COMFORT FOOD, TINNED FOR CONVENIENCE (Heinz Sticky Toffee Sponge Pudding)

Member Name: stuleg

Product:	Heinz Sticky Toffee Sponge Pudding
Date:	18/04/09 (208 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Convenient, Comforting

Disadvantages: Not enough toffee sauce

If you are like me you'll have your favourite comfort foods, those treats you gravitate towards when you need a little tender loving care of the edible variety, they give you a lift when life seems a little fraught and remind you of bygone times when all was good and simple. My victual comforters tend to be - for the most part - sweet; with Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, Krispy Kreme doughnuts and toffee/syrup puddings topping the list. Whilst shopping recently in ASDA I noticed various tins of steamed puddings on special offer, I'd not had one of Heinz finest for a while so decided to drop a couple of the sticky toffee variety into my basket, after all I'd had a tough day at work and was in no mood to cook anything vaguely time consuming or healthy for tea. I was slightly amused on readying the pudding to eat - later that night - that the tin gives you instructions on how to open it - I'd of thought people who were unable to work that out shouldn't be around hot objects anyway! You can heat the pudding by steaming it on the hob for thirty-five minutes, but come on - who in their right mind is going to wait that long when a microwave can zap it hot in ninety seconds. Even that short amount of time tested my patience to the limit as I hopped one foot from t'other like an excited child on Christmas morn.

Once turned out the pudding is about the size of a bread roll, squat and steaming with the toffee sauce shining invitingly. The faintest of sweet scents wafts up, readying the taste buds to the treat about to befall them. The sponge is a rich, golden colour - far darker than a homemade sponge pudding might be, and the sticky toffee sauce seems a little on the gelatinous side, I'd of preferred it to have seeped into the sponge a little more to really draw the contrasting textures and flavours together - this seems like the sponge was made and the sauce was thrown on as an afterthought. A large spoonful gives me two sensations, the first that annoying and unwelcome sensation as your mouth is burnt by something way too hot, and the second far more welcome as the pudding and sauce tantalise the palette and deliver a sensory overload. The pudding is moist and wholesome, and with a dense texture belying its sponge roots. I was a little surprised that the sauce wasn't sweeter, for me a toffee sauce should be so sweet as to make your teeth ache, I didn't get that from this, it did have a feint fruity aftertaste to it which was unexpected, but rather pleasing. Sadly half way through the pudding I ran out of sauciness and was left with sponge alone. Although this was not an unmitigated disaster due to the sponge being moist and tasty it would have been nice to have slightly more sauce to make the eating experience more complete. Once the pudding is finished I get the faintest hint of dryness to the roof of my mouth, this usually signifies overuse of bicarbonate of soda in a food, something I would have hoped a company as large as Heinz would have dealt with. Finished, the pudding left me sated and content, just as comfort food should.

Twenty-four hours later, and in the name of research I decide to eat the second of my purchased puddings as god intended - cold and straight from the tin. I wonder if this is the best of ideas as I remove the top of the tin to reveal a jelly like toffee sauce sitting atop a sorry looking lump of sponge. Unperturbed (and settled in front of the TV and in no mood to revisit the kitchen to warm the pud) I delve into the mixture with trepidation. The sponge feels much firmer cold than it does hot, but I manage to free a spoonful complete with a glob of toffee sauce. The pudding has little flavour when cold and the toffee kind of sits in the mouth like an unmoveable amalgam of stickiness. Nevertheless with a little chewing and the heat from my mouth the pudding starts to break down and offer the flavours I recognised from the previous night. Finishing the pudding cold is more of a chore than a treat, unlike other Heinz foods like baked beans this pudding is definitely to be eaten hot only.

Nutritionally speaking it's probably unwise to look to a sticky toffee pudding for sustenance and goodness, with this three hundred gram treat packing a hefty 855 calories, and 24 grams of fat. On the plus side there is none of those nasty artificial colours, flavourings or preservatives present - this may be a high cal high fat sugar rich dessert but at least it's all natural! Still a gloriously sumptuous and decadent sweet treat that tastes as good as I remembered; the density of the sponge means it doesn't disintegrate in the mouth but leaves something to get your teeth into while the sauce compliments it well, even though it could have done with being sweeter, and more abundant. Four stars out of five from me.

Summary: Convenient and comforting, but not enough toffee sauce