BRANSTON BLOOMIN BIG BAKED BEANS (Branston Bloomin Big Baked Beans)

Member Name: GentleGenius

Product:	Branston Bloomin Big Baked Beans
Date:	15/10/08 (237 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice sauce

Disadvantages: The beans are horrible - much too hard - and there's not enough sauce

BRANSTON BLOOMIN' BIG BAKED BEANS

COST: (in Sainsbury's @ 11.10.08): 52p for a 420g tin, and currently the 220g tins are on special introductory offer of 31p each

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (per 100g):

Calories: 87
Kj: 370
Protein: 4.8g
Carbohydrate: 16.1g
- of which sugars: 5.9g
Fat: 0.4g
- of which saturates: 0.1g
Fibre: 5.5g
Sodium: 0.3g
Salt equivalent: 0.8g

INGREDIENTS:

Beans (50%), tomatoes (40%), sugar, modified maize starch, salt, paprika, ground white pepper, flavouring, spices

OTHER INFORMATION/CLAIMS:

Suitable for vegetarians
50% bigger than ordinary beans

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The 420g size tin of Branston Bloomin' Big Baked Beans is silver, and on the front is a red area with the blue-lettered Branston logo on a yellow strip, an orange coloured strip underneath saying "limited edition" in cream-coloured letters, and below that in larger white letters, the words "Bloomin Big Baked Beans". An image of a couple of beans appears in the middle of those white letters, just starting to "spill" over the letters K and E of the word "Baked". The 220g sized tin is silver all over, with the same Branston logo, and the words "Bloomin Big Baked Beans" written in dark blue letters which are outlined in white. On the rear of both sized cans is all the nutritional information, cooking instructions and manufacturer's contact details. There is also a ring-pull opening device on the top of both sized cans.

I saw these beans in Sainsburys for the first time the other day, and I bought two small tins firstly because they are so much cheaper than the other brands, and secondly because I thought I'd give them a try - I always like to test out new food products. I usually buy small cans of beans, as I live alone and find if I buy large cans, it's ultimately not economical, because I end up only using half of the large size, and throwing the other half away.

On opening one of these small cans of Branston Beans, I was greeted with a nicely packed full tin of large sized beans, resting in a dark orange-coloured and rather nice smelling sauce. Branston claim that these beans are bigger than other brands of baked bean, and they aren't lying - in fact, they are so big, that though I was impressed by the colour and smell of the sauce, the huge bean size did put me off slightly.

I decided to heat the beans through and have them for lunch on a couple of slices of toast. Saucepan at the ready, I started to shake the contents of the can into the pan, and found that 90% of the beans were stuck fast to the sides and bottom, so I had to gouge them out with a spoon. As they plopped into the saucepan, I noticed what little sauce there was, to be very, very thick.

I gently heated the beans and found they needed stirring much more than other brands of baked beans, due to the rather sparse and thick sauce. They didn't seem to bubble up so well as the beans I'm used to, and I found myself stirring more frequently and vigorously than I otherwise would do.

Once heated through and slapped on two slices of buttered toast, my spirits lifted a little as they truly did look delicious, despite my earlier dubiousness about the size. They seemed to coat the bread very well.....large beans, appetisingly resting in a rich, thick and dark-orange coloured sauce.

Acid test time! I cut off a corner of the toast and noticed that the beans didn't slip back onto the plate whilst transferring to my mouth, which for me was a good sign as I'm rather lazy, and hate to do things twice. I crunched into the beans and toast combination in my mouth, and had mixed feelings about what I was experiencing.

The sauce tasted absolutely delicious - not as sweet as some other brands (I prefer them less sweet), and it had a lovely, slightly peppery flavour. There was no under-taste, and no husks had escaped from the beans....they were intact. I then proceeded to chomp on a forkful of just beans by themselves, and that was where for me the problem hit. I found the beans didn't, due to their large size, feel at all pleasant in my mouth and they were considerably harder in texture - bordering on tough - than the beans I am used to. This was so unpleasant, that it seriously detracted from the very good flavour of the rich, thick sauce.

I was tempted to scrape the beans off the toast and bin them, then decided to persevere. I did somehow manage to eat them all, but it was a struggle, and the experience was enough to make me decide that I very much doubt if I'll eat the other can I bought, and definitely will never buy them again.

All things taken into consideration, I would imagine that some people out there will love Branston Bloomin' Big Baked Beans, but for me they get the thumbs down sign, simply because of the chewiness of the beans which I didn't find at all appealing. Consistency-wise, they reminded me of the baked beans from way back in the days of my dreaded primary school dinners - rather like chomping on a mouthful of rifle bullets!

Sorry Branston.....soften the beans up and this would be a great product, because the sauce is delicious, but any pleasure derived from the delicious flavour of the sauce is 100% counteracted by the awful hard beans. I will award 3 out of 10 (2 DooYoo stars) for the sauce alone, but otherwise, this product for me is a complete and utter, total no-no.

Thanks for reading!

Summary: The hardness of the beans totally spoiled the beautiful, yet sparse sauce