Annual bun fight winner announced

HALF for you and half for me, between us two shall goodwill be.

This old saying reminds us that sharing a hot cross bun with a friend will ensure the friendship thrives throughout the coming year. If this is to be believed, the South Coast Herald newsroom should be a pretty friendly place for the next 12 months.

This week, nine news team members sat around a table loaded with these Eastertide treats. The occasion was the big annual hot cross bun taste test and we were tasked with choosing the best of seven examples of locally bought buns. The taste test is great fun, but we take it very seriously.

All the tasting is done blind. The buns are stripped of any identifying packaging and then given numbers. The members are not told anything about the buns’ origins. They score the buns according to appearance and taste. Comments are invited, so score sheets make interesting reading.

Although hot cross buns have become part of the Easter Sunday celebration they are traditionally eaten on Good Friday in England and other Christian countries. Originally made to use up non-perishable foodstuff like spices and dried fruit before the Easter and post-Lent feasting, the traditional bun is deliciously flavoured with sugar, spice, currants and raisins. The finishing touch is, of course, the cross, which symbolises the crucifixion.The buns are best sampled straight from the oven with lashings of butter.

This year the hot cross buns selected for the taste test were, in no particular order, Woolworths apricot chocolate buns, HarbourView SuperSpar buns, Checkers Hibiscus Mall buns, Woolworths English buns, Royal Bakery buns, Woolworths extra spicy buns and buns from Pick n Pay, Port Shepstone.

After much tasting and retasting and considering and tasting again, the taste test team members eventually handed in their score sheets. Careful calculations followed and we finally had a winner. Top of the pops this year, by quite a wide margin, were the Woolworths English buns. Tasters said they were moist and fruity, with just enough spices. They also commented on these buns’ attractive appearance.

Woolworths also scooped second prize with its extra spicy buns. There were compliments all round for this handsome bun, although two testers found it a bit pale. Some of the team found it just a little too spicy for their taste. Incidentally, the Woolworths apricot and chocolate buns generally received a thumbs down. Some testers were complimentary but most opted for the more traditional flavours, saying the apricot and chocolate variety was the wrong taste and was a bit dry.

Third place went to an old favourite, the Royal Bakery bun. It has come first on quite a few occasions and almost always finishes in the top three in the annual taste test. It was described as pleasant tasting and nice and fruity, although some tasters felt it could do with a little more spice.

At R24 for four, the apricot chocolate buns were the most expensive. At R12 for six the Pick n Pay and Checkers buns were the cheapest. However, the taste test team voted the Woolworths Extra Spice buns the best value for money. They scored well on both looks and flavour and only cost R16.95 for eight. This works out at just 12c more per bun than the two cheapest buns.

Whatever hot cross buns you choose to share with family and friends, spice them up by remembering the fascinating traditions and superstitions that surround them. The hot cross bun might even predate the Christian era. Sweet buns were served during festivals celebrating the northern hemisphere spring festival. Even the decorations – four quadrants representing the four seasons – would have been similar to the present-day cross.

According to folklore, hot cross buns protect against shipwreck if taken on a sea voyage. If hung in the kitchen, they are said to protect against fires and to ensure all breads turn out perfectly.

In centuries past, when the buns came out of the oven on Good Friday, street sellers in London would tempt buyers to sample their wares with a little ditty that has become a popular nursery rhyme.

‘Hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one ha’penny, two ha’penny, hot cross buns. If you have no daughters give them to your sons, one ha’penny, two ha’penny hot cross buns’. Today they cost a bit more than they did when this song was first penned but they are still an inexpensive and delicious Eastertide treat.