and sticky toffee and ginger nut puffs.
Buy now from Puff Puff Ministry
The Kebab Club chicken shish marinade: £3.99, Thekebabclub.co.uk
Wanting to bring a taste of your local Turkish kebab to the aisles of Aldi were Southend-based Lil and Yksel, who impressed Ashfield with their chicken shish marinade. While The Kebab Club made it to the second round, they weren’t quite right for Aldi.
However, if you want to add some Turkish flavouring to your cooking, you can purchase The Kebab Club’s marinade from the brand’s website. Described as light and zesty with authentic Turkish flavours, one jar costs £3.99 and is good for eight servings.
Jam N Vegan Jamaican jackfruit ready meal: £6.99, Mightyplants.com
Birmingham-based Kyle’s jackfruit vegan twist on a Jamaican mutton curry with rice and peas inside a ready meal had the panel slapping their lips. Ashfield commented on how brilliant the texture was, while Rani enjoyed the amount of spice. But while Kyle’s plant-based meal got him through to the second round, it wasn’t quite enough to get him over the line.
Unfortunately, Ashfield believed Jam N Vegan’s ready meal was too much of a niche meal in a niche category to be stocked in Aldi’s stores. Still, you can buy the Jamaican jackfruit ready meal from Mighty Plants for £6.99, and there are even more meals on the company’s own website.
Desert Island Dumplings: £8.99, Desertislanddumplings.com
The panel really loved Lucy and fiancé Louise’s dumplings with world food fillings, with Bavin praising the texture of their cheeseburger dumpling, while Ashfield found the salt and pepper chicken dumpling “really enjoyable”.
Sadly, Ashfield thought that there wasn’t a big enough market for dumplings at Aldi, and an even smaller market when it came to vegan food, sending the pair home, though Ashfield did ask them to come back and see Aldi in the future. You can buy a pack of six cheeseburger or six salt and pepper chicken dumplings for £8.99 on the brand’s website.
Buy now from Desert Island Dumplings
Momma Cherri Love Dust: From £7.50, Mommacherri.co
Probably one of the most loveable contestants we’ve ever seen on Aldi’s Next Big Thing. Momma Cherri was full of energy when she presented her love dust to the panel. Described as “smoky” by Bavin, Ashfield worried that there wasn’t quite a market for it at Aldi.
Momma Cherri’s spicy seasoning is made with more than 10 different herbs, spices and ingredients, including smoked paprika, herbs, garlic powder and more. A 60g pouch of love dust costs £6.50, and it can be used to season all your food.
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