Aldi’s Next Big Thing: Where to buy Crave vegan crisps, The Artful Baker biscotti, chilli sauces and more

We also saw the hosts try mustard ice cream, chocolate-flavoured pasta and the original Northamptonshire sauce

Condiments, snacks and all your store-cupboard favourites were the focus of this week’s show (The Independent)

We’re out of the deli aisles and into the store cupboard. It’s the turn of the snacks, pastas and sauces in this week’s episode of Aldi’s Next Big Thing.

We’re almost at the end of the Channel 4 show’s first series, and we’ve seen everything from kids’ fruit snacks to rum cakes and chicken curry pies, with Greek charcuterie entering the budget supermarket’s stores last week.

In the penultimate episode, we watched as Aldi’s managing director of buying Julie Ashfield ate super-hot chilli sauce, vegan crisps, a British twist on Italian biscotti, chocolate-flavoured pasta, the original Northamptonshire sauce, and, yes, even mustard ice cream.

The real genius thing about Aldi’s Next Big Thing is that, each week, the winning product is brought into Aldi’s stores, so you can buy it the very next morning – though the charcuterie is still being cured.

If the snacks and sauces in this week’s episode got your lips smacking for a taste, we’ve rounded up exactly where you can buy all the products, including the ones that didn’t win.

Read more:

• Aldi’s Next Big Thing: Where to buy Jamaican rum cake  
• Aldi’s wine advent calendar is back for 2022 – here’s how to buy it
• The best Aldi Specialbuys to have on your radar this week
• Aldi’s Next Big Thing: Where to buy chicken curry pie and more

Crave vegan crisps: £1.29, Aldi.co.uk – available from 18 November

(Crave)

The panel were obsessed with these vegan, free-from crisps from founder Rob’s cheeky brand Crave, pitched as the perfect snack for people who feel like they’re missing out or who have an allergy, it was the flavours and branding that impressed the show’s trio of hosts, seeing Crave win the coveted contract this week.

While Ashfield thought a multi-pack of Crave crisps would work better, it appears Aldi is selling the snacks in 80g bags instead of smaller multi-packs. You can buy Crave’s monster feet pickled onion crisps and the streakers smokey bacon-flavoured crisps for £1.29 starting tomorrow.

Crave’s crisps are also stocked in Asda, but it’s slightly more expensive for a 100g bag (£1.80, Asda.com). The company also sells free-from chocolate bars, but both are currently out of stock.

• Buy now from Aldi – available from 18 November
• Buy now from Asda
• Visit Crave Snacks’ website

The Artful Baker biscotti: Theartfulbaker.co.uk

(The Artful Baker)

A British twist on the classic Italian biscotti, Paul of The Artful Baker makes these biscuits with butter and bakes his treats at a lower temperature, meaning they’re softer than the original tooth-breaking versions. They also come in unique flavours – both sweet and savoury. While Ashfield thought it was a shelf-ready product, she ultimately felt biscotti was still too niche for Aldi’s clientele.

Thankfully, if you’re craving biscotti, The Artful Baker sells its biscuits on Amazon, as well as from a website called Redber Coffee. The biscuits start from £3.29, and flavours include sour cherry and dark chocolate; triple Belgian chocolate; salted caramel, pecan and hazelnut; fennel, pink peppercorn and sea salt; smoked jalapeno, and sundried tomato.     

• Buy now from Amazon
• Buy now from Redber Coffee

Jeyes’s Northamptonshire sauce: Jeyessnorthamptonshiresauce.co.uk

(Northamptonshire Sauce)

Jeyes’s Northamptonshire sauce is a brand we were really intrigued by. Cooked up from a 200-year-old recipe, the company’s sauce is Northamptonshire’s answer to Worcestershire sauce. Made with anchovy essence with a blend of garlic, herbs, vinegar and spices, it impressed hosts Chris Bavin and Anita Rani, but didn’t do enough to win a place in the final two.

Don’t worry though, you can try the Northamptonshire sauce for £3.95 from the company’s website or for £3.75 from The Good Loaf. The company also sells spicy ketchup and apricot, ginger and Jeyes’s chutney.        

• Buy now from The Good Loaf
• Buy now from Jeyes’s Northamptonshire Sauce

Lilo’s Handmade chocolate-flavoured pasta: Liloshandmade.com

(Lilo’s Handmade)

Put our two favourite things together and what do you get? Chocolate-flavoured pasta, of course. That’s what Chloe of Lilo’s Handmade cooks up in the kitchen, with Chris Bavin seeming to enjoy the creation on the show.

As well as the chocolate-flavoured pasta, which is made with Italian semolina flour, sweetened with cocoa powder and sugar, Lilo’s Handmade also makes activated charcoal pasta, turmeric pasta, beetroot pasta, spinach pasta, butterfly pea pasta and rainbow pasta, made with beetroot, turmeric, spinach, butterfly pea and paprika. The chocolate-flavoured pasta costs £4.99 for a 300g bag.

Buy now from Lilo’s Handmade

Ntsama’s chilli sauces: Ntsama.co.uk

(Ntsama’s)

Armed with an enlightening story and super-hot chilli sauces and oils that made Julie Ashfield struggle for air, founder Joyce’s condiments were praised for their flavour but were feared to be too competitive to sit on Aldi’s aisles.

If you think you can handle it, Ntsama sells a range of different sauces and oils, including a ginger and garlic sauce, lemon and thyme oil, classic chilli oil, fire-roasted pepper sauce and jellies. They all cost £6.99 each on Ntsama’s website.

Buy now from Ntsama

Montys’ Mustards: Essencefoods.co.uk

(Montys’ Mustards)

Ashfield loved Montys’ Mustards, from the colours to the taste to the British source, and she even thought the mustard ice cream tasted good, but, ultimately, with the mustard market in decline, she was worried whether there would be any demand for the product.

You can buy a range of different mustards from Essence Foods, including wholegrain mustard with Norfolk ale, horseradish mustard, bandersnatch mustard with chilli and garlic, Black Beauty mustard with extra heat and many more, as well as chutneys. You can get it shipped out or pick it up locally if you’re near Norfolk. Each jar costs £3.90.

Buy now from Essence Foods

Voucher codes

For discounts on food and drink, try the links below:

• Just East discount codes
• BrewDog discount codes
• Beer Hawk discount codes

Enjoy plant-based goodness delivered to your door with the best vegan subscription boxes