If you're of a certain vintage, you'll probably remember those mayonnaise ads from the 1980s and 1990s.
Those catchy jingles and snappy catchphrases have stuck in our collective memories and it's virtually impossible to think about mayonnaise without a particular brand springing to mind.
But while Praise was the brand du jour of the late 20th century, does it still hold the favourite place in the nation's hearts? Or should we be looking elsewhere for our mayo fix?
Our expert judges taste tested 33 mayonnaises to see which should take pride of place in your fridge.
The unlikely hero
Aldi has long been making waves with the quality of its goods. Its grocery products regularly appear at the top of our tests, including milk chocolate, dark chocolate, dishwashing liquids, hummus and dishwashing tablets.
And its mayonnaise is no exception. Aldi Colway Creamy Squeezy Mayonnaise well and truly outclassed many more expensive (and better known) brands in our test.
With a CHOICE Expert Rating of 74%, Aldi's mayonnaise came in equal second place, streets ahead of Praise mayo products. It shared this spot with Oli & Vine Whole Egg Creamy Mayonnaise, which at $2.17 per 100g costs nearly four times as much as the Aldi product!
How did Praise compare?
Surely a brand as well-known and loved as Praise would receive similarly high scores?
Not so, unfortunately. Praise Traditional Mayo didn't even make the podium, scoring just 61% – less than even Woolworths' and Coles' own brand mayos.
The cream of the crop: Aldi Colway Creamy Squeezy Mayonnaise.
The winner: Aldi Colway Creamy Squeezy Mayonnaise
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 74%
- Price per 100g: $0.55
- Country of origin statement: Made in Australia from at least 98% Australian ingredients
- Ingredients: Vegetable Oil [Contains Antioxidant (304)],Water, White Vinegar, Sugar, Egg, Thickeners (1422, 415), Salt, Spice Extracts, Acidity Regulator (330), Natural Colour (160A), Lemon Oil.
May us be thankful too for Praise Traditional Mayo.
The runner up: Praise Traditional Mayo
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 61%
- Price per 100g: $1.01
- Country of origin statement: Made in Australia from at least 35% Australian ingredients
- Ingredients: Sunflower Oil [Antioxidant (320)], Water, Sugar, Free Range Whole Egg (4%), White Vinegar, Malt Vinegar (Barley & Wheat), Salt, Vegetable Gums (415 From Soy, 405), Food Acid (330), Natural Colour (Carrot Extract), Flavours.
Cheaper and lower fat
Aldi's mayo offering is cheaper and lower in fat, both overall and in terms of saturated fat. Both products contain the same amount of sugar: 9g per 100g. (For a product to be considered high in sugar, it needs to contain 15g of sugar or more per 100g of product.)
What's sugar doing in mayonnaise, you may ask? Well, interestingly, 32 of the 33 products we tested contain sugar – so it seems that while it's not a traditional mayo ingredient, everyone's doing it.
Added salt in mayo is perhaps to be expected, but added sugar is another story. Our expert judges were shocked – and disappointed – by how sweet many of the products on test tasted
Rachel Clemons, CHOICE food and nutrition expert
"Added salt in mayo is perhaps to be expected, but added sugar is another story," says CHOICE food and nutrition expert Rachel Clemons. "Our expert judges were shocked – and disappointed – by how sweet many of the products on test tasted."
If you want to avoid those extra added sugars, making your own mayo is much easier than you'd think – and the results are delicious. CHOICE kitchen expert Fiona Mair shares her recipe for perfectly creamy, tangy mayo in our mayonnaise buying guide.
The egg question
Now, egg is a key ingredient in traditional mayonnaise, but there are different schools of thought as to the best way to make mayo: whole egg, whole egg with extra yolk, or egg yolk only.
So unless you're buying vegan mayonnaise, you'd expect to see egg in your mayo in one form or another. Praise Traditional Mayo has four percent egg, but its stablemate, Praise Whole Egg Creamy Mayo, offers a more generous 9.4% egg and achieved a higher score of 65% – although at $1.49 per 100g you'll pay more for it.
"Aldi doesn't specify the amount of egg in its mayo – that's only a requirement if it features as an ingredient in the product name, for example," says Rachel.
"But egg is listed as its fifth ingredient after sugar, meaning it contains far less egg than Praise Whole Egg Creamy Mayo."
Which mayonnaise is Australian owned or made in Australia?
Some criticise Aldi for not being Australian owned – but many of its products are made in Australia, and often from Australian ingredients.
In the case of its mayonnaise, it's made in Australia from at least 98% Australian ingredients. That's far ahead of Praise, which is also made in Australia, but from only 35% Australian ingredients.
And while Aldi as a company is clearly not Australian owned, don't be fooled into thinking that Praise is an Australian brand – it's actually owned by Goodman Fielder, which in turn is owned by Wilmar International, which is headquartered in Singapore.
Sustainability
Low prices aren't the only factor in deciding which product to buy – it's also important to consider the environmental impact of your purchase (if you can afford to).
A product made in Australia from Australian ingredients is going to have fewer food miles than a product made overseas, or from imported ingredients – but that's not the whole picture either.
Recyclable packaging
Mayonnaise bottles and jars are generally recyclable, but Praise takes that a step further by making its mayo bottles from 100% recycled materials, which is certainly something to consider when you're shopping.
Unfortunately, there's rarely a simple formula to work out the most sustainable way to shop – especially when it can be difficult to find information about every product – but the more information you have, the better a choice you can make.
How we score
Our four expert foodies tasted 33 mayonnaise products 'blind' – meaning they didn't know which was which.
The CHOICE Expert Rating is made up of 90% taste and 10% nutrition. The taste score is made up of:
- 50% flavour/taste and eating quality
- 30% texture/mouthfeel
- 15% appearance and aroma
- 5% true to name.
We recommend mayonnaise with a CHOICE Expert Rating of 70% or more. Just seven products out of 33 were recommended by our experts.
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
