Find out what MNers think of the new Flora Original recipe

[EllieMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the MNers who tested out the new Flora Original recipe with their family. This product test was open to all UK MNers with at least one child aged 0-12.

Here’s what Flora has to say: “Try our Flora Original’s great new taste with 100% plant goodness*. Flora Original spread has been a family favourite for generations. Melt on toast, spread on sandwiches, mix into meals, Flora Original’s new recipe is made from 100% of ingredients from natural origins. Naturally rich in Omega 3, with 67% less saturated fat than butter, Flora has absolutely no preservatives, artificial colours or flavours. Our product is certified vegan, however we don’t recommend if you have a dairy allergy.”

Testers please answer the following question:

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original?
• Is Flora a brand you can trust?
• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs?
• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike?
• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original?
• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not
• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not.

All selected testers will be required to leave feedback on what they thought of Flora Original on a thread on Mumsnet and by filling out a short survey. Everyone who completes both sets of feedback will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw
MNHQ

Terms and conditions apply

*Naturally contains Omega 3&6. Essential fats are needed for normal growth and development of children. A daily intake of 2g alpha-linolenic acid and 10g linoleic acid is needed. 2 x 10g servings of Flora a day contribute a significant amount to this. Enjoy as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original?
Overall it works well and tastes ok

• Is Flora a brand you can trust?

I am familiar with the brand name and have bought things from them in the past, so yes I would trust them

• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs?

Yes

• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike?

It was very spreadable, so great for sandwiches. The cake we made also came out nicely, but we weren't sure about the taste

• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original?

It wasn't buttery enough for most of my family, but otherwise tasted ok

• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not

I would buy this if it was a comparable price/ on offer

• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not.

It is great for vegans and does the job well so I would recommend it for them but as we weren't sure of the taste I'm not sure I would recommend to others

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original? Quite satisfied, surprisingly so.

• Is Flora a brand you can trust? Yes I think it's an established brand with no bad connotations that I know of.

• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs? Yes, I think so.

• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike? I liked the packaging with the sunflower - very timely as there is so much emphasis on plant-based diets now. We were surprised that we liked the taste (we were avid Lurpack fans before).

• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original? It definitely tasted more like butter than other margarines.

• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Possibly.

• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Yes, I'd recommend they give it a go.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original? Very satisfied

• Is Flora a brand you can trust? Yes, it is a brand I trust because it has been around for years.
• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs? It does. We spread it, bake with it and all of the family enjoy it
• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike? It tasted rich and worked really well in cakes a baked
• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original? We all enjoyed the taste
• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not. I would if it were on offer
• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not. I would recommend this as it is a trusted brand and can be spread and baked with

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original?
Very, we all. Loved it

• Is Flora a brand you can trust?

Yes we have always loved the flora brand

• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs?

Yes

• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike?

It was ready to spread when taken straight out of the fridge

• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original?

Yes it had a slight buttery taste to it but still lovely

• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not

I would if it was a competitive price to the one i normally buy we always buy what's on offer

• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not.

Yes I would especially to people who specific dietary requirements

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original

I thought it was nice. I didn't notice the difference between Flora Original and my usual unsalted butter when on toast. My usual butter is Kerrygold. On bread, Flora was not as nice. It does not have as nice texture as butter.

Is Flora a brand you can trust
No. This is no direct criticism of Flora, but I tend not to put trust in any brand. I may like a produce that a company sells but its unlikely to make me trust the 'brand'. Flora is owned by a private equity firm, and sells its products around the globe. I have no knowledge of its company management, working practices or culture, so I have no base to make an opinion on whether I can trust the brand.

Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs?
As above, I don't buy into brands. Its a bit of an odd question. Flora produces margarine and spreads, so its not possible to cater for all of my family's needs.

What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike?

I thought it tasted nice on toast (my usual purpose for butter). I liked that it was spreadable straight from the fridge. I wanted to try it in cakes but I haven't had a chance to bake before this review was required.

I didn't like the texture as much as butter when spread on cold bread.

I disliked that it had palm oil, albeit sustainable palm oil. I feel palm oil is too pervasive in foods.

Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original?

As before, I thought it tasted as nice as my usual unsalted butter when on toast.

Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not

Probably not, unless it makes significantly better cakes (when I get round to trying).

I'm torn between acknowledging that butter from the cattle industry is detrimental to the environment, and the alternative of a palm oil spread. But my current butter choice is Kerrygold which does not use antibiotics on its animals and is from irish cows (less airmiles). So on balance, I prefer the butter.

Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

I know that butter can be quite expensive so for an alternative butter like taste, I would recommend to others.

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original?

I was very satisfied with new flora original. I loved the taste and texture of it.

• Is Flora a brand you can trust?

Definitely, it is a well known brand with good quality products.

• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs?

Definitely. All the family tried it on everything from sandwiches to toast and baked potatoes. They all loved it and and found nothing bad about it.

• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike?

We all loved the taste of it, which was natural and delicious. We loved how easily it spread from when taken out of the fridge, rather than other brands that go hard after being on the fridge and are difficult to spread.

• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original?

Everyone loved the taste, which wasn’t overpowering and tasted delicious on everything we tried it on.

• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not

I would definitely choose this, as it tasted delicious, everyone loved it and it is a well known trusted brand.

• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not.

I would definitely recommend based on the taste, how easily it is spread onto bread and toast etc and how it isn’t overpowering in any way.

loved the flora butter, soft spread even when been in the fridge, was great for baking and spread, will be buying in the future.

I would love to give some feedback but unfortunately I didn't receive any flora !!!

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original? Very

• Is Flora a brand you can trust? Always has been and still continues to be
• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs? Yes 100 percent
• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike? I enjoyed how full of flavour it was
• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original? Yes! We all fairly enjoyed it
• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not? Yes I would and already have! It’s so healthy too it’s a no brainier
• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not. Yes it’s healthy affordable and tasty

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original? It's nice, better than some others out there but not as good as some.
• Is Flora a brand you can trust? Yes
• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs? We don't have any 'needs' as such!
• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike? It's nice and yellow, spreads well and doesn't have that nasty oily taste that a lot of vegetable spreads have.
• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original? Yes, it's not as buttery as spreads with milk/butter but it's pleasant
• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not Probably not as I prefer a real butter based spread.
• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not.It would possibly be on the list of options to try but unless I knew they were vegan it wouldn't be my first suggestion.

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original?

Very.

• Is Flora a brand you can trust?

Now they are fully plant-based, yes.

• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs?

Yes. We are all vegan.

• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike?

We tend not to really do 'butter' alternatives on toast, mainly just used in baking - but we did try it for this and it's good! Also great in baking and making vegan buttercream icing. On that note, though, I would love it if they could make it less yellow, as it discolours the colouring we are trying to achieve - e.g. I want to make blue icing, and it comes out more green because of the yellow. Or I want to do red icing and it comes out more orangey.

• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original?

It's lovely and buttery (disclaimer, haven't eaten dairy butter in over 20 years, so perhaps I have forgotten. But it's certainly tasty.)

• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not.

We do like another brand that has true vegan credentials (Naturli) but it's much more expensive, so we would probably buy both - I like to support companies like Naturli, but can't consistently afford to.

• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not.

Yes. It's a good price, it's all plant-based and I don't ever recommend anything that isn't. Thank you for making all your products now suitable for vegans.

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original? It was ok
• Is Flora a brand you can trust? Yes
• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs? No
• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike? We all liked it in sandwiches but found it too bland on toast
• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original? See above comment
• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not yes probably because I like the branf
• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not. Yes because if you like marg you'd like it.

Overall was quite satisfied.
Flora is a brand I trust as use to buy Flora light until I switched to a supermarkets own brand.
Flora caters for the whole family and a healthy soft spread/butter perfect for sandwiches and toast.
What I loved about the product is that it's made of natural ingredients. The only thing I didn't like about the product is that it uses palm oil.
Overall we liked the taste but didn't taste much different to other Flora brands the only difference being is that it tasted creamier and softer.
If the product didn't use palm oil and used an alternative then I would probably switch as long as the price was same as other brands. Would I recommend this to friends then yes I would.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original?
For all My children didn't notice the difference between Flora Original and the Lurpak we usually buy I wasn't as keen. It certainly is the best spread we have bought but not sure I could be swayed from butter. Good texture and taste though

• Is Flora a brand you can trust? Yes. Used to buy regularly.

• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs? Yes

• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike? I liked that the kids couldn't tell difference! Buttery taste but easy to

Spread!

• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original? Yes, I liked it. My family also keen.

• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not we would certainly buy over other spreads or marg but will probably stick to butter

• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not. Yes. And I think if we ever need to cut back on butter for another spread then this is the one we would pick

Thanks for the trial! And apologies for delay in feedback.

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original?

Very satisfied, lovely taste and spread easily

• Is Flora a brand you can trust?

Yes definitely, have used before and will continue to

• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs?

Yes the whole family enjoyed the flora, it was used as part of lots of meals

• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike?

Spread easily so didn't rip the bread when making sandwiches

• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original?

Yes all the family enjoyed the taste. Especially in mashed potato

• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not

Yes, I will now buy this brand over all others

• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not.

Yes I already have recommended it

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original? very satisfied

• Is Flora a brand you can trust? yes I love flora

• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs? yes definitely

• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike? I liked the taste was nice but I found that it did spread as easy as flora buttery does

• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original? yes it was nice. my son doesn't like butter but he really enjoyed this. My daughter loves butter and would eat just that if I was to let her and she even said it was really nice

• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not. Yes I would we currently use buttery by flora and we have been using this butter more than buttery

• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not. yes I have already said its great and good for you .

Nice

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original? Quite

• Is Flora a brand you can trust? Yes

• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs? Yes

• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike? They enjoyed the taste and didnt realise anything was different

• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original? I noticed a slightly different taste but enjoyed it. Dh and the children didn't have a clue anything was different

• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not.

i would if it was competitively priced

• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not

Yes i enjoyed it and i think others would too

• Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original?

Quite satisfied

• Is Flora a brand you can trust?

Yes

• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs?

Yes everyone liked it

• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike?

It tasted good and everyone liked it but it was slightly more expensive than my usual brand

• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original?

We all liked the taste of it

• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not

I probably wouldn’t buy it on a regular basis because it was more expensive than my normal brand but would consider it if it was on offer

• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not.

I would recommend it on the taste but as I said it was more expensive and I don’t think it was worth the extra money.

I know it's late but wanted to include my feedback because I thought I had already done so :(

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original? Really happy, we have begun buying this on a regular basis again.

• Is Flora a brand you can trust? For sure! It is great tasting and healthy.
• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs? Yes, we as a whole family use it and are all very happy with it.

• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike? We all loved that it is great tasting, and made from natural origins.

• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original? We all felt it was pretty tasty and creamy.

• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not! Yes and we have already swapped our original brand with Flora because we preferred the taste and it is much healthier.

• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not. Yes we all would, There were no complaints in my household.

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original?

It was okay but didn't blow me away.

• Is Flora a brand you can trust?

I'm not sure there are many food brands I can trust which is a damning indictment on the state of our food industry.

• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs?

Partially.

• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike?

I couldn't detect a difference between the original Flora and this one. It still tasted quite artificial.

• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original?

We found it to be a regular margarine product, no better or worse.

• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not

No, I would probably choose more natural brands, this still seemed quite artificial.

• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not.

For a margarine spread, I would consider recommending this as it delivers on spreadability but there are other spreads out there that taste better.

So no-one gives a damn that this stuff contains palm oil? The list of ingredients includes 'sustainable palm oil' but this excerpt from Sustainablejungle.com says:

'In reality, the production of sustainable palm oil under the RSPO is a fiction. Greenpeace published a thoroughly well-researched yet damning report into the current state of affairs. Some of the largest members of the RSPO who supposedly produce and sell ‘sustainable’ palm oil routinely flout the laws and rules which they are supposed to abide by. The result is that large companies who claim to only use sustainable palm oil in their products are in fact selling a lie to the public.'

Meanwhile swathes of orangutan habitat is decimated to grow this stuff.

How can the Original Flora be new? Surely is new or its original Its like an oxymoron. Am I misunderstanding it?

It's so new it's old

Overall, how satisfied were you and your family with new Flora Original?

Very satisfied as a family, personally I was intrigued to try it as it's vegan although having not tried margarine before, I can't really get used to the taste although if I had, I'm sure it would be a good substitute. I enjoyed it in baking though.

• Is Flora a brand you can trust?

Yes absolutely, Flora has been a brand I've been aware of since being a toddler!

• Is Flora a brand that caters to all your family’s needs?

Yes.

• What did you like or dislike about new Flora Original? What did your family like or dislike?

They loved it in toast and sandwiches, didn't pick up on it being a new recipe in any way negative (i.e., 'ooh is this vegan?')

• Did you like the taste of New Flora Original? How did your family like the taste of New Flora Original?

I would still choose to have bread plain personally but have used it in baking and been really pleased with the results. The family like the taste, as above.

• Would you choose New Flora Original for you or your family over other margarine and/or butter brands? Please explain why or why not

Yes, I'm satisfied with the recipe and find it to be reasonably healthy in comparison to other brands I've looked at so why not?

• Would you recommend Flora Original to friends or family? Please explain why or why not.

Yes, given our good experience with this trial. No reason not to.
Thank you for the chance to try it out!