Pasta Sauce Taste Test

I decided to do my taste test on three different brands of pasta sauce.  Last summer, I ate a somewhat stringent diet as part of a kind of health "purge" (I am SO glad to have that over with!) and I discovered Whole Foods version of tomato sauce, their store brand, 365 Organic.  Everything in the ingredients list is organic, and gluten free, and I was excited to find that it tasted pretty good as well.  I decided in this test to compare it to Prego Traditional flavor sauce, which is what my family usually eats, and also Newman's Own, Tomato and Basil flavor.

I cooked a pot of penne pasta noodles to use with all of the pasta sauces.  Then, I heated up a small bowl of each sauce, and I labeled the bowls A, B, and C.  On a separate piece of paper I wrote down which brand was what letter so I wouldn't forget.  Then I put pasta on a plate and spooned some of each sauce onto a section of pasta.  In between tasting each sauce, I ate a grape and also drank water.

All three products are red, tomato sauces.  At first glance, Newman's Own looks much thicker, while Whole Foods is somewhat watery.  Prego and Whole Foods have specks of seasoning in them.

The first one, A, was Prego.  To me this seemed like a regular tomato sauce, kind of sweet, and good tasting.  Sauce B, which Newman's Own, had a much stronger herb flavor.  Perhaps it was a basil taste, since it was a Tomato Basil sauce.  Lastly, sauce C, the Whole Foods brand, was runnier, but did have chunks of real tomato, where the others did not, however, to me it seemed overall less flavorful than I remembered.  While I didn't dislike any of them, my personal favorite would have to be the Prego, and my least favorite was probably Newman's Own.

I also tested my mom, dad, brother, and my friend Rita, in order to get a wider sample of tastes and descriptions.  My mom, dad, and brother all had similar reactions to mine, and chose Prego (A) as their favorite.  My mom described it as "very good, real even, not sour, not sweet."  All three agreed that Newman's Own (B) had more spices, was thicker, and more flavorful, but not necessarily in a good way.  My dad said it was "a taste I'm not sure what it is."  Lastly, all three liked Whole Foods brand (C) okay, but didn't select it as their favorite.  My mom said, "not as interesting...maybe with salt it would be alright."

My friend, Rita, was the only one with a different opinion.  She described Prego as good, but bland.  She said the Newman's Own was "definitely different and spicier, it has more oomph."  She also liked the Whole Foods brand and had a hard time deciding, but finally selected Newman's Own as her favorite.

While Rita's opinion was different, the majority of people I surveyed agreed with my opinion that Prego the best tasting tomato sauce that we tasted today.  However, all three tasted good, and none were offensive.  While Prego was our favorite, we would be willing to eat all three of them.