Lidl Mushy Peas

Lidl's mushy peas are in an unbranded tin simply named "Mushy Peas". On the back, in small writing as usual, is the Lidl name to mark this as a Lidl own brand. But also given is the address: Princes Ltd, Liverpool. Princes make Batchelors Mushy Peas, which contain exactly the same ingredients and colouring. The Lidl Mushy Peas are 23p, while the Batchelors are 55p. Being listed with the same ingredients doesn't necessarily mean they are the same quality, because Tesco's Growers Harvest Mushy Peas (the Tesco rival to Lidl)  have exactly the same ingredients and colouring as Tesco's British Mushy Peas, but with difference in price: Growers Harvest are 23p, British Mushy Peas are 30p. While they may use the same amount of peas, salt, sugar and colouring, the quality and/or treatment of the peas may be different.  It would be fun to do a blind taste test of different mushy peas one day. 

Anyway. The colour of these peas is rather too bright for me. They look slightly ill. And slightly artificially coloured. The colouring isn't natural. 

The taste is fairly neutral - not too sweet nor too salty, though toward the end I found them a little bitter. However, they did have a proper pea taste. Consistency is fairly dry and firm. They do feel and taste like proper home made mushy peas, and of better quality than 23p.  I wasn't blown away by them, but I did like them rather a lot. 


Date: Sept 2020    Score: 7 

We have now done a taste test with Lidl's Mushy Peas against Tesco Growers Choice, and Batchelors. The Batchelors mushy peas won, though were very close to Lidl in appearance, texture and taste. There's not a lot in it, but Batchelors was preferred by all three of us.  The one we disliked was the Tesco Growers Choice. The appearance was probably the most natural - it didn't have the vivid rather artificial green of the other two - but looked the least appetising. The taste was rather bland, and the texture was a little lumpy. I think people will differ in their taste appreciation, and there will be many who would prefer the more naturally flavoured and more natural looking and textured Tesco Growers Choice, but for us, we all three were happier with the colour, taste and texture of the other two. For the price, the Lidl mushy peas has to be the winner. 

Date: Oct 2020  Score: 8