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Hoyts ‘cumin’ first place in seasoning & spices ratings

If you’d rather say orega-no to a pinch of coriander because it leaves you with a soapy aftertaste, don’t worry. There’s still ‘thyme’ to ‘Spice Up Your Life’, as the Spice Girls would say, with plenty of other seasoning options to garnish your steak or stir into your marinade, aside from the stock standard salt and pepper.

In fact, nearly one in five consumers we surveyed (19%) make sure to pick up some seasoning and spices during their regular grocery shop, with half having tried multiple brands (50%) and a third of consumers (35%) sticking to the same brand each time.

To help you find the best seasoning and spices for your taste and budget, Canstar Blue surveyed more than 1,400 Australian consumers for their feedback on the seasoning and spices they bought and consumed from a supermarket or grocer in the last three months. Respondents scored brands on taste, variety, packaging design, value for money and overall satisfaction. Those that received the minimum survey sample size (30 responses) are included in our results.

In our first-ever seasoning and spices review, Hoyts shook things up with five-star ratings in the majority of categories ─ including overall satisfaction.

Best Seasoning & Spices

Here are the best brands of seasoning & spices, as rated by consumers in Canstar Blue’s 2021 review:

1. Hoyts
2. MasterFoods
3. Old El Paso
4. Woolworths
5. McCormick
6. McKenzie’s
7. Coles

Hoyts topped our inaugural seasoning and spices review, rating best for overall satisfaction with five stars. MasterFoods, Old El Paso, and Woolworths followed behind on four stars, while McCormick, McKenzie’s and Coles settled on three stars for overall satisfaction.

Meanwhile, MasterFoods and Old El Paso took the lead for packaging design with both brands achieving full marks for the category. MasterFoods got extra brownie points for variety with another five stars, and Old El Paso achieved the same result for taste.

About the Winner ─ Hoyts

From humble beginnings in 1960 that saw Hoyts being ‘born out of a suitcase’ after a young immigrant began supplying households and shops in Melbourne. In 1972 Romano Accardo was introduced to improve Hoyts Food, whose family consequently took over the company. Hoyts Food has since grown into one of Australia’s leading brands for pantry essentials. Hoyts has been spicing up Aussies’ mealtimes with a variety of herbs and spices, sauces, spreads, legumes, cooking oils and pickled vegetables.

• Hoyts Sesame Seed
• Hoyts Saffron Strands
• Hoyts Tumeric Powder
• Hoyts Pepper Steak Mix
• Hoyts Onion Flakes

Products from Hoyts usually check out for $1.30 to $2.60 for small 25g bags of herbs and spices. You’ll need to fork out more for jars which can cost between $2.70 and $5.09.

• Hoyts rated best for value for money and overall satisfaction, before scoring additional five-star reviews for taste and variety. It also got four stars for packaging design.

About the author of this page

This report was written by Canstar Blue’s home & lifestyle journalist, Tahnee-Jae Lopez-Vito. She’s an expert on household appliances, grooming products and all things grocery and shopping. In addition to translating our expert research into consumer-friendly ratings reports, Tahnee spends her time helping consumers make better-informed purchase decisions on all manner of consumer goods and services, while highlighting the best deals and anything you need to be aware of.

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Picture credit: Casanisa / Shutterstock.com.